Gender of Nouns
What are nouns?
 Nouns
denote a person, place, or
thing.
 In Spanish, nouns have genders!
All nouns in Spanish are either

Masculine (el)

Feminine (la)
Not literally!
 While
it may be easy to see how
certain nouns (that pertain to living
things) have a gender because often
we assign these things a name.
 It is the inanimate objects with which
you may have the most difficulty.
 Try this test.
Decide whether the following words
are masculine or feminine in
gender
dress
table
book
window
Let’s see how you did!
dress – el vestido
Table – la mesa
book – el libro
window – la ventana
Maculine nouns
These
in:
•
o
nouns tend to end
Feminine nouns
 These
•
•
•
•
•
a
ación
itad
sión
dad
nouns tend to end in
Take a look at some words you
already know
 chocolate
 pizza
 tarea
 libro
Nouns that don’t follow the rules!
 Some
nouns don’t follow the rule
because of pronunciation.
El agua – water
If we were to say la agua really fast
the two words would lose distinction
when pronunced.
Another reasons nouns don’t follow
the rules!
 Some
nouns of Greek origin remain
masculine even though they have a
feminine ending.
 Example:
el problema
Ma-Pa-Ta
Ma, Pa, Ta
Words that end in –ma, -pa, or –ta are
masculine words.
El clima
El mapa
El planeta
How do you know which is which?
 The
best thing you can do is practice
using the definite article with your
new vocabulary.
 What are the definite articles you
ask?
Definite Articles
 It
is how we say “the” in Spanish.
 The
are four ways based upon the
gender of the noun and whether or
not the noun is singular or plural.
Confused?!
Feminine nouns
Singular
Plural
= la
= las
Masculine nouns
Singular
Plural
= el
= los
Indefinite Articles
 It
is how we say “a” or “an” with
something singular and “a few” or
“some” with something that is plural.
 There
are four ways based upon the
gender of the noun and whether or
not the noun is singular or plural.
Sound familiar?
Singular nouns
feminine
= una (a, an)
masculine
= un (a, an)
Plural nouns
 Feminine
 Masculine
= unas (some/a few)
= unos (some/a few)