Nouns (Sustantivos) have Gender
in Spanish
*In Spanish all nouns (living and non-living) have a gender and are either
masculine(masculino) or feminine(feminina).
*Thankfully, most words follow these following rules which will help you
determine the gender of a noun.
Masculine Nouns Feminine Nouns
(Usually end in) -o (Usually end in) -a
(Often end in) -l, -r, or (Often end in) -d or -ion
An easy way to remember is by using the name DIONA to remember
feminine and LOR to remember masculine
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Exceptions - Although most follow these rules above, here are a few exceptions:
*words ending in -ista often refer to people and can be masculine or feminine
(el artista/la artista)
*some words have identical masculine and feminine forms
(estudiante/student, joven/youth)
*words ending in -ma are often masculine
*sometimes the words do not follow the rules above and you have to memorize the
gender. A few examples are mapa/map (masc.), agua/water (masc), día/day (masc),
mano/hand (fem.)
in Spanish
*In Spanish all nouns (living and non-living) have a gender and are either
masculine(masculino) or feminine(feminina).
*Thankfully, most words follow these following rules which will help you
determine the gender of a noun.
Masculine Nouns Feminine Nouns
(Usually end in) -o (Usually end in) -a
(Often end in) -l, -r, or (Often end in) -d or -ion
An easy way to remember is by using the name DIONA to remember
feminine and LOR to remember masculine
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Exceptions - Although most follow these rules above, here are a few exceptions:
*words ending in -ista often refer to people and can be masculine or feminine
(el artista/la artista)
*some words have identical masculine and feminine forms
(estudiante/student, joven/youth)
*words ending in -ma are often masculine
*sometimes the words do not follow the rules above and you have to memorize the
gender. A few examples are mapa/map (masc.), agua/water (masc), día/day (masc),
mano/hand (fem.)
