Nouns and adjectives in Spanish have only two genders: masculine and feminine. There is no neuter gender. The gender of an adjective follows the gender of the noun it describes.
General Rules
There are general rules that help determine the gender of a noun or adjective in Spanish. However, there remain many exceptions that can only be learned by practice. As a very loose and general rule, words ending in “o” are likely to be masculine, and most words ending in “a” are likely to be feminine. However, this rule—if it is even reasonable to consider it a rule—has many exceptions. Thus, we will have sub-rules that are more specific.
Position of Adjectives in Spanish
In Spanish, is the adjective placed before or after the noun? When do you put the adjective before the noun in Spanish?
As a general rule, adjectives in Spanish, unlike in English, come after the noun they describe, e.g., “edificio alto” (tall building). There are some exceptions to this rule, e.g., “gran mercado” (big market). Many adjectives that tend to come before the noun are indefinite adjectives, which are covered in Level III, Lesson 4.
As we attempt to encompass most of the gender rules in Spanish, try not to feel overwhelmed with the vocabulary in this lesson. You can use it as a reference and revisit this lesson whenever in doubt. The Anki cards designed specifically for this lesson will help you retain most of the information presented here. We strongly advise that you practice them.
Forming Feminine Words from Masculine Words
Although not a universal rule, many feminine words can be formed from masculine words that end with a consonant by adding an “a” at the end, e.g., “jugador” (player) (feminine “jugadora”), “juez” (judge) (feminine “jueza”), and from masculine words that end with an “o” by replacing the last “o” with an “a,” e.g., “ingeniero” (engineer) (feminine “ingeniera”), “alto” (tall) (feminine “alta”). As we shall see, there are exceptions, as some words deviate from this simple rule to form the feminine. In addition, there are many words that do not change form based on gender. For example, “artista” (artist), “piloto” (pilot), and “estudiante” (student) all have the same form in both masculine and feminine.
Feminine Nouns
Most words ending in “-a” are feminine. The following are some exceptions:
1. Words that end in “-ma,” “-pa,” or “-ta” and originate from Greek. These are masculine.
Examples are: “el idioma” (language), “el problema” (problem), “el sistema” (system), “el clima” (climate), “el tema” (topic), “el diploma” (diploma), “el drama” (drama), “el dilema” (dilemma), “el diagrama” (diagram), “el mapa” (map), “el planeta” (planet), “el cometa” (comet), etc.
This exception does not apply to words that did not originate from Greek, such as “la forma” (form) and “la plataforma” (platform).
2. Words that end in “-ista” and refer to masculine or feminine people performing a profession, such as: “el taxista” (taxi driver), “el artista” (artist), “el analista” (analyst), “el pianista” (pianist), etc.
3. Words that end in “-a” and refer to professions with the same masculine and feminine forms. For example, “atleta” can refer to a male or female “athlete,” and “espía” can refer to a male or female “spy.”
4. A few other words that are learned by practice, such as “el día” (day), “el Buda” (Buddha), and “el panda” (panda).
Most words ending in “-d,” “-z,” and “-ión” are feminine, e.g., “la ciudad” (city), “la escasez” (shortage), “la religión” (religion), etc. The following are some exceptions:
1. Some masculine words with a “-d” ending are: “el huésped” (guest), “el césped” (grass), “el récord” (record), “el ataúd” (coffin), “el abad” (abbot), “el milord” (milord), and “el lord” (lord).
2. Some masculine words with a “-z” ending are: “el aprendiz” (apprentice), “el pez” (fish), “el arroz” (rice), “el lápiz” (pencil), “el ajedrez” (chess), “el antifaz” (mask), “el maíz” (corn), “el disfraz” (costume), “el haz” (beam), “el albornoz” (bathrobe), and “el altavoz” (speaker).
3. Some masculine words with “-ión” ending are: “el avión” (plane), “el camión” (truck), and “el embrión” (embryo).
Masculine Nouns
1. Most words ending in “-o” are masculine, with a few exceptions that are feminine, such as: “la mano” (hand), “la radio[1]” (radio), “la foto” (photo), “la moto” (motorcycle), and “la libido” (libido), in addition to words that end with “-o” used to refer to professions that have the same masculine and feminine forms, e.g., “piloto” can refer to a male or female pilot, where “el piloto” is masculine and “la piloto” is feminine.
2. Words ending with an accented vowel (á, é, í, ó, ú) are generally masculine, e.g., “el maní” (peanut), “el ají” (chili pepper), “el ñandú” (rhea), “el colibrí” (hummingbird), “el bambú” (bamboo), etc.
3. Most words ending with a consonant other than “d” or “z” are masculine, with some exceptions. Examples include: “la miel” (honey), “la piel” (skin), “la sal” (salt), “la hiel” (gall), “la flor” (flower), “la coliflor” (cauliflower), and “la labor” (labor).
4. Words ending with “-e” tend to be masculine, especially those ending in “-aje” or “-ambre,” but with a lot of exceptions that are feminine.
Examples include: “la calle” (street), “la carne” (meat), “la gente” (people), “la llave” (key), “la fiebre” (fever), “la noche” (night), “la nube” (cloud), “la sangre” (blood), “la suerte” (luck), “la tarde” (afternoon or evening), “la fuente” (source or fountain), “la torre” (tower), “la sede” (headquarters), “la serpiente” (snake), “la corriente” (current), “la clave” (key code), “la clase” (class), “la base” (base), “la madre” (mother), “la muerte” (death), “la nieve” (snow), and “la frase” (phrase).
[1] According to the Real Academia Española (RAE), the word “radio” is feminine when referring to the broadcast or programming of the radio, e.g., “Lo escuché en la radio” (I heard it on the radio). When referring to the radio set or device, the word “radio” is feminine in Spain and the southern cone of South America, but masculine in most of the rest of Latin America.Final Note
As you can see, it is not always easy to determine the gender of a noun in Spanish, and practice remains the best tool. However, these examples can serve as a good reference to help establish some rules and memorize them.
Do not let this minor difficulty discourage you from learning Spanish. Most Spanish speakers are forgiving of errors in gender made by foreigners learning Spanish.
Quiz: Gender & Plural in Spanish
Next: Present Indicative Tense II: Irregular Verbs
Other lessons in Level II:
