We do this in order to avoid a cacophony, a mixture of unpleasant sounds to our ears. The words doctorA, arquitectA, are relatively new, this is why we cant craft a perfect rule. La camisa rosa es muy grande. Now lets check out the tricks for masculine nouns in Spanish. Learn all about the Spanish gender roles below Feminine (la) vs Masculine (el). As you can see, below that chart, you'll then see the "el" & "la . The gender of the word does not change even when the person it refers to is masculine. I like the pink dress. La botella de Suzy est vaca. 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). But, sometimes a word is a shorter forms of a longer word, like moto or radio. Masculine Nouns Here are some of the letters that we usually see at the end of masculine words. 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. When you are starting out in Spanish knowing the gender of nouns is very difficult. Not only in Spanish, but also in other Romance and non-Romance languages, such as German and Russian. 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. Composition 2 - 1020 Tema: Vacation plans Imagine you are planning your next vacation with your best friend to a Spanish speaking country or a specific city (assigned by your instructor). When talking about people, animals and occupations things get a bit blurry. If you dont have one, sign up its free! Spanish nouns have a gender, which is either feminine (like la mujer or la luna) or masculine (like el hombre or el sol). Control of polling in presence of vacations in heavy traffic with applications to satellite and mobile radio systems. With these rules below, you'll know which to use with every word "el" or "la". Un - unos. What does the root Manus mean? Singapur es muy caro. The electric scooter is very practical. From students and tourists to doctors and soldiers whove moved and visited here over the years. In contrast to English, the Spanish plural of the masculine forms of these words refers to "not-all-feminine" groups, i.e. And because it is an occupation, we said that those that end in -a, tend to stay the same. Forms of feminine and masculine nouns. The adjective for Brasil is brasileo. Also, notice that there are masculine nouns that end in -l, -z, and -n. I would recommend you learn the following by heart. -A, -in, -dad, -tad and -tud are all endings for feminine words. These key rules will make it easier for you! This is a little more complicated but my recommendation is to learn the more common words in a first moment. La mano (hand) is feminine, but el pie (foot) is masculine. Create your account. In Italian (including all Italian dialects) and Portuguese, the sea is strictly masculine: il mare (Sicilian: u mari, Venetian: el mar, Neapolitan: 'o mare, Sardinian: su mari, Corsican: u mare) and o mar (the same for Galician); however in French and Romanian it is feminine: la mer and la mare. 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 As you might have guessed, all of the tricks were going to cover use word *People, animals and occupations have their own set of rules. Suzys bottle is empty. The same thing in the other direction the rules say it should be el, but the word is actually la. El plato es blanco con rayas azules. Then its time to test yourself with a quick quiz we put together. Nouns that end in -ma are masculine, such as the word problema (problem), Nouns that end in -pa, like the word mapa (map), are also masculine. Think youve got it? (2020,May 08 ). Learn and practice Spanish * Daily practice * Find your level (proficiency test) * Spanish for beginners * Travel Spanish, A1 | A2 | B1 | B2 | C1 Find your level. Here are some of the letters that we usually see at the end of masculine words. La disco is short for la discoteca, andla foto is short forla fotografa. Youve probably heard this one before: words ending in -a are feminine and words ending in -o are masculine. And of course, they are all derived from the isms of the previous rule. My parents spent the Easter holidays in Argentina. The Verb To Need: Sometimes you Really Need it. Even though Spanish is a language of exceptions, there are a few guidelines that can help when wanting to determine if a noun is feminine or masculine. Most adjectives in Spanish can be either feminine or masculine depending on the genre of the accompanying noun. 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. There are some nouns that end in a, but they are not feminine, but masculine: And vice versa, some nouns that end in -o are feminine: When a masculine noun ends in a consonant, its feminine form ends in a (We just have to had an a after that last consonant). Spanish speakers always like to have vacations in plural. I have two hundred pesos. La comida estuvo muy rica. And to make things more interesting, the fact is that with time, languages evolve and change. Uncle and aunt, for example, are el to andla ta. The L cuts that unpleasant sound: el agua. Ese rbol es muy viejo. This is why despite how difficult it is to learn Spanish, we are confident there is a realistic and achievable path to fluency. 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. Our car is dirty. Estamos de vacaciones en la Florida ahora mismo. 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. 2023 Lawless Spanish. Most animal names have a female and a male form, but not all do. This can be confusing, especially when some words, like persona (person), can refer to a person that is man or a woman. Yet if you are referring to a person or occupation this is what happens: LA espa = The spy (if the spy is a woman. Te lo has pasado bien en las vacaciones? FR8 En Ville - Location Sort - Masculine/Feminine Group sort. Esa cantante es muy talentosa. They went to Europe on vacation. Lessons for Adults & Kids. For instance, a table (la mesa) is feminine, while a desk (el escritorio) is masculine. 501 lessons. My mom has a cherry tree. Masculine nouns are used with articles like el or un and have adjectives that end in -o, while female nouns use the articles la or una and have adjectives that end in -a. El periodista trabaja todo el da. Los nios juegan en el parque. Again, there is no real reason. Beware of exceptions! This can be very confusing. 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. Tu vecina es muy ruidosa. 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." Uruguay is very pretty. Here's what's included: Get conjugations, examples, and pronunciations for millions of words and phrases in Spanish and English. However, on top of its irregularities, this verb also has E to I and E to IE stem changes in certain tenses. For example, la mano (hand) & el da (day). La cancin es muy larga. 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. Please check your email and click the link to confirm your subscription - gracias! Over time we've worked to perfect every minute of every learning session. But as you already know, there is no such thing as neutral nouns in Spanish. Do you have any QUESTION or comment about Spanish language? For 15 years we've taught Spanish to hundreds of thousands of learners. That means you have to know when to use El or La for every single noun. 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. To put it in simple terms, if youre working with a Spanish masculine noun, you must make sure its modifiers are also masculine. However, there are certain words whose endings are unalterable. These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. If you are starting to learn Spanish, we only introduce the concept of gender differences a couple of sessions in. Is vacation feminine or masculine in Spanish? I can help you with that! Dialogues in Spanish - English on 123dialogues channel: https://www.youtube.com/123dialogues Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/youstudyspanishBlog: http://y. Why is it important to know if a noun is feminine or masculine? Singapore is very expensive. Quiero un rojo ms intenso. It's time to Get to Grips with Spanish. (f) means that a noun is feminine. Mi gatita est enferma. If the noun is masculine and singular, use the masculine, singular ending (usually - o ). This restaurant is pretty famous. This semester is really tough. The following Spanish nouns all denote living creatures. As a romance language, Spanish has grammatical gender whose purpose is to express whether a noun is masculine or feminine. 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). As you learned before, many Spanish masculine words end with -n. A common mistake made by Spanish learners is to confuse the number one, uno, with un, which means a/an. There are three genders in Spanish: masculine, feminine, and neutral. All the Spanish nouns ending in cin, -sin, -tad, -tud, -dad or umbre are feminine: There are some Spanish nouns that have the same form for both masculine and feminine. Estas manzanas estn muy agrias. If the noun is plural and feminine, then use the plural, feminine ending (usually - las ). Distinguishing between gender is fairly straightforward - words ending in an 'a' are usually feminine, where those ending in 'e' are masculine. Very often our students at Fluenz get genders mixed I need a vacation from my family after the reunion. With these nouns in singular, the indefinite article (un/una) is masculine, too: un aula, un guila, etc. This name is also derived from the Hebrew name Yitzhak which means ' one who rejoices.'. 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. It's important to remember that the gender of a noun refers only to the grammar of the word, not to the person that it refers to. by Classroom52. places and ideas. Do you see those words ending with -ma? Most adjectives must agree in gender with the noun they modify. 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. The adjective ending in Spanish always depends on the noun it modifies. 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. Todava me quedan das de vacaciones antes de que termine el ao. A Spanish noun is a word we use to name people, things, concepts, places, and animals. This is the only noun ending that does not have a guideline gender classification. This is a feminine word because it is a short form of the longer word, la motocicleta. Reading comprehension. So, you would have to establish if that friend is a male or a female to determine which article to use. Los dentistas estn muy jvenes. Spanish Language Dictations Level Beginner #001. Sofia is very smart. Another example of this is la radio, which is a shorter form of the word radiodifusin. The Spanish gender can be distinguished with certain endings or by checking the gender of the adjectives, pronouns and Spanish articles surrounding that word. Here are the exceptions to this rule. Words that end in -in are feminine nouns, such as religin (religion). Both are fem. Can vacaciones be singular? 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. Mis perros son muy tranquilos. Then little by little you will learn the others. 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. This attribute allows us to classify words as either masculine or feminine. La serpiente - the serpent. To keep the sentence consistent, adjectives, articles, and pronouns must agree in gender and number with the noun they modify. ). Janet Long has taught post-secondary Spanish and English for over 15 years. Copyright 2006 Harrap Publishers Limited. The balcony is very big. I like the pink dress. Because the gender of the noun changes the article or adjective that you can use with the noun. Soccer is very boring. We covered o above because it really requires its own section, but this is a good general rule of thumb. Well break it down into three basic groups. That color is pretty. Les gusta irse de vacaciones a las Bahamas. La noche - the night. Do you want to practice your Spanish? They wish that they were in love now. The dentists are very young. Me gusta el vestido rosa. He made the wrong decision. Our dogs are small. [Determiner] + [noun] + [verb conjugated] + [adjective]. For example, we usually say la moto for motorcycle, which ends in an -o. One of the biggest exceptions to the LONERS rule we talked about for masculine nouns above is-in. Since it can be challenging to conjugate, well Probar Conjugation 101: Conjugate Probar in Spanish. You cant apply it to plural nouns or that would mean that every word would be masculine. Fish are very pretty. endings to determine the gender of a word in Spanish. Get to Grips with Spanish: Spanish Grammar for Beginners: Masculine & Feminine, Singular & Plural (English Edition) eBook : Helliwell, Julie: Amazon.nl: Boeken The journalist works all day. One mnemonic device for learning masculine endings is LONERS. There are one hundred chairs available. Here are the common endings for feminine words: The ending -a is usually feminine, just like -o is masculine. La periodista es muy insistente. El maquillaje de Claudia es muy bueno. Dictionaries always indicate the grammatical gender of a noun! In Spanish, all nouns have a gender. Copyright (c) Minerva Webworks LLC All Rights Reserved. In those cases, you can always look it up on a dictionary, such as the Diccionario de la Lengua Espaola. Here it might help to connect it with a feminine word that is opposite, so you can remember the words in pairs. Have you tried it yet? link to Venir Conjugation 101: Conjugate Venir In Spanish, link to Probar Conjugation 101: Conjugate Probar in Spanish. Plural of Masculine Nouns [edit | edit source]. La verdad puede ser dolorosa. There is one other ending that ends in -a, -ista, that is actually both feminine and masculine. With these rules below, youll know which to use with every word el or la. Maybe you could make up your own! El diseo de mi prima no est terminado. The general rule is that Spanish nouns that end in -a are feminine. (in summer) a. veranear Copyright 2006 Harrap Publishers Limited vacation noun 1 especially (Britain) (Jur) receso (m) vacacional (formal); periodo (m) vacacional 33 chapters | These adjectives are derived from the name of that place. Nouns ending with -a are usually feminine: la mesa, la cama, la casa, la palabra, etc. Your email address will not be published. We said words that end in -or are masculine. Nouns ending in o are usually masculine, and nouns ending in a are usually feminine. Claudias make-up is very good. Search millions of Spanish-English example sentences from our dictionary, TV shows, and the internet. First of all, what is a noun? Luca tiene cualidades muy buenas. Nouns that refer to people and animals have two forms. -Fue un lunes, -Ha sido un septiembre hmedo -Nac en el 84 -Son las cinco y cuarto -Poner los puntos sobre las es -La hache delante de la 'a' es muda El DIA = THE DAY My kitty is sick. In plain English, this book explains the Masculine & Feminine elements of Spanish, plus the rules around Singular & Plural. Words like el reloj (watch) have a gender, but it is not always easy to predict. Which brings us to the only exception to these rules! In Spanish, all nouns are either masculine or feminine. If you liked this post, you can share it with someone else who might find it helpful! Your neighbor is very noisy. Masculine forms. Lucia has very nice qualities. Cardinal directions are masculine, too: el norte, el sur, el este, el oeste. This semester is really tough. Me gusta la vestido rosa. Usted is used to speak in a more professional manner. Spanish Survival Kit: Asking for Directions [2022]. Example 1: We said all words ending in -a are feminine. This rule is only applicable to the following numbers: Tengo doscientos pesos. Names of rivers, lakes, and oceans are usually masculine; names of mountains are usually feminine. vacacin ( bah - kah - syohn ) feminine noun 1. This couch is very comfortable. "Water" in Spanish is not masculine. With these rules below, you'll know which to use with every word "el" or "la". Its the persons gender that will determine whether we use el or la. I want a coffee, please. Common exceptions: not feminine, masculine El mapa- the map- masculine El da- the day- masculine. If the occupation ends in -a it tends not to change. Normalmente, voy de vacaciones en diciembre. Which is why it uses the article las which correctly matches the nouns gender. Your lipstick is so pretty! Even if the nouns are in singular! vacation translate: vacances [feminine, plural], vacances [feminine, plural], passer ses vacances, vacances, passer des. Even though these endings can generally help you with the gender of a noun, there are some words that do not follow these rules. 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. That being said, there are, of course, exceptions to this rule. This means that every word for a person, place, thing or idea is either masculine or feminine. All nouns in Spanish are either masculine or feminine. 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. You will notice that when adjectives modify such words, they are feminine: El agua est fra o tibia? 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. The standard rules are here on the top of the page, but you shouldn't trust them fully. The following words are feminine when plural, but when they are singular, these words are masculine: Another exception is that the el or la can change the context of the word: Online Spanish Tutors - Native Speakers. La pared est recin pintada. In the sections below, youll find tables with the most common endings for masculine words in Spanish. 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. 1. Origin adjectives express where people or things come from. Unfortunately, there are not as many rules to know whether a noun in Spanish is masculine. On the other hand, when working as nouns, Spanish colors are always masculine. Spanish Nouns That Can Be Both Masculine And Feminine While most nouns refer to objects and concepts that don't have gender, there are also the nouns that do. I've still got some vacation time left before the end of the year. The noun is called "de gnero comn" (common gender) when with the same termination it may . Lingua Linkup. The Ultimate Tip-Sheet to Articles in Spanish: El vs La, Un vs Una [2022], Puzzle Solved: Why nouns in Spanish are feminine and masculine [2022]. But it is something that even advanced students mix up once in a while. You will find them in the list below. My cousins design is not finished. el gato male cat So, its important to memorize the feminine words that end with the consonant z. The masculine form is the one that appears on a dictionary. More often than not, the endings change according to the gender of the person or animal: Sometimes only the article changes. La foto, can actually shed some light into one of the rules for feminine words. is vacation in spanish masculine or feminine. "Masculine and Feminine in Spanish (el & la): The Rules & Their Many Exceptions." Esos cantantes son espaoles. and the Spanish Civil War failed in reality to place him in a distinctly different camp from Chamberlain and . Lesson outline 1. The wall is newly painted. I hope this helps. El ao que viene voy a tomarme unas vacaciones en Europa. Nuestro coche est sucio. So far, youve learned some of the most common endings used to form feminine and masculine words in Spanish and their exceptions. Uruguay es muy bonito. And because it is an occupation, we said that those . However, there are a few masculine nouns that end in -a. Search millions of Spanish-English example sentences from our dictionary, TV shows, and the internet. While some exceptions (like la mano) are just exceptions, many words that seemingly end in -o are actually shortenings of other words. These noun endings can tip you off that a noun is probably feminine. La sangre - the blood. Languages are masculine: el espaol, el ingls, el portugus, el mandarn, el ruso, etc. Dont be shy and post a message! The letters of the alphabet are feminine: la a, la be, la ce, la de, etc. Shopping! His shoes are very expensive. "Uncle" and "aunt," for example, are el to and la ta. You may have come across this strange exception before where the masculine article el is used for a feminine word. Spanish nouns have a gender, which is either feminine (like la mujer or la luna) or masculine (like el hombre or el sol). Passive Voice in Spanish: Examples & Practice, Psychological Research & Experimental Design, All Teacher Certification Test Prep Courses, What are Cognates in Spanish? Many nouns that refer to jobs or roles of people can be either masculine or feminine depending on the person they refer to. Esta camisa es negra. I know we said we would only be giving you rules that didnt have any exceptions, the rules above are full proof- its when you get to people and occupations where you need to put your thinking cap on. The bull is very aggressive, and the cow is very calm. A lot of them are identical or almost identical to words you already know in English! 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.