In Spanish, nouns have either masculine or feminine grammatical gender. The article preceding the noun indicates its gender.
The masculine gender is expressed by the definite article el (English 'the') and the indefinite article un (English 'a'): el día (the day), un hombre (a man)
The feminine gender is denoted by the definite article la (English 'the') and the indefinite article una (English 'a'): la pregunta (the question), una mujer (a woman)
Note: Grammatical gender is a property of a noun, not of the object the noun represents. Grammatical gender is assigned arbitrarily and does not correspond to the real-world qualities of the object (unless it's an animate noun).
When a noun describes a person, grammatical gender coincides with the actual gender of that person:
la mujer - the woman
la niña - the girl
el hermano - the brother
el abuelo - the grandfather
Yet when it comes to inanimate objects or abstract ideas, grammatical gender is not explicit. Predicting the noun's gender is possible, however, by keeping in mind the below rules.
One of the first things to do when trying to predict the gender of a Spanish noun is to look at its ending. There are typical masculine and feminine endings:
| Masculine Endings | Feminine Endings |
-o | -a |
-ecto | -ia, -ía |
-io, -ío | -ara, -bra, -cha |
-ismo | -ua, -úa |
-miento | -ción, -sión |
-al | -dad, -tad, -tud |
-or, -dor | -ed |
-ma | -sis |
-ta | -z |
Below are the examples for each of the endings.
-o
el libro - the book
el trabajo - the work
el carro - the car
el verano - the summer
Exceptions:
la foto - the photo
la radio - the radio
la mano - the hand
la moto - the motorcycle
-ecto
el efecto - the effect
el proyecto - the project
el dialecto - the dialect
el trayecto - the route
-io, -ío
el cambio - the change
el prejuicio - the prejudice
el frío - the cold
el vacío - the void
-ismo
el idealismo - the idealism
el patriatismo - the patriotism
el terrorismo - the terrorism
el abismo - the abyss
-miento
el sentimiento - the feeling
el cimiento - the foundation
el conocimiento - the knowledge
el estacionamiento - the parking
-al
el animal - the animal
el canal - the channel
el festival - the festival
el hospital - the hospital
el mal - the evil
Exceptions:
la catedral - the cathedral
la inicial - the initial
la sal - the salt
la señal - the signal
-or, -dor
el amor - the love
el sabor - the taste
el ordenador - the computer
el emperador - the emperor
-ma
el clima - the climate
el problema - the problem
el idioma - the language
el sistema - the system
-ta
el cometa - the comet
el planeta - the planet
Note: Masculine words in Spanish that end in -ma or -ta are of Greek origin. In Greek, those words were of neuter gender but became masculine in Spanish. However, words of Spanish origin that end in -ma or -ta are feminine.
-a
la ventana - the window
la tienda - the store
la comida - the food
la mesa - the table
Exception:
el mapa - the map
-ia, -ía
la biología - the biology
la energía - the energy
la iglesia - the church
la furia - the rage
Exception:
el día - the day
el tranvía - the streetcar/tram
-ara, -bra, -cha
la cuchara - the spoon
la lámpara - the lamp
la alfombra - the carpet
la culebra - the snake
la cucaracha - the cockroach
la cosecha - the harvest
-ua, -úa
la yegua - the mare
la grúa - the crane, tow truck
-ción, -sión
la nación - the nation
la habitación - the room
la versión - the version
la explosión - the explosion
-dad, -tad, -tud
la ciudad - the city
la felicidad - the happiness
la libertad - the freedom
la amistad - the friendship
la actitud - the attitude
la solicitud - the application
-ed
la red - the net
la pared - the wall
la sed - the thirst
-sis
la génesis - the genesis
la crisis - the crisis
la síntesis - the synthesis
-z
la luz - the light
la nariz - the nose
la paz - the peace
la voz - the voice
Exceptions:
el aroz - the rice
el lápiz - the pencil
el matiz - the nuance
el pez - the fish
Days of the week, months, numerals, compass directions, colors, languages, names of rivers and bodies of water, names of places (unless end in -a), and names of mountains are masculine:
el miércoles - Wednesday
el abril - April
el dos - two
el sur - south
el azul - blue
el ruso - Russian (language)
(el) Londres - London
(el) Colorado - Colorado
el Pacífico - the Pacific
el Everest - the Everest
The names of letters of the alphabet, many countries, islands, and cities that end in -a are feminine:
la w - the W
(la) España - Spain
(la) Creta - Crete
(la) Barcelona - Barcelona
Feminine nouns that start with stressed a- or ha- take masculine definite and indefinite articles when used in singular form, as well as singular masculine modifiers algún (not alguna) and ningún (not ninguna):
el/un agua - the/- water
el/un águila - the/an eagle
el/un ala - the/a wing
el/un alma - the/a soul
el/una hacha - the/an axe
However, these feminine nouns behave 'normally' otherwise - they take feminine modifiers (el agua fría) and feminine definite and indefinite articles in plural form (las aguas frías).
Nouns referring to profession or activity that end in -ista can be masculine or feminine, depending on whether it refers to a male or a female:
el/la artista - the male/female artist
el/la dentista - the male/female dentist
el/la guitarrista - the male/female guitar player
el/la pianista - the male/female pianist
el/la turista - the male/female tourist
Good to know: The suffix -ista is equivalent to the English suffix -ist as the corresponding Spanish and English nouns are cognates, i.e. have the same origin (Latin).
Nouns describing people that end in -nte can be masculine or feminine, depending on whether it refers to a male or a female:
el/la cantante - the male/female singer
el/la estudiante - the male/female student
el/la presidente - the male/female president
el/la representante - the male/female representative
el/la comandante - the male/female commander
el/la adolescente - the male/female teenager
Some other nouns describing people that can be masculine or feminine:
el/la camarada - the male/female comrade
el/la idiota - the male/female idiot
el/la indígena - the male/female native
el/la intérprete - the male/female interpreter
el/la patriota - the male/female patriot
el/la piloto - the male/female pilot
el/la rival - the male/female rival
el/la testigo - the male/female witness
Definition: Epicene nouns can be used as both male or female without changing their meaning. Male gender is preferred for certain epicene nouns, but it would not be incorrect to use either male or female.
The following epicene nouns may be of female or male grammatical gender:
el/la azúcar - the sugar
el/la casete - the cassette
el/la cobaya - the guinea pig
el/la reuma - the rheumatism
el/la linde - the boundary
el/la mar - the sea
Some animal names have a fixed grammatical gender and specify the actual gender by adding 'macho' for male and 'hembra' for female:
el pulpo hembra - the female octopus
el pulpo macho - the male octopus
la cebra hembra - the female zebra
la cebra macho - the male zebra
el rinoceronte hembra - the female rhino
el rinoceronte macho - the male rhino
Some nouns in Spanish change their meaning depending on gender. Some of the commonly used are the following:
| Spanish Noun | Feminine Meaning | Masculine Meaning |
| busca | the search | the pager, beeper |
| capital | the capital (city) | the capital (finance) |
| cólera | the anger, rage | the cholera |
| coma | the comma | the coma |
| cometa | the kite | the comet |
| consonante | the consonant | the rhyme |
| contra | the antidote | the con, drawback |
| corte | the court | the cut, edge, blade |
| cura | the cure | the parish priest |
| delta | the delta (Greek letter) | the (river) delta |
| doblez | the deceitfulness, duplicity | the fold, crease |
| editorial | the publishing house | the editorial (editor's article) |
| final | the final (game) | the end, final exam |
| frente | the forehead | the front |
| guardia | the convoy, duty | the policeman, guard |
| mañana | the morning | the tomorrow, future |
| margen | the river bank | the margin |
| moral | the morality, morale | the mulberry |
| orden | the command, portion | the order (system) |
| papa | the potato | the pope |
| parte | the part, portion | the report, information |
| pendiente | the slope | the earring |
| pez | the pitch, tar | the fish |
| policía | the police force, policewoman | the policeman |
| terminal | the (airport) terminal | the electrical terminal |
| trompeta | the trumpet, female trumpeter | the male trumpeter |
| vista | the view, female customs officer | the male customs officer |
| vocal | the vowel, female committee member | the male committee member |
Spanish nouns borrowed from foreign languages may:
be of the same gender as in the original language - the French 'le croissant' becomes 'el croissant' in Spanish. If taken from a language which uses no grammatical gender, the masculine gender is assigned to the borrowed noun - English 'the bestseller' becomes 'el bestseller' in Spanish
use both genders interchangeably - 'el/la Twitter'
be of the noun gender that is associated with the object - 'la Guiness' is feminine because beer is of feminine gender in Spanish (la cerveza)
Though there are no neuter nouns in Spanish, neuter gender is still present in the language in the form of neuter demonstrative pronouns esto (this/this one), eso (that/that one), and aquello (that one over there).
Example:
Me gusta esto - I like this
No creo eso - I don't believe that
Todo aquello es mío - All that over there is mine
In addition, neuter lo can be used as a definite article or direct object in the same manner 'it' is used in English.
Example:
Lo mejor es la playa - The best (part) is the beach
No lo sé - I don't know it
Note:Esto, eso, aquello and lo typically refer to an abstract idea or concept rather than a concrete object or person.