But that has changed with time, and thus we end up with rules that are blurry which do not help when those starting to learn Spanish. Not bad, huh? Nouns ending in -cin, -sin, -dad, -tad and -tud are feminine: la cancin, relacin, la televisin, la expresin, la ciudad, la verdad, la libertad, la amistad, la solicitud, la juventud, etc. L'immigration est + masculine que fminine : INFO ou INFOX ? The kids play in the park. If you were referring to a male friend, which article would you use EL or LA? There are some rules to determine if a noun is masculine of feminine. Little by little, and loads of practice is the best remedy. Maybe you could make up your own! Common exceptions: not feminine, masculine El mapa- the map- masculine El da- the day- masculine. This restaurant is pretty famous. el day is masculine and is the ONLY exception. You can use the word that best fits a noun to determine if it's masculine or feminine. Forms of feminine and masculine nouns. These are some of the nouns whose endings cannot change. Names of rivers, lakes, and oceans are usually masculine; names of mountains are usually feminine. Sometimes you cant tell if a word is masculine or feminine in Spanish only by its form. by Mgomezhernandez. For example, to say, 'My brother is an interesting person' in Spanish, you would say Mi hermano es una persona interesante. When using demonstrative pronouns (esta, esa, aquella) with these words, they stay feminine. See answer (1) Copy. In fact, a few masculine words also end with this vowel. While most nouns that end with a particular consonant or vowel are generally classified as either masculine or feminine, nouns that end with z do not follow a guideline. Therefore, vestido (dress) is actually a masculine noun. The dentists are very young. You will notice that when adjectives modify such words, they are feminine: El agua est fra o tibia? (Translation of vacation from the Cambridge English-Spanish Dictionary Cambridge University Press), (Translation of vacation from the GLOBAL English-Spanish Dictionary 2020 K Dictionaries Ltd), Watch your back! Plural of Masculine Nouns [edit | edit source]. Esa cantante es muy talentosa. The word in the example sentence does not match the entry word. The same goes for some words that end in -o that are actually feminine: la mano, la radio, la foto, etc. Necesito un respiro de mi familia despus de la reunin. If you liked this post, you can share it with someone else who might find it helpful! El toro es muy agresivo y la vaca muy tranquila. Two examples are doctora (female doctor) and camisa (shirt). This t-shirt is black. and the Spanish Civil War failed in reality to place him in a distinctly different camp from Chamberlain and . Adjectives describing, agua are feminine. La luz es bastante brillante. Sus zapatos son muy caros. Yes, when speaking to someone you are familiar with it is t and the verb will end with an 's' such as t quieres. I hope you find what youre looking for here during your journey into Espaol . These short words keep the gender of the longer word, even if they have -ma, -pa, -ta, or LONERS at the end. Given that its key for your conversations and it can also help you practice this spelling change, in this guide, well learn the probar conjugation Hola! boeing 767 patriot express. The same goes for nouns ending with -or: el amor, el dolor, el error, el sabor, etc. One other common word that ends in -a but that is masculine is the word el da (day). 1000 5th St, suite 200 Estamos de vacaciones en la Florida ahora mismo. In some cases, you will be able to tell the gender of a word based on the ending of the word itself. 08, 2020, https://lingualinkup.com/el-la-spanish/, Masculine and Feminine in Spanish (el & la): The Rules & Their Many Exceptions. Well the answer is just because . Equal Opportunity Employment Program The Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre hires on the basis of merit and is strongly committed to equity, diversity and inclusion within its community. So, its important to memorize the feminine words that end with the consonant z. 501 lessons. Can vacaciones be singular? Why? El Amazonas es el ro ms largo del mundo. I have two hundred pesos. I know we said we would only be giving you rules that didnt have any exceptions, the rules above are full proof- its when you get to people and occupations where you need to put your thinking cap on. From students and tourists to doctors and soldiers whove moved and visited here over the years. For 15 years we've taught Spanish to hundreds of thousands of learners. Making educational experiences better for everyone. Not knowing if a word is feminine or masculine in Spanish can lead to poor communication and, in some cases, misunderstandings. All of these rules use the ending of a word as a trick to determine its gender. However, there are certain words whose endings are unalterable. One ending with a final -a, -ista, can be used on words for male or female people, and is both masculine and feminine. Both are masculine in Spanish, but when translated to French they become feminine even though the words are almost exactly the same: la couleur, la dent. Copyright 2006 Harrap Publishers Limited. Learn all about the Spanish gender roles below Feminine (la) vs Masculine (el). For that reason, this guide covers all the information you need to understand this topic. Ese rbol es muy viejo. Why is it important to know if a noun is feminine or masculine? Although its not really incorrect to use the feminine form, its less common. My students are already speaking Spanish and using it in their everyday lives. You will get new updates by email, as well as a copy of my ebook, the Definitive Guide to Learn Conjugations in Spanish. Yet if you are referring to a person or occupation this is what happens: EL espa = The spy (if the spy is a man) LA espa = The spy (if the spy is a woman. As a romance language, Spanish has grammatical gender whose purpose is to express whether a noun is masculine or feminine. Usted is used to speak in a more professional manner. And to make things more interesting, the fact is that with time, languages evolve and change. Objectos de clase (masculine - feminine ) Group sort. Here we will explain the rules, and then the 3 categories of exceptions: Below are a number of words you would think should be la according to the rules above, but they are el, as they are exceptions to the el/la rules. The dish is white with blue stripes. Mi gatita est enferma. Not only in Spanish, but also in other Romance and non-Romance languages, such as German and Russian. Collins Complete Spanish Electronic Dictionary HarperCollins Publishers 2011. However, the word persona is always a feminine word. thelanguagetutors Follow Advertisement Recommended Spanish Lesson - Lesson 3: Definite and Indefinite articles Swagatam Mitra 3.5k views 9 slides My dogs are very quiet. link to Venir Conjugation 101: Conjugate Venir In Spanish, link to Probar Conjugation 101: Conjugate Probar in Spanish. This allows us to ease the pronunciation! (university) (United Kingdom) a. la vacaciones (F) to take a vacation tomarse unas vacaciones intransitive verb 2. All nouns in Spanish are either masculine or feminine. Recuerdas aquella vez que estuvimos de vacaciones en Vermont? LONERS - words that end with any of the letters in LONERS are usually masculine. For example, the application developer may write a rule stating that each. Well start with the most obvious, which is that most words that end in o are going to be masculine. . We know that all people have gender, but in Spanish all nouns have gender. Now lets see how to know if a word is masculine or feminine in Spanish when talking about people and animals. Every single noun in Spanish has a gender: feminine or masculine. Nouns ending in -o, an accented vowel, -or, or -aje are usually masculine. The ending -a is a good indicator that youre most likely dealing with a feminine Spanish word. Another example of this is la radio, which is a shorter form of the word radiodifusin. In contrast to English, the Spanish plural of the masculine forms of these words refers to "not-all-feminine" groups, i.e. We can include el/la cineasta within this group. La verdad puede ser dolorosa. One warning, though: the S in LONERS refers to nouns that are singular, like el mes. Access millions of accurate translations written by our team of experienced English-Spanish translators. is vacation in spanish masculine or feminine. My cousin is also smart. Sometimes the word is the same and we can only figure out the meaning with the articles or pronouns that go with them: El capital (money) La capital (capital city), El editorial (editorial) La editorial (publisher), El pendiente (earring) La pendiente (slope). Sofia is very smart. Thinking of them together might help you remember their correct gender. Su habitacin es morada. In addition to these anomalies, there are other Spanish gender exceptions that you must keep in mind. Most words that. Nuestro coche est sucio. Learn about masculine and feminine nouns in Spanish. The word for 'the' or 'a' changes depending on the gender of the noun and whether it is singular or plural. This couch is very comfortable. La botella de Suzy est vaca. Words ending in -o are generally masculine, while ones ending in -a are generally feminine . Everything weve ever written about Spanish, all in one place. The last three of them are actually abbreviations of feminine compound words: la radiofona, la motocicleta, la fotografa. The Spanish gender can be distinguished with certain endings or by checking the gender of the adjectives, pronouns and Spanish articles surrounding that word. In Spanish, the following nouns are always masculine: (Determiner] +[noun] + [verb conjugated] + [complement]. Click on the arrows to change the translation direction. Ests muy estresado; necesitas irte de vacaciones. El vestidor est ocupado. How to know if a word is masculine or feminine in Spanish? This is a feminine word because it is a short form of the longer word, la motocicleta. We only say "el agua" only because it's smoother to pronounce than "la aqua." Period. Its Soccer is very boring. What gender is the sea in your mind? Copyright Curiosity Media, Inc., a division of IXL Learning All Rights Reserved. We use the masculine definite article (el) in singular with feminine nouns that start with an A when the stress is put on the first syllable. All rights reserved. We can check this by going to the plural and to its modifiers: The waters = las aguas" The water is cold = "El agua est fria." Masculine and Feminine in Spanish (el & Masculine and Feminine in Spanish (el & la): The Rules & Their Many Exceptions, how to tell if a word is masculine or feminine in spanish, what is the difference between masculine and feminine in spanish, 35 Vegetables Translated to Spanish | The Ultimate Master List, Demonstrative Adjectives: This, That, These, and Those Get Them Right. Masculine and Feminine in Spanish (el & la): The Rules & Their Many Exceptions. Take Note: Do not get mixed up! Why? La mesera descansa los jueves. In plain English, this book explains the Masculine & Feminine elements of Spanish, plus the rules around Singular & Plural. You cant apply it to plural nouns or that would mean that every word would be masculine. Tengo una pluma extra. The same thing in the other direction the rules say it should be el, but the word is actually la. Retrieved from https://lingualinkup.com/el-la-spanish/. FR8 En Ville - Location Sort - Masculine/Feminine Group sort. [Determiner] + [noun] + [verb conjugated] + [adjective]. Spanish Language Dictations Level Beginner #001. A Spanish noun is a word we use to name people, things, concepts, places, and animals. The judge is always on time. Because of this, most people assume that vestido is feminine, only to find out that theyre wrong. La cancin es muy larga. Me encanta el salmn ahumado. That color is pretty. Words that end in -in are feminine nouns, such as religin (religion). by Classroom52. The song is too long. Un - unos. Professions also refer to people, but are kind of their own subset. Time to dive into a topic that combines grammar and etiquette. Here's what's included: Get conjugations, examples, and pronunciations for millions of words and phrases in Spanish and English. Therefore, "red" is "rojo" but it becomes "roja" with a. Browse Spanish translations from Spain, Mexico, or any other Spanish-speaking country. A lot of them are identical or almost identical to words you already know in English! Because coming from English you dont have any reference to hold on to, sometimes our memory can only recall so much and we mix up the gender. Los peces son muy bonitos. The grammatical gender is an arbitrary classification that divides nouns into two types: masculines or feminines. I love smoked salmon. On your particular example of a dropdown menu with the names of languages, you don't have to worry because there is only one name for (the language) Spanish: espaol, masculine. And if theres another word between the definite article (el/la) and the noun, we use the feminine article: La extensa rea / La imponente aula / La hermosa guila. endings to determine the gender of a word in Spanish. b. holiday (United Kingdom) Ests muy estresado; necesitas irte de vacaciones.You are too stressed out; you should go on holiday. I hope this helps. And it sounds quite logical if nouns refer to living creatures: Masculine: El hombre (The man) Feminine: La mujer (The woman) Masculine: Un caballo (A horse) Feminine: Una yegua (A mare) But what about nouns that stand for non-living things? The opposite time of day, la noche (night), is feminine, so you can think of them as a pair. This power point explains how Spanish nouns, articles and adjectives have gender and number. NOTE: The masculine gender has been used for brevity and includes the feminine gender. There are three genders in Spanish: masculine, feminine, and neutral. Why is a car masculine but a house feminine? If a color is working as a Spanish adjective, it will need to change its gender to agree with the noun unless such a color ends with a consonant or -e. Our dogs are small. The noun is called "de gnero comn" (common gender) when with the same termination it may . Then little by little you will learn the others. These adjectives are derived from the name of that place. Dijiste que the letters of the alphabet are masculine, pero son feminine, Muchas gracias, Ann! man, dog, house). Grammatical gender is a property of Spanish nouns. You will need to memorize rule-breaking words like la mano (hand) and el d'ia (day). Days and months are masculine: el lunes, el mircoles, el sbado, este abril, ese enero, etc. Helpful, right? " El nio es bonito y gordo ". Follow this link if you want to know WHY nouns have a gender in Spanish. Although in English there is no need to think about whether a pencil is a masculine or a feminine noun, it is important in Spanish because the adjectives (i. e. pretty, ugly, small, big) and articles (the equivalents of "the" in Spanish, such as: el, la, los and las) of a sentence must match the gender and number of nouns. Enrolling in a course lets you earn progress by passing quizzes and exams. Privacy | Terms of Use. In Italian (including all Italian dialects) and Portuguese, the sea is strictly masculine: il mare (Sicilian: u mari, Venetian: el mar, Neapolitan: 'o mare, Sardinian: su mari, Corsican: u mare) and o mar (the same for Galician); however in French and Romanian it is feminine: la mer and la mare. When you are starting out in Spanish knowing the gender of nouns is very difficult. If you look at texts 30 years ago you would never find LA arquitectA, it would have been LA arquitectO. Subscribe to the Lawless Spanish newsletter, New lessons and features in your inbox every Thursday. Even though the brother is a man, the word persona is always feminine. This discussion is especially alive with occupations. When you first start learning Spanish, grammatical gender can seem arbitrary and confusing. That pattern works for things too. (general) a. pasar las vacaciones (United States) 3. Why? That singer is very talented. But as you already know, there is no such thing as neutral nouns in Spanish. As you can see, there are adjectives that follow the regular rule for endings using -o/-as/-os/-as (rojo, amarillo, negro, blanco, morado). These nouns keep the same spelling, regardless of gender a fact that cuts down the number of words you have to memorize to speak and write Spanish like a native. Its the persons gender that will determine whether we use el or la. Yet it behaves like a feminine noun. Youre more likely to hearel gato when someone is talking about a generic cat, for example. noun uk / veke.n/ us / veke.n/ A1 [ C or U ] US (UK holiday) a time when someone does not go to work or school but is free to do what they want, such as travel or relax vacaciones We're taking a vacation in June. Boroditsky proposes that because the word for "bridge" in German die brucke is a feminine noun, and the word for "bridge" in Spanish el puente is a masculine noun, native speakers. and an adjective (hungry, thirsty,. The Masculine and feminine 1 Whack-a-mole. Exceptions: la mano, la radio, la moto, la foto. However your friend is a hypochondriac and you need to assure him/her everything is going to be fine. There are some words that end with -o, -ma, -pa, -ta, or LONERS that are feminine. Sofa es muy inteligente. How do numbers and gender affect adjectives in Spanish? Your voice is so high-pitched. Here's what's included: Get conjugations, examples, and pronunciations for millions of words and phrases in Spanish and English. Because gender is such an integral part of learning Spanish your best bet as an English speaker is to acquire each new word with its respective article. El ni o - the male child / la ni a - the female child. To put it in simple terms, if youre working with a Spanish masculine noun, you must make sure its modifiers are also masculine. One of the first things that Spanish students learn is that most Spanish nouns that end in -o are masculine and most that end in -a are feminine. Many nouns that refer to jobs or roles of people can be either masculine or feminine depending on the person they refer to. Well break it down into three basic groups. That said, we need to get something out of the way before diving into the rules for gender in Spanish. El patn elctrico es muy prctico. Besides the masculine and feminine genders, some nouns are called: de gnero comn, epiceno, and ambiguo. Los nios juegan en el parque. As a result, here are some frequently asked questions that most of my students usually have. Take Note: When it comes to living things (people and animals), masculine nouns are always used when referring to a mixed group (no matter how many females or males are) or when talking about the group as a whole. Just because two words look alike doesnt mean they have the same definition. Benoit Hamon, CEO de SINGA, est venu sur Komune pour donner des faits face aux ides As you can see, below that chart, you'll then see the "el" & "la . However, there are a few masculine nouns that end in -a. In Spanish, all nouns are either masculine or feminine. up when learning new vocab because they had learned this rule of thumb. Tu vecina es muy ruidosa. Masculine and Feminine in Spanish (el & la): The Rules & Their Many Exceptions. This rule is only applicable to the following numbers: Tengo doscientos pesos. We say EL agua frA (The cold water). vacation translate: vacances [feminine, plural], vacances [feminine, plural], passer ses vacances, vacances, passer des. I am going to travel to Mexico during summer vacation. The use of the masculine gender includes the feminine and is used only to facilitate the reading. Tell Me In Spanish (tellmeinspanish.com) is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. For those who are serious about their Spanish, there is nothing like the entire Fluenz journey including our digital App, the face-to-face Online Immersion, and the six-day experiences in Mexico City, Barcelona, or Oaxaca. La juez es muy puntual. Your lipstick is so pretty! Most adjectives must agree in gender with the noun they modify. However, in certain situations, changing the gender of a noun can also change its meaning, as you can see in the graphic and examples below: Mi mam tiene un cerezo. With these types of nouns, you still have to mark the gender. Theres a cold front in the city. More often than not, the endings change according to the gender of the person or animal: Sometimes only the article changes. Just think of the Spanish word for problem: el problema! In Spanish if there is a group of people, both males and females, you use the masculine to address them all, so masculine will work in most cases. Nouns ending in o are usually masculine, and nouns ending in a are usually feminine. El telfono is masculine. Here it might help to connect it with a feminine word that is opposite, so you can remember the words in pairs. If a word ends with these three letters, you can be almost certain its a feminine noun. The journalist works all day. Therefore, you simply need to memorize the gender of words that end with z. I have an extra pen. La serpiente - the serpent. Here is a quick overview of the topics well cover: By the end of this article, youll have a more solid understanding of how Spanish gender works. Her bedroom is purple. Be careful since you may fall into a trap of gender thinking. As we mention in the masculine section, many words that end in-e are masculine. However, the gender in Spanish language can be really tricky sometimes. (Check out this link to learn how to use articles in Spanish). Most animal names have a female and a male form, but not all do. Feminine and masculine nouns ending in -E. Nouns ending in -e can be masculine and feminine. This is because in English, living creatures often have different names, depending upon whether they are male or female. More examples: rea (el rea/las reas), aula (el aula/las aulas), guila (el guila/las guilas), etc. First of all, what is a noun? Spanish nouns have a gender, which is either feminine (like la mujer or la luna) or masculine (like el hombre or el sol). Im going to list them one by one, and also I will teach you what the exceptions are if there are any. Talking about people, especially family members, often includes referring to gender. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors. The food was delicious. All the Spanish nouns ending in cin, -sin, -tad, -tud, -dad or umbre are feminine: There are some Spanish nouns that have the same form for both masculine and feminine. Generally, if the masculine form ends with an -o, to form the feminine you just need to replace it with an -a: If the masculine form ends witn a consonant, to form the feminine we just add an -a: They usually have the same form for masculine and feminine: el/la estudiante, el/la cantante, el/la agente, el/la paciente, etc. To know if a noun is masculine or feminine, you should look to see what letter(s) the word ends with. They went to Europe on vacation. So, you would have to establish if that friend is a male or a female to determine which article to use. If you have the word for friend, it refers to a person correct? If you dont have one, sign up its free! This can be very confusing. Feminine nouns that end in -o * These words are shortened from words that do end in A: discoteca, fotografa, motocicleta, pornografa, and radiodifusin. Singular and plural feminine & masculine maze Maze chase. 250 words that are the same in English and Spanish, Spanish words that are similar to English words, its not really incorrect to use the feminine form. Lessons for Adults & Kids. If the noun is masculine and singular, use the masculine, singular ending (usually - o ).