How do you know if a Spanish noun is masculine or feminine?
Spanish has no neuter nouns: every noun is masculine or feminine, and the article and the adjectives agree with it — el libro rojo, la mesa roja. For a thing, the gender belongs to the word, not to the thing: la silla and el sillón are both chairs.
The endings are a strong guide. Most nouns in -o are masculine and most in -a are feminine, and a few endings come close to certain: -ción, -sión, -dad, -tad, -tud and -umbre are feminine; -aje is masculine. Nouns ending in -e or in another consonant can go either way — el coche but la noche, el lunes but la crisis — so learn them with the article: not coche, but el coche.
| Ending | Usually | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| -o | Masculine | el libro, el vaso, el año |
| -a | Feminine | la casa, la mesa, la hora |
| -ción, -sión | Feminine | la canción, la televisión |
| -dad, -tad, -tud | Feminine | la ciudad, la libertad, la juventud |
| -umbre | Feminine | la costumbre, la cumbre |
| -aje | Masculine | el viaje, el mensaje, el garaje |
| -or | Masculine | el amor, el color — but la flor, la labor |
| -e, other consonants | Either | el coche, la noche, el lunes, la crisis |
Which Spanish nouns ending in -a are masculine?
The biggest group comes from Greek: nouns in -ma that were neuter in Greek are masculine in Spanish — el problema, el tema, el sistema, el idioma, el programa, el clima. Not every -ma noun: la cama, la forma and la crema are feminine, like most nouns in -a.
A few more are simply masculine: el día, el mapa, el planeta, el sofá. A noun for a person in -ista takes either article, by who is meant: el artista, la artista.
| Group | Examples |
|---|---|
| -ma nouns, mostly from Greek | el problema, el tema, el sistema, el idioma, el programa, el clima |
| Others to learn | el día, el mapa, el planeta, el sofá |
| People: by who is meant | el artista, la artista; el turista, la turista |
Which Spanish nouns ending in -o are feminine?
Very few. La mano is the everyday one. The others are shortened from a feminine noun and keep its gender: la foto (la fotografía), la moto (la motocicleta), la disco (la discoteca).
Radio is feminine for the medium everywhere: lo oí en la radio. For the set itself, Spain and the Southern Cone say la radio, while Mexico, Central America, the Antilles, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela say el radio — each is standard where it is said. El radio is also the radius of a circle and a bone in the arm, everywhere.
| Noun | Why it is feminine |
|---|---|
| la mano | Simply feminine |
| la foto | Short for la fotografía |
| la moto | Short for la motocicleta |
| la disco | Short for la discoteca |
Why is it el agua if agua is feminine?
A feminine noun that begins with a stressed a- or ha- takes el right in front of it, for the sound: el agua, el águila, el hambre. It stays feminine — el agua fría, las aguas, mucha hambre. El agua or la agua has the whole rule and its few exceptions.
Which Spanish nouns change meaning with el or la?
These are two words that share a spelling, and the article tells them apart: Madrid es la capital de España, but no tengo capital para el negocio; el cura de mi pueblo, but no hay cura para esa enfermedad; el orden alfabético, but el soldado no obedeció la orden.
| Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|
| el capital — money, wealth | la capital — the capital city |
| el cura — the priest | la cura — the cure |
| el orden — order, arrangement | la orden — an order you obey |
| el frente — the front | la frente — the forehead |
| el cometa — the comet | la cometa — the kite |
| el pendiente — the earring | la pendiente — the slope |
| el editorial — the editorial | la editorial — the publisher |
| el cólera — cholera | la cólera — anger |
Which Spanish nouns can be masculine or feminine?
A few take either article with no change in meaning. El mar is the general use; la mar is common among sailors and fishermen and in poetry, and lives on in fixed phrases — alta mar, hacerse a la mar, la mar de (very). Azúcar is right either way, more often el azúcar. Neither is ever wrong, so the quiz leaves them out.
A noun for a person can have one form for both sexes, with the article saying which: el estudiante, la estudiante; el periodista, la periodista. Others keep one gender whoever is meant: la persona and la víctima are feminine for a man too, and el personaje is masculine for a woman.
Why do English speakers get Spanish noun gender wrong?
English has no grammatical gender, so the article is one more fact to carry for every noun — and the -o/-a pattern is reliable enough that its exceptions slip through: la problema, el mano, la día. The fix is to learn every noun with its article, so the gender comes with the word: el problema, la mano, el día.
Our mistake corpus tags verb tenses and a few pronoun and preposition points, not gender, so there is no first-party rate on this page — the quiz below is the measure.
What comes after noun gender?
El agua or la agua is the one rule that puts el before a feminine noun, and Spanish diminutives keep the noun's gender — la manita, el cafecito. Muy vs mucho and bien vs bueno are where gender reaches the words around the noun: mucha hambre, una buena idea, un buen día. The free Spanish level test places you on the A1–C2 scale in five minutes.