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Spanish
In Spanish, unlike English, all nouns (persons, places or things) are either masculine or feminine. The article (‘a’, ‘an’ or ‘the’ in English) must change according to whether the noun that follows is masculine or feminine. It must also agree with the number of the noun – whether it is singular or plural:
| Definite article (‘the’) | Indefinite article (‘a’ or ‘an’) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| el | masculine singular | un | masculine singular |
| la | feminine singular | una | feminine singular |
| los | masculine plural | unos | masculine plural |
| las | feminine plural | unas | feminine plural |
Unfortunately, there are no hard and fast rules to tell you which gender a noun should be and most simply need to be learnt.
However, here are some guidelines to show you some common patterns.
Nouns denoting male people and animals are usually but not always masculine:
| el hombre | the man |
| el toro | the bull |
| un enfermero | a (male) nurse |
Nouns denoting female people and animals are usually but not always feminine:
| la niña | the girl |
| la vaca | the cow |
| una enfermera | a (female) nurse |
Some nouns are masculine or feminine depending on the sex of the particular person to whom they refer:
| el/un médico | the/a (male) doctor |
| la/una médico | the/a (female) doctor |
| el/un belga | the/a (male) Belgian |
| la/una belga | the/a (female) Belgian (NB nationalities are not capitalized in Spanish, but nations are.) |
A noun ending in –ista can be masculine or feminine, depending on whether it refers to a male or female:
| el artista | the (male) artist |
| la artista | the (female) artist |
| el pianista | the (male) pianist |
| la pianista | the (female) pianist |
Similarly, a noun ending in –nte can be masculine or feminine, depending on whether you are talking about a male or female:
| el estudiante | the (male) student |
| la estudiante | the (female) student |
| el presidente | the (male) president |
| la presidente | the (female) president |
Some nouns can refer to men or women but have only one gender, whether the person is male or female:
| la/una persona | the/a person |
| la/una víctima | the/a victim |
| la/una estrella | the/a star |
Although you’re likely to be understood by Spanish speakers if you use the wrong genders, there are some instances where it could cause a great deal of confusion. A few nouns change their meaning radically, depending on whether they are masculine or feminine, so they’re well worth learning. Here are some of the more common examples:
| Masculine | Feminine | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| el capital | capital (money) | la capital | capital (city) |
| un corte | a cut | una corte | a court (royal) |
| un cura | a priest | una cura | a cure (medical) |
| el moral | the mulberry tree | la moral | morals |
| el papa | the Pope | la papa | the potato |
| un policía | a policeman | la policía | the police (force) |
| el radio | the radius | la radio | the radio |