• Spanish nouns are divided into two groups: masculine and feminine.
  Usually nouns that end with an -a are fem.; nouns that end with an -o are masculine.
  
     la niña, la mesa, la página, la comida, etc.
    el niño, el gato, el sapo,etc.
  
  
• The definite article (el/ la ) changes its form to agree with the noun in gender (masc./fem) and number (singular/plural):

Singular   Plural   Masc. el (the) el gato (the cat ) los (the) los gatos (the cats) Femin. la (the) la manzana (the apple) las (the) las manzanas (the apples)

The challenge begins when you realize that not all nouns in Spanish end with -o or -a. So how do you know when a word is masculine or feminine? Read some rules below. We will keep working on gender throughout the lessons, and soon you will realize is not that difficult.

Most nouns that end in -o or that refer to males are masculine: el libro, el hombre, el perro, el toro, el doctor, el profesor, etc. Most nouns that end in -a and that refer to female are fem. : la profesora, la hija, la niña, la madre, la señora, la mujer, etc Some nouns end in -e or a consonant can be masculine or feminine. In this case, you must memorize the gender of those nouns.

el papel		la gente
el lápiz		la clase
el arroz (rice)		la llave (key)
el examen		la luz (light)
el aceite (oil)		la piel (skin)
el cine		la torre (tower)

• Nouns that end in -dad, -tad, -tud, -umbre, -ión, -ie, -cia, -ez, -eza, -nza, -sis, and -itis are usually feminine:
  la ciudad, la crisis, la nación, la pereza, la multitud, la cumbre (moutain top), la superficie (surface), la diferencia, etc.
  
  
• Foreign words, usually from English, are masc.
  el jazz, el marketing, el campus.
  
  
• Days of week and months of the year are masculine:
  No voy a trabajar el viernes. (I'm not going to work Friday)
  Este fue el agosto más caluroso. (This was the hottest August)
  
  

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¡Vamos a practicar!
Decide if the word is masculine or feminine. Add the definite article (el or la) before each noun.

	el /la			el/ la
1		cuerpo	11		arroz
2		amiga	12		cine
3		oveja	13		piel
4		cartera	14		luz
5		hombre	15		organización
6		duquesa	16		marketing
7		librería	17		ciudad
8		padre	18		viernes
9		doctora	19		jazz
10		papel	20		diferencia

 

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