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4.22: Género de sustantivos

  • Page ID
    50097
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    Objetivos

    Identify the gender of nouns

    ¡Ojo! (Watch out!) El género de los sustantivos es importante!
    the pope
    el Papa
    the potato
    la papa

    Género de los sustantivos (Gender of Nouns)

    All nouns in Spanish have a gender: masculine or feminine. Except in the case of people or animals, linguistic gender is a convention of language, not a property of the noun. For this reason, you won’t be able to guess the gender of a noun based on the object itself; you need to learn the gender along with the noun. However, there are some rules that can help determine the gender of an unknown word:

    1. The gender of nouns:

    • The definite article meaning “the” is la for feminine singular nouns.
      • Most words ending in –a are feminine

    Play Audiola chica
    Play Audiola silla
    Play Audiola tiza

      • All words ending in -sión, -ción, -tad, -dad, and –umbre are feminine

    Play Audiola televisión
    Play Audiola educación
    Play Audiola dificultad
    Play Audiola universidad
    Play Audiola lumbre

    • The definite article meaning “the” is el for masculine singular nouns. Notice that el without the accent mark is the article… what does él mean? That’s right it means “he”. Don’t confuse el and él!
      • Most words ending in –o are masculine

    Play Audioel chico
    Play Audioel libro
    Play Audioel cuaderno

      • Many words ending in –ma are masculine (and originated from the Greek language):

    Play Audioel problema
    Play Audioel clima
    Play Audioel idioma

    • Many nouns end in –e. While statistically more are masculine than feminine, there is no firm rule for these and you need to memorize their gender when learning their meaning:

    Play Audiola clase
    Play Audioel diente (tooth)
    Play Audioel coche (car)

    • Many nouns that end in consonants other than -d or -z are masculine, but again this is not a firm rule and you must memorize their gender:

    Play Audioel honor (honor)
    Play Audioel hospital (hospital)
    Play Audioel hotel (hotel)

    • There are other nouns that do not clearly reveal their gender, so it is important that you memorize them.

    Play Audioel pupitre
    Play Audioel lápiz
    Play Audioel reloj
    Play Audiola luz
    Play Audiola pared

    • There are some exceptions that you have to remember:

    Play Audioel día
    Play Audioel mapa
    Play Audiola mano
    Play Audiola foto
    Play Audiola moto (motorcycle)

    2. People:

    • When referring to people, the biological sex of a person will determine a word’s gender regardless of the rules described above. However, as society has become more sensitive to sexism, as well as questions of gender and sexual identity, people have begun experimenting with ways to adjust the traditional binary-gendered structure of the Spanish language. Click the link below to explore some of the experiments in gender-neutral language that Spanish speakers have been developing.
      https://nonbinary.wiki/wiki/Gender_neutral_language_in_Spanish
    • Some nouns for people will be identical except for the -o or -a ending:

    Play Audioel muchacho (boy)
    Play Audiola muchacha (girl)
    Play Audioel niño (male child)
    Play Audiola niña (female child)
    Play Audioel maestro (male teacher)
    Play Audiola maestra (female teacher)
    Play Audioel compañero de clase (male classmate)
    Play Audiola compañera de clase (female classmate)
    Play Audioel amigo (male friend)
    Play Audiola amiga (female friend)

    • However, other nouns are completely different for masculine and feminine forms:

    Play Audioel hombre (man)
    Play Audiola mujer (woman)

    • Some nouns for people are identical, and the gender is shown only in the definite article:

    Play Audioel estudiante (male student)
    Play Audiola estudiante (female student)
    Play Audioel dentista (male dentist)
    Play Audiola dentista (female dentist)

    Remember! The gender of nouns that do not refer to people is an inherent characteristic that cannot be changed. If you change the gender ending of an inanimate object, you can be changing the meaning of the noun to another legitimate word in Spanish:

    • Play Audioel caso (case)
      Play Audiola casa (house)
    • Play Audioel puerto (port)
      Play Audiola puerta (door)
    • Play Audioel Papa (the Pope)
      Play Audiola papa (potato)
    • Play Audioel libro (book)
      Play Audiola libra (pound)

    ¡Inténtalo! (Try It!)

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