Learn Masculine and Feminine in Spanish – Part 3
How do I know if a word is masculine or feminine in Spanish?
Notice: Un problema NOT ‘una’ problema. See notes below in today’s lesson
Post 53/365
Es jueves el 18 de mayo de 2017
Hola,
Thanks for stopping by today!
This week we have been working on gender. Spanish has masculine and feminine, English does not.
The week started with articles and yesterday and today we’ve combined them with nouns. (a person, place or thing)
As I’ve said, it’s a dry topic, so thanks for hanging in there! Once you get it into action, it’s really quite nice and it boosts your Spanish skills tremendously.
If you have masculine and feminine in place, Spanish-speakers will really be impressed with your skills. I encourage you to pay attention to the detail of this beautiful language and master even these dry topics. It’ll enrich your vocabulary and entire experience and it’ll make your Spanish so much easier to understand on the part of the native speaker you’re having a conversation with.
Yesterday we talked about “natural gender“ which refers to people, their occupation and nationality as well as to animals.
Today, we carry this topic to things and places.
Masculine and feminine in Spanish
A. Repaso – Review
Los artículos definidos – The
el – masculino/singular
la – feminino/singular
los – masculino/plural
las – feminino/plural
Los artículos indefinidos – a, an, some
un – masculino/singular
una – feminino/singular
unos – masculino/plural
unas – feminino/plural
Género natural – Natural gender (people, occupations, nationalities, animals)
El hombre es doctor – the man is a doctor
La mujer es médica – the woman is a doctor
Unos turistas son venezolanos – Some of the tourists are Venezuelan
Unas enfermeras son costarrisenses – some of the nurses are Costa Ricans
el gato or la gata – the cat
el perro or la perra – the dog
B. Today’s lesson:
Sustantivos – nouns
How to know if a word is masculine or feminine:
Masculino
1. Ends in an -o
el banco – the bank
los números – the numbers
un cuaderno – a notebook
unos pepinos – some cucumbers
*Excepciones:
la mano – the hand
la foto – photo
la radio
la moto – motorcycle
2. Ends in -ma or -ema ¡Cuidado! looks feminine, but 98% of these are masculine
el clima – the climate/weather
los sistemas – the systems
un problema – the problem
unos programas – some programs
3. All of the following: 100%
Los números
los días de la semana – el lunes, el martes
los meses del año – el próximo julio (next July)
los puntos cardinales – el norte, el sur, el este, el oeste
4. As noted yesterday, words that refer to a male
el joven – the young man
los trabajadores – the workers (could also be a mixed group)
un actor – an actor
unos hombres – some men
Femenino
1. Ends in an -a
la panadería – the bakery
las plazas – the plazas
una lámpara – a lamp
unas uvas rojas – some red grapes
*Excepciones:
el día – the day (buenos días)
el mapa – the map
el planeta – the planet
2. Ends in -ción or -sión 100%
la presión – the pressure (blood)
las canciones – the songs
una solución – a solution
unas tradiciones – some traditions
3. Ends in -d, -tad or -tud 100%
la verdad– the truth
las ciudades – the cities
una pared – a wall
unas actividades – some activities
4. As noted yesterday, words that refer to a female
la joven – the young lady
las empleadas – the employees
una española – a woman from Spain
unas mujeres – some women
Impossible to know – just have to learn it.
la clase – the class, but
el restaurante – restaurant
la piel – skin, but
el papel
la voz – the voice, but
el lápiz – the pencil
Action Steps:
1. Note this in your journal
2. find a free magazine, newspaper, etc…in Spanish and look for the words; el, la, los, las, un, una, unos and unas. Then see the word that follows and discover which of the above categories does it fit into. Does it end in an -o?, an -a?, etc…Be observant of the the little words for awhile.
Leave me a note, let me know how you are doing and if you have a question about this.
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Gracias y hasta mañana
