However, the word persona is always a feminine word. link to Venir Conjugation 101: Conjugate Venir In Spanish, link to Probar Conjugation 101: Conjugate Probar in Spanish. And they can be a little confusing because sometimes the noun endings change (the masculineel doctor and the feminine la doctora), but sometimes they dont (the masculineel poeta and the femininela poeta). Therefore, "red" is "rojo" but it becomes "roja" with a. Take Note: To pluralize these Spanish words, you must change the -z for the ending -ces. Making educational experiences better for everyone. Both are fem. I have two hundred pesos. We would say El mdicO, La mdicO. 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? 4 Answers. Those singers are Spanish. There is not a single pattern, as you can see from the following examples. Its the same for words ending with -a: el/la espa, el/la polica, el/la gua. That singer is very talented. Estas manzanas estn muy agrias. 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. Encarga doscientas galletas.Order two hundred cookies. Then its time to test yourself with a quick quiz we put together. For instance, when the word for a person or occupation ends in -e. When occupations end in -a it gets messy. However, the gender in Spanish language can be really tricky sometimes. Also see my lesson on the stressed A, which causes feminine nouns to take the masculine article. Take Note: The gender of a noun in Spanish affects determiners, adjectives, and some pronouns. Comment *document.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id", "afd5b14b53088abe26398d903d076933" );document.getElementById("a465f5e1c1").setAttribute( "id", "comment" ); Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Nuestros perros son pequeos. Masculine forms. A noun is a word referring to a person, animal, place, thing, feeling or idea (e.g. If you know your endings and what gender they fall into, the onlyexception to keep in mind is when the word refers to a person, an animal or an occupation because the person or animal will determine the gender of the word. La noche - the night. Because the gender of the noun changes the article or adjective that you can use with the noun. Example 1: We said all words ending in -a are feminine. As you can see, below that chart, youll then see the el & la exceptions for Spanish words. Feminine forms. One of the biggest exceptions to the LONERS rule we talked about for masculine nouns above is-in. Therefore, its correct to say: Tengo cien pesos. You know that people and animals are masculine or feminine, but did you know that nouns in Spanish have gender? coming up later. If you are starting to learn Spanish, we only introduce the concept of gender differences a couple of sessions in. Most Spanish adjectives must agree in gender and number with the accompanying noun. Got all that? And because it is an occupation, we said that those . Quiero un caf, por favor. Search millions of Spanish-English example sentences from our dictionary, TV shows, and the internet. 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. So, well cover those exceptions below, too. But as you already know, there is no such thing as neutral nouns in Spanish. Even though these endings can generally help you with the gender of a noun, there are some words that do not follow these rules. This rule is only applicable to the following numbers: Tengo doscientos pesos. As a romance language, Spanish has grammatical gender whose purpose is to express whether a noun is masculine or feminine. The kids play in the park. Este restaurante es muy famoso. If you dont have one, sign up its free! If you liked this post, you can share it with someone else who might find it helpful! The Spanish letters "a" and "o" as the final letter of a word designate a feminine or masculine word; "a" is feminine and "o" is masculine. This can be very confusing. For example: Subscribe for free weekly updates from this Spanish Language site. The user may also prefer cheaper vacations and may have desiderata or wishes such as visiting an attraction park in each stop. For living things (such as people and animals), the grammatical gender is associated with the biological gender: El perro de Luis es blanco. Read 250 words that are the same in English and Spanish and Spanish words that are similar to English words to boost your vocabulary right away! For English speakers, it is hard to determine when a noun is feminine or masculine simply because nouns in English have no gender. (f) means that a noun is feminine. However, there are a few masculine nouns that end in -a. Well the answer is just because . It's a good place to start for beginners though! The pink t-shirt is too big. There are a few exceptions to this rule (for example, la mano and el mapa ). Me encanta el salmn ahumado. I hope you have enjoyed this article about masculine and feminine in Spanish! 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. I hope you find what youre looking for here during your journey into Espaol . What does the root Manus mean? Talking about people, especially family members, often includes referring to gender. Words like el reloj (watch) have a gender, but it is not always easy to predict. Soy Daniela Sanchez, Ive taught Spanish in Mexico to a wide array of foreigners. The Amazon River is the worlds largest river. However, with some specific nouns (especially when we talk about professions) we do replace the -e with an -a, and both forms are correct: El presidente -> La presidente / La presidenta. An intransitive verb is one that does not require a direct object (e.g. Claudias make-up is very good. But it is something that even advanced students mix up once in a while. All other trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. This means that every word for a person, place, thing or idea is either masculine or feminine. Youre more likely to hearel gato when someone is talking about a generic cat, for example. Spanish Language Dictations Level Beginner #001. las vacaciones and la estaci'on. When you are starting out in Spanish knowing the gender of nouns is very difficult. Test yourself on the gender of Spanish nouns: Note: You must be logged into your Progress with Lawless Spanish account to take these tests. Given that this may be a new concept for new learners, many people wonder what grammatical gender in Spanish is. Copyright 2006 Harrap Publishers Limited. Otherwise, it would sound like laaagua. Tom la decisin equivocada. For that reason, this guide covers all the information you need to understand this topic. Estamos de vacaciones en la Florida ahora mismo. Colors are ADJECTIVES. In the tables below, youll find the most common endings for feminine words in Spanish. All of these expressions, as well as a number of others, have one thing in common. Me gusta el vestido rosa. Spanish nouns have a gender, which is either feminine (like la mujer or la luna) or masculine (like el hombre or el sol). Most words that. Feminine and masculine nouns ending in -E. Nouns ending in -e can be masculine and feminine. Access millions of accurate translations written by our team of experienced English-Spanish translators. This couch is very comfortable. 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. 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. 2. While this is actually true for a lot of words, there are so many exceptions to this rule that it often becomes more of a problem than a solution. Youve probably heard this one before: words ending in -a are feminine and words ending in -o are masculine. The Philippines (/ f l p i n z / (); Filipino: Pilipinas), officially the Republic of the Philippines (Filipino: Republika ng Pilipinas), is an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia.It is situated in the western Pacific Ocean and consists of around 7,641 islands that are broadly categorized under three main geographical divisions from north to south: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. Retrieved from https://lingualinkup.com/el-la-spanish/. When talking about people, animals and occupations things get a bit blurry. La casa blanca es muy bonita.The white house is very pretty. La camisa rosa es muy grande. Beware of exceptions! The L cuts that unpleasant sound: el agua. Forms of feminine and masculine nouns. Do you see those words ending with -ma? The journalist works all day. The last three of them are actually abbreviations of feminine compound words: la radiofona, la motocicleta, la fotografa. The general rule states that all Spanish nouns are masculine or feminine. Words ending in -ismo are simply the Spanish counterparts to the English isms because they share the same Latin root. My students are already speaking Spanish and using it in their everyday lives. Even if the nouns are in singular! If the noun is masculine and singular, use the masculine, singular ending (usually - o ). The same goes for nouns ending with -or: el amor, el dolor, el error, el sabor, etc. Privacy | Terms of Use. During the day Im a freelancer and marketer, while at night Im here writing for students of the world wide web looking to learn Spanish. In the sections below, youll find tables with the most common endings for masculine words 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. As explained before, a big portion of masculine words in Spanish end with an -o. To do so, youll use Spanish articles, adjectives, or pronouns. The bull is very aggressive, and the cow is very calm. In this lesson, we'll look at the differences between masculine and feminine nouns and learn some tips to remember them. Tweet. Why? Create an account to start this course today. 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. What gender is the sea in your mind? All rights reserved. La mesera descansa los jueves. La mano (hand) is feminine, but el pie (foot) is masculine. In these cases, we use. All nouns in Spanish have a gender, and are either feminine or masculine. 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. Can vacaciones be singular? When working as adjectives, numbers have to agree in gender and number with the noun they are modifying. La sangre - the blood. Words ending in -o are generally masculine, while ones ending in -a are generally feminine . La maestra tiene dos gatitas.The teacher has two kitties. 1. Most masculine nouns end in -o, like hermano, meaning 'brother' and most feminine nouns end in -a, like hermana, meaning 'sister'. Its important to know the grammatical gender of a noun in Spanish because all of the elements referring to them (articles, adjectives, pronouns) will agree in grammatical gender, too: There are some rules that you can follow when it comes to identifying masculine and feminine in Spanish. I need a vacation from my family after the reunion. Enrolling in a course lets you earn progress by passing quizzes and exams. However, this doesnt mean that all words that end with an -a are feminine. Here are two articles that help shed some light on the subject: Puzzle Solved: Why nouns in Spanish are feminine and masculine, The Ultimate Tip-Sheet to Articles in Spanish: (El vs. La, Un vs. Una), Your email address will not be published. First of all, what is a noun? Grammatical gender is a property of Spanish nouns. As you can see, most of them are nouns used to describe a persons profession or occupation: And here are some examples of what you can do to mark the gender of these words: [Masculine or feminine determiner] + [noun]+ (adjective). Join the Tell Me In Spanish community and get a copy of my step-by-step Spanish Learners Roadmaps and tricky synonyms & vocab cheat sheets. But that is also the beauty of a language, and the fact that it is alive and evolving is one of the elements that I find personally interesting. frias, sair de frias, frias [feminine, vacances [feminine, plural], passer ses vacances, vacanza, andare in vacanza, (passare le vacanze), Test your vocabulary with our fun image quizzes, Clear explanations of natural written and spoken English. When using demonstrative pronouns (esta, esa, aquella) with these words, they stay feminine. But really, the LONERS rule will work for you almost every time. One other common word that ends in -a but that is masculine is the word el da (day). Some of the exceptions occur because of how the words were treated in other languages, such as Latin and Greek. Youll find a few Spanish singular feminine words that end with -a that are preceded by a masculine article. Miami Beach, FL 33139, 1000 5th St, suite 200 During the day Im a freelancer and online marketer, while at night Im here writing for students of the world wide web looking to learn Spanish. However, on top of its irregularities, this verb also has E to I and E to IE stem changes in certain tenses. Take the Spanish words for "colour" and "tooth": el color, el diente. Miami Beach, FL 33139, All Rights Reserved, 2017-2023. Sugared water is bad for your health. The 27 Letters of the Spanish Alphabet [2022], Learn Basic Spanish: The First 10 Spanish Words You Need To Learn [2022]. For example, we usually say la moto for motorcycle, which ends in an -o. Be aware that these guidelines are not set in stone, and there are some exceptions that youll need to memorize. I desperately need a vacation! However your friend is a hypochondriac and you need to assure him/her everything is going to be fine. This is a feminine word because it is a short form of the longer word, la motocicleta. I have an extra pen. Copyright (c) Minerva Webworks LLC All Rights Reserved. The noun is called "de gnero comn" (common gender) when with the same termination it may . Exceptions to that rule are la crema and la yema, which come from French and Latin respectively. This allows us to ease the pronunciation! These adjectives are derived from the name of that place. The problem is that I dont have time. We know that a person can be a man or a woman. Sometimes we have a different word for each sex: Just the same as what happens with people, sometimes we have different words for each sex: Many words have an only form, masculine or feminine: El tiburn, el cocodrilo, el dinosaurio, el pulpo, etc. Be one of them! Some examples include: These rules can help you most of the time to determine if the noun is masculine, but they won't always work. by Kcastonguay. In Spanish, all nouns are either masculine or feminine. Lucia has very nice qualities. La torre - the tower. Just because two words look alike doesnt mean they have the same definition. El nino y el gato. These key rules will make it easier for you! The standard rules are here on the top of the page, but you shouldn't trust them fully. In Spanish, the word "tea" is used for a wide variety of beverages from coffee to cold brew to water to iced tea to tea bags and more. Men wish that they had been warriors, or are proud that they once were. More examples: rea (el rea/las reas), aula (el aula/las aulas), guila (el guila/las guilas), etc. El DIA = THE DAY This discussion is especially alive with occupations. But fortunately, Spanish grammatical gender does have some rules you can follow to figure out when you needel and when you needla. Also, in plural they keep the feminine definite article (las), because the S avoids the cacophony: las aguas. Most Spanish nouns ending in -o are masculine, and most ending in -a are feminine, but there are exceptions. For example, la mano (hand) & el da (day). He studied English literature and linguistics at New York University, but spent most of his time in college working for the student paper. Learn and practice Spanish * Daily practice * Find your level (proficiency test) * Spanish for beginners * Travel Spanish, A1 | A2 | B1 | B2 | C1 Find your level. SpanishDict is the world's most popular Spanish-English dictionary, translation, and learning website. You may have come across this strange exception before where the masculine article el is used for a feminine word. All of these rules use the ending of a word as a trick to determine its gender. Lesson outline 1. 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). (2020,May 08 ). This name is also derived from the Hebrew name Yitzhak which means ' one who rejoices.'. 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. Because aguas is plural in the second example, the s on the end of the article las breaks up the stressed a in aguas. Collins Complete Spanish Electronic Dictionary HarperCollins Publishers 2011. Uncle and aunt, for example, are el to andla ta. Sofa es muy inteligente. For these nouns, all you have to do is change the definite article to reflect whether the person in question is male or female. Do you want to practice your Spanish? 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. La comida estuvo muy rica. The waitress doesnt work on Thursday. While most nouns refer to objects and concepts that dont have gender, there are also the nouns that do. Discover word endings used for feminine and masculine nouns in Spanish, explore exceptions,. You will get new updates by email, as well as a copy of my ebook, the Definitive Guide to Learn Conjugations in Spanish. Because of this, he has really hard opinions about AP Style. It is usually at the end of words that describe people, like artista (artist) and realista (realist). Fortunately, even the exceptions have rules. With these types of nouns, you still have to mark the gender. -Tud, like in the word actitud (attitude) is also a common ending for feminine nouns. 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! El Amazonas es el ro ms largo del mundo. And because it is an occupation, we said that those that end in -a, tend to stay the same. La mochila roja me gusta ms. You will find them in the list below. 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. La familia se fue de vacaciones a Mjico. Dictionaries always indicate the grammatical gender of a noun! is vacation in spanish masculine or feminine. One warning, though: the S in LONERS refers to nouns that are singular, like el mes. Is vacation feminine or masculine in Spanish? Its the persons gender that will determine whether we use el or la. Nouns in Spanish can be either feminine or masculine, and this distinction can often seem illogical to people who don't speak Spanish. Usted is used to speak in a more professional manner. Spanish gender can be a challenging topic for many new and advanced learners. La luz es bastante brillante. Nouns ending with -a are usually feminine: la mesa, la cama, la casa, la palabra, etc. If you were referring to a male friend, which article would you use EL or LA? The mechanic works every day. Conseiller(re) aux ventes Corbeil lectromnager recherche une personne qui aime offrir aux clients une exprience de magasinage remarquable et qui a un bon sens de l'analyse des besoins. Words ending in -ed (if the stress falls on this syllable). Yet it behaves like a feminine noun. But then you find out that its la foto, not el foto. Cardinal directions are masculine, too: el norte, el sur, el este, el oeste. copyright 2003-2023 Study.com. Although words that end in -a are usually feminine, we already know that the words with -ma at the end of them are masculine. But since doctor refers to a person and an occupation, its the gender of the doctor that will determine the article and ending. Have you tried it yet? vacation Noun 1. These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. *Note: la moto and la foto are a shortened version of the feminine words motocicleta and fotografa. To keep the sentence consistent, adjectives, articles, and pronouns must agree in gender and number with the noun they modify. This means that most Spanish adjectives will change their gender to match the noun. Este semestre est bien pesado. Learn more in the Cambridge English-French Dictionary. The adjective for Canad . Copyright Curiosity Media, Inc., a division of IXL Learning All Rights Reserved. Las aguas azucaradas son malas para la salud. Here there are some examples: El cuento (tale) La cuenta (account, sum). Required fields are marked *. To unlock this lesson you must be a Study.com Member. Singapore is very expensive. Here are some of the letters that we usually see at the end of masculine words. The use of the masculine gender includes the feminine and is used only to facilitate the reading. [Determiner] + [noun] + [verb conjugated] + [adjective]. You cant apply it to plural nouns or that would mean that every word would be masculine. 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. vacation translate: vacances [feminine, plural], vacances [feminine, plural], passer ses vacances, vacances, passer des. I would definitely recommend Study.com to my colleagues. 3. 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." We covered o above because it really requires its own section, but this is a good general rule of thumb. This site also participates in other affiliate programs, including CJ and other sites, and is compensated for referring traffic and business to these companies, but in no way increases the cost to you if you opt to make a purchase from my links. is vacation in spanish masculine or feminine. The judge is always on time. As established before, a Spanish noun can be classified as masculine or feminine depending on its gender. Therefore, vestido (dress) is actually a masculine noun. Not only in Spanish, but also in other Romance and non-Romance languages, such as German and Russian. For objects and concepts, Spanish gender is, The Spanish masculine gender can be used to talk about a, Most feminine words in Spanish end with , Singular feminine words that start with a, Certain nouns related to professions have fixed endings. All of the nouns ending with -o are usually masculine: el bolgrafo, el dinero, el edificio, el vaso, etc. When they describe a NOUN, they must match its GENDER (masculine/feminine). Why is it important to know if a noun is feminine or masculine? Now lets see how to know if a word is masculine or feminine in Spanish when talking about people and animals. Spanish speakers always like to have vacations in plural. The light is quite bright. I hope you find what youre looking here during your journey into Espaol Read More About Me, Venir Conjugation 101: Conjugate Venir In Spanish. Just like with nouns, Spanish masculine adjectives usually end in the vowel -O like "Bonito" and "Creativo", e.g. If you have the word for friend, it refers to a person correct? vacacion is more commonly used in plural than in singular. Here, well go through some of the most common giveaways that a word is masculine or feminine, as well as the cases when Spanish grammatical gender can switch for a single word. Reading comprehension. The word for 'the' or 'a' changes depending on the gender of the noun and whether it is singular or plural. Even though the brother is a man, the word persona is always feminine. The dish is white with blue stripes. How do numbers and gender affect adjectives in Spanish? nine fem--nn 1 : of the female sex 2 : characteristic of or belonging to women : womanly 3 : of, relating to, or making up the class of words that ordinarily includes most of those referring to females a feminine noun in Latin femininely adverb feminineness noun femininity fem--nin-t- noun feminine 2 of 2 noun 1 0 && stateHdr.searchDesk ? "Masculine and Feminine in Spanish (el & la): The Rules & Their Many Exceptions."