Here's what's included: Get conjugations, examples, and pronunciations for millions of words and phrases in Spanish and English. Gender in Spanish: How to know when a noun is feminine or masculine [2022]. Although its not really incorrect to use the feminine form, its less common. Because there area lot. Also, in plural they keep the feminine definite article (las), because the S avoids the cacophony: las aguas. It's the person's gender that will determine whether we use el or la. 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. Grammatical gender is a property of Spanish nouns. La disco is short for la discoteca, andla foto is short forla fotografa. When My Masculine Met My Feminine | Tijana Tamburic | TEDxBucharest Learn more in the Cambridge English-French Dictionary. But since doctor refers to a person and an occupation, its the gender of the doctor that will determine the article and ending. All other trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. Suzys bottle is empty. Not only in Spanish, but also in other Romance and non-Romance languages, such as German and Russian. 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. Usage explanations of natural written and spoken English. Most words that. Is vacation in Spanish masculine or feminine? I have one hundred pesos. It is usually at the end of words that describe people, like artista (artist) and realista (realist). 1. Thinking of them together might help you remember their correct gender. 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 Therefore, vestido (dress) is actually a masculine noun. Feminine nouns that end in -o * These words are shortened from words that do end in A: discoteca, fotografa, motocicleta, pornografa, and radiodifusin. Make sure you pay attention to the exceptions column. Unlike the masculine, theres no fun acronym for feminine nouns. by Mgomezhernandez. up when learning new vocab because they had learned this rule of thumb. Soy Daniela Sanchez, Ive taught Spanish in Mexico to a wide array of foreigners. Janet Long has taught post-secondary Spanish and English for over 15 years. In Spanish, all nouns have a gender. This semester is really tough. 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. Feminine: (a, cin, dad) La chica- the girl. But it is something that even advanced students mix up once in a while. The ending -a is a good indicator that youre most likely dealing with a feminine Spanish word. My kitty is sick. My mom has a cherry tree. When you are starting out in Spanish knowing the gender of nouns is very difficult. As we mention in the masculine section, many words that end in-e are masculine. Dijiste que the letters of the alphabet are masculine, pero son feminine, Muchas gracias, Ann! The general rule is that words ending with -o are masculine and words ending with -a are feminine. This means that every time you use a noun, you must express whether its a feminine or masculine word. copyright 2003-2023 Study.com. This can be very confusing. Your house is big and pretty. by Classroom52. Colors are ADJECTIVES. " El nio es bonito y gordo ". Professions also refer to people, but are kind of their own subset. (general) a. vacation (United States) Me urge una vacacin! Me gusta la vestido rosa. Origin adjectives express where people or things come from. 1000 5th St, suite 200 Tweet. Let's look at the word persona (person) to help explain this idea. The kids play in the park. Lesson outline 1. Other nouns that are always feminine are those words that end with -ad or -ed. A few of the most common ones are: Any words that are actually a shorter form of a longer word. You can use the word that best fits a noun to determine if it's masculine or feminine. Lingua Linkup. 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. Hay un frente fro en la ciudad. If you want to learn more Spanish, subscribe to my newsletter for free! The adjective for Brasil is brasileo. Its The dressing room is occupied. The L cuts that unpleasant sound: el agua. Estamos de vacaciones en la Florida ahora mismo. (2020,May 08 ). Here it might help to connect it with a feminine word that is opposite, so you can remember the words in pairs. The truth can be painful. vacation translate: vacances [feminine, plural], vacances [feminine, plural], passer ses vacances, vacances, passer des. Something like ZAD? . La verdad puede ser dolorosa. That being said, there are, of course, exceptions to this rule. Mi primo tambin es inteligente. The balcony is very big. El mecnico trabaja todos los das. Access millions of accurate translations written by our team of experienced English-Spanish translators. For those interested in a little history, masculine Spanish nouns that end in-ta,-pa and-ma tend to come from Greek originally. Some of the exceptions occur because of how the words were treated in other languages, such as Latin and Greek. #RAEconsultas Although vacaciones is the majority use, the singular vacacin is also correct: la vacacin veraniega (P. Lan Entralgo). Yet if you are referring to a person or occupation this is what happens: LA espa = The spy (if the spy is a woman. It's a good place to start for beginners though! So far, youve learned some of the most common endings used to form feminine and masculine words in Spanish and their exceptions. An exception is nene (colloquial term for little kid): el nene -> la nena. and the Spanish Civil War failed in reality to place him in a distinctly different camp from Chamberlain and . We said all words ending in -a are feminine. Check these examples of sentences with colors in Spanish: El rosa es mi color preferido. For English speakers, it is hard to determine when a noun is feminine or masculine simply because nouns in English have no gender. LONERS - words that end with any of the letters in LONERS are usually masculine. Sometimes, all we need is a quick and simple explanation to remove the obstacles, bringing the goal of being fluent in Spanish within grasping distance. Regardless of the rules we stated above, if the word is referring to an animal or a person, then the article must correspond to the gender of the animal or person. The general rule states that all Spanish nouns are masculine or feminine. I hope this helps. Several Spanish nouns have a masculine and a feminine form, for example, hijo - son and hija - daughter.Another example is mdico - male doctor and mdica - female doctor.. That said, we need to get something out of the way before diving into the rules for gender in Spanish. La casa blanca es muy bonita.The white house is very pretty. The grammatical gender is an arbitrary classification that divides nouns into two types: masculines or feminines. Cardinal directions are masculine, too: el norte, el sur, el este, el oeste. But as you already know, there is no such thing as neutral nouns in Spanish. Most animal names have a female and a male form, but not all do. Most adjectives in Spanish can be either feminine or masculine depending on the genre of the accompanying noun. La periodista es muy insistente. Have you tried it yet? Colours in Spanish. The dentists are very young. Instead of learning: libro = book, try committing to memory: EL libro = The book. A lot of them are identical or almost identical to words you already know in English! Many people mistakenly think the gender of a noun in Spanish is determined by who uses that object. Well break it down into three basic groups. The standard rules are here on the top of the page, but you shouldnt trust them fully. El diseo de mi prima no est terminado. vacacion is more commonly used in plural than in singular. Access millions of accurate translations written by our team of experienced English-Spanish translators. Fluenz Fluenz Blog Learn Spanish Basic Spanish El or La? Not only in Spanish, but also in other Romance and non-Romance languages, such as German and Russian. Most adjectives must agree in gender with the noun they modify. You will need to memorize rule-breaking words like la mano (hand) and el d'ia (day). In English, you use a form of the verb 'to be' (am, is, are, was, were, etc.) thelanguagetutors Follow Advertisement Recommended Spanish Lesson - Lesson 3: Definite and Indefinite articles Swagatam Mitra 3.5k views 9 slides According to the standard rules, you would think the opposite, but as youll see in the exceptions below, youll learn the nuances with the Spanish language. Luis dog is white. Sofia is very smart. And with -(a)tra, especially in the medical field: el/la foniatra, el/la pediatra, el/la obstetra. Este semestre est bien pesado. Days and months are masculine: el lunes, el mircoles, el sbado, este abril, ese enero, etc. Feminine nouns have different letters at the end of them than masculine ones. We covered o above because it really requires its own section, but this is a good general rule of thumb. El DIA = THE DAY There is not a single pattern, as you can see from the following examples. Part of Paglia's understanding of men's and women's sexual "personae" is shaped by Nietzsche's Apollonian/Dionysian polarity: The former represents the masculine impulse for stoic order and rationality, while the latter represents the feminine drive toward ecstatic, bodily revelry and the chaotic, unpredictable forces of the natural world. This is because in English, living creatures often have different names, depending upon whether they are male or female. What Mono means? Whether its a good idea to split the world into two genders is a subject for a different article, but for now well go through the various kinds of nouns that switch genders. These short words keep the gender of the longer word, even if they have -ma, -pa, -ta, or LONERS at the end. You are too stressed out; you should go on holiday. Subscribe to the Lawless Spanish newsletter, New lessons and features in your inbox every Thursday. In the tables below, youll find the most common endings for feminine words in Spanish. With these rules below, you'll know which to use with every word "el" or "la". Feminine forms. Now lets see how to know if a word is masculine or feminine in Spanish when talking about people and animals. The letters of the alphabet are feminine: la a, la be, la ce, la de, etc. Distinguishing between gender is fairly straightforward - words ending in an 'a' are usually feminine, where those ending in 'e' are masculine. It is basically just a sign of respect. Lessons for Adults & Kids. I feel like its a lifeline. So, if you put a . When we have 2 or more nouns with different genre (one is masculine and the other one is feminine), and there is 1 adjective used to describe both of them, the genre of this adjective will be masculine. The picture identification task consisted of a booklet (which subjects read), containing a story about two characters preparing to go on, For example, the domain order for choosing the destination of a. Some animals, particularly those you dont come in contact with every day, tend to have one accepted Spanish grammatical gender. is vacation in spanish masculine or feminine. I need a vacation from my family after the reunion. These apples are very sour. However your friend is a hypochondriac and you need to assure him/her everything is going to be fine. Singapore is very expensive. Esa cantante es muy talentosa. My students are already speaking Spanish and using it in their everyday lives. Nuestros perros son pequeos. Every single noun in Spanish has a gender: feminine or masculine. Im always glad to reach and help more people around the world. Spanish Language Dictations Level Beginner #001. With these rules below, youll know which to use with every word el or la. It gives some general rules about how to know if a noun is masculine or feminine. Nouns in Spanish can be either feminine or masculine, and this distinction can often seem illogical to people who don't speak Spanish. 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. With these types of nouns, you still have to mark the gender. For instance, when the word for a person or occupation ends in -e. When occupations end in -a it gets messy. Tengo una pluma extra. For any person or animal that is masculine, these are the articles to use: For any person or animal that is feminine, these are the articles to use: For example. However, on top of its irregularities, this verb also has E to I and E to IE stem changes in certain tenses. 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. las vacaciones de Navidad, las vacaciones de Pascua, las vacaciones de verano. For instance, a cat can be el gato (masculine) or la . There are some rules to determine if a noun is masculine of feminine. We know that all people have gender, but in Spanish all nouns have gender. Here are the exceptions to this rule. (general) a. pasar las vacaciones (United States) 3. The name is thought to have acquired this meaning as communities in the time of Sarah and Abraham thought it to be hysterical that they were to have a child at such an elderly age. Enrolling in a course lets you earn progress by passing quizzes and exams. The same goes for some words that end in -o that are actually feminine: la mano, la radio, la foto, etc. The Masculine and feminine 1 Whack-a-mole. I like the pink dress. For that reason, in this guide, Ill provide you with all the key information you need to know to determine the gender of nouns in Spanish. The Masculine and feminine 2 Whack-a-mole. For living things (such as people and animals), the grammatical gender is associated with the biological gender: El perro de Luis es blanco. List of colors in Spanish 1. As established before, a Spanish noun can be classified as masculine or feminine depending on its gender. Before a stressed A vowel sound, use EL instead of LA even if the noun is feminine. Or el agua in singular, while las aguas in plural. Remember that nouns that end with z do not follow a default gender guideline. To put it in simple terms, if youre working with a Spanish masculine noun, you must make sure its modifiers are also masculine. Spanish Survival Kit: Asking for Directions [2022]. In addition to these anomalies, there are other Spanish gender exceptions that you must keep in mind. The noun is called "de gnero comn" (common gender) when with the same termination it may . These noun endings can tip you off that a noun is probably feminine. Colors are always masculine, even if they end with -a: el rojo, el negro, el azul, el naranja, el prpura, etc. I hope you have enjoyed this article about masculine and feminine in Spanish! While some exceptions (like la mano) are just exceptions, many words that seemingly end in -o are actually shortenings of other words. (f) means that a noun is feminine. Here are some key points that you should keep in mind about masculine and feminine words in Spanish: Hola! He studied English literature and linguistics at New York University, but spent most of his time in college working for the student paper. You may have come across this strange exception before where the masculine article el is used for a feminine word. Nouns that end with -ma, -pa, -ta, or any of the letters in the word LONERS are usually masculine. The food was delicious. A Spanish noun is a word we use to name people, things, concepts, places, and animals. In fact, a few masculine words also end with this vowel. 3. The general rule is that Spanish nouns that end in -a are feminine. Add vacation to one of your lists below, or create a new one. * This is the only word ending in -ua that takes a masculine article. As you can see, below that chart, youll then see the el & la exceptions for Spanish words. We say EL agua frA (The cold water). If you dont have one, sign up its free! Words that end in -in are feminine nouns, such as religin (religion). and an adjective (hungry, thirsty,. Youll find a few Spanish singular feminine words that end with -a that are preceded by a masculine article. This t-shirt is black. All of these rules use the ending of a word as a trick to determine its gender. Su mano es muy pequeo.His hand is very small. Our car is dirty. Do you see those words ending with -ma? La torre - the tower. Los peces son muy bonitos. 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. "Uncle" and "aunt," for example, are el to and la ta. Words ending in -ismo are simply the Spanish counterparts to the English isms because they share the same Latin root. Nuestro coche est sucio. Exceptions to that rule are la crema and la yema, which come from French and Latin respectively. The following Spanish nouns all denote living creatures. Be careful since you may fall into a trap of gender thinking. 2023 Lawless Spanish. Yes, when speaking to someone you are familiar with it is t and the verb will end with an 's' such as t quieres. The man sneezed.). In those cases, you can always look it up on a dictionary, such as the Diccionario de la Lengua Espaola. When you first start learning Spanish, grammatical gender can seem arbitrary and confusing. Dialogues in Spanish - English on 123dialogues channel: https://www.youtube.com/123dialogues Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/youstudyspanishBlog: http://y. I can help you with that! From students and tourists to doctors and soldiers whove moved and visited here over the years. (university) (United Kingdom) a. la vacaciones (F) to take a vacation tomarse unas vacaciones intransitive verb 2. We can include el/la cineasta within this group. Two examples are doctora (female doctor) and camisa (shirt). Since it can be challenging to conjugate, well Probar Conjugation 101: Conjugate Probar in Spanish. If you are starting to learn Spanish, we only introduce the concept of gender differences a couple of sessions in. Her bedroom is purple. Soccer is very boring. 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. As you can probably tell, all words that end in -ista denote occupations or stances and such, just like the endings -ist and -yst in English: therapist, marxist, etc. Maybe you could make up your own! 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. In some cases, you will be able to tell the gender of a word based on the ending of the word itself. las vacaciones and la estaci'on. But for example to most of us the word mdicAsounds wrong- we wouldnt use it. The word in the example sentence does not match the entry word. Las aguas azucaradas son malas para la salud. That means you have to know when to use El or La for every single noun. Even though these endings can generally help you with the gender of a noun, there are some words that do not follow these rules. Los delfines son adorables. When using adjectives to describe a person, use the gender that the person identifies with. My cousin is also smart. 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. The dish is white with blue stripes. Within the Fluenz team, amongst us who Spanish is our first language we still have numerous discussions onwhether certain words are masculine or feminine. A lot of irregular forms happen among farm animals, for the same reason that English has a different word for cow and bull. The gender affects their role on the farm, so having different words comes in handy. Larry fue a Londres un par de das durante las vacaciones, El ao pasado pasamos unas vacaciones maravillosas en Mallorca. The 27 Letters of the Spanish Alphabet [2022], Learn Basic Spanish: The First 10 Spanish Words You Need To Learn [2022]. They have a master's degrees in English from Southeast Missouri State University and a master's degree in Spanish literature from the University of Missouri Columbia. Its the persons gender that will determine whether we use el or la. Passive Voice in Spanish: Examples & Practice, Psychological Research & Experimental Design, All Teacher Certification Test Prep Courses, What are Cognates in Spanish? Grammatical gender is a property of Spanish nouns. The standard rules are here on the top of the page, but you shouldn't trust them fully. endings to determine the gender of a word in Spanish. From students and tourists to doctors and soldiers whove moved and visited here over the years. The use of the masculine gender includes the feminine and is used only to facilitate the reading. Lingua Linkup, May. Click on the arrows to change the translation direction. Los dentistas estn muy jvenes. Take Note: You can also imply the gender of these nouns by saying the name of the person youre talking about. 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. There are one hundred chairs available. *Note: la moto and la foto are a shortened version of the feminine words motocicleta and fotografa. La familia se fue de vacaciones a Mjico. All rights reserved. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors. Fast, easy, reliable language certification, 35,000+ worksheets, games, and lesson plans. Just think of the Spanish word for problem: el problema! Your voice is so high-pitched. We know that a person can be a man or a woman. But, as youll see in the examples below, some popular words are the exception to this rule. This allows us to ease the pronunciation! Miami Beach, FL 33139, 1000 5th St, suite 200 But fortunately, Spanish grammatical gender does have some rules you can follow to figure out when you needel and when you needla. 0 && stateHdr.searchDesk ? However, there are certain words whose endings are unalterable. Therefore, its correct to say: Tengo cien pesos. This rule is only applicable to the following numbers: Tengo doscientos pesos. As a result, depending on the noun, a number can be either feminine or masculine. In Spanish, all nouns are either masculine or feminine. Learn all about the Spanish gender roles below - Feminine (la) vs Masculine (el). Here are the exceptions to this rule. Can vacaciones be singular? is vacation in spanish masculine or feminine. This is a feminine word because it is a short form of the longer word, la motocicleta. Despite the many exceptions noted above, a great majority of Spanish words that end in-a are feminine. Sugared water is bad for your health. Names of rivers, oceans, and seas are always masculine: el Ro de la Plata, el Amazonas, el Misisipi, el Atlntico, el Pacfico, el Mediterrneo, etc.