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Noun Gender in Spanish: Rules and Exceptions

Learn how to determine the gender of nouns in Spanish. Part two of a series dedicated to unmotivated gender and exceptions.

…. Continuing with point 2.

2. Nouns whose gender is not motivated.

We can conditionally divide them into two groups – (1) easy to remember, because they follow a pattern (a) and (b) and (2) harder to remember, because each one stands on its own (c), (d), (e)

a) Masculine nouns are words that end in

  • -o el piso, el campo, el escritorio

exception: la moto, la mano, la foto, la radio

  • -ma, -pa, –ta and are of Greek origin – el planeta, el mapa, el tema, el esquema, el problema
  • -tor, -dor, -sor el comedor, el factor, el televisor, el secador
  • -ón el jabón, el carbón
  • -ión el avión, el camión

b) Feminine nouns are words that end in

  • -ión, -ción, -tión, -sión la región, la opinión, la información, la cuestión, la pasión
  • -a la carta, la idea, la novela

exceptions: el día, el sofá

  • -dad, -tad la bondad, la edad, la oportunidad, la sociedad, la cidad
  • -tud la juventud, la longitud
  • -ez la vejez (old age), la honradez (honesty), la palidez (paleness)
  • -icie la superficie (surface)
  • -umbre la muchedumbre (crowd), la cumbre (peak)
  • -itis la faringitis, la celulitis

c) Nouns that have no specific ending for gender (each one is learned individually)

el sol, el amor, el tapiz, el valle, el análisis, el corazón

la flor, la sal, la calle, la crisis, la razón

d) Words with the same root that have different meanings depending on their gender

el punto, la punta

el suelo, la suela

el ramo, la rama

e) Words that coincide in form but have different meanings depending on their gender (already discussed)

el capital, la capital

el orden, la orden

el cometa, la cometa

el pendiente, la pendiente, etc

…. point 3 remains …. coming soon ….…

Watch the free video lesson

Continue with the free video course:

Испански за начинаещи 🇪🇸 Урок 1: Nacionalidades & Verbos en Presente

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