A1
Every noun has a gender
Why Spanish nouns are masculine or feminine, how reliable the endings are, and the exceptions worth knowing at A1.
Every Spanish noun is masculine or feminine, and the articles and adjectives around it change to match.
el libro
the (m.) book
the book
la mesa
the (f.) table
the table
A table is not feminine in any meaningful sense. La is part of what mesa is, and learning the noun without it means learning it twice.
The endings are far more reliable than in French
This is one place Spanish is genuinely easier.
| -o | masculine — el libro, el coche |
| -a | feminine — la mesa, la casa |
| -ción, -sión | feminine — la estación |
| -dad, -tad | feminine — la ciudad, la libertad |
| -ma (from Greek) | masculine — el problema, el idioma |
The -o and -a rule holds for the large majority of nouns, so a guess is usually right — which is not something you can say about French.
The exceptions that matter
El problema, el sistema, el tema, el idioma and el día end in -a and are masculine. La mano and la foto end in -o and are feminine.
el problema
the (m.) problem
the problem
la problema
el problema
Problema comes from Greek, where the -ma ending was neuter, and Spanish took those words as masculine. Sistema, tema, programa and idioma are the same family.
A few take el for sound alone
A feminine noun starting with a stressed a takes el in the singular, purely so the two a sounds do not run together.
el agua fría
the water cold (f.)
the cold water
Agua is still feminine — the adjective proves it — and the plural is las aguas.