The gender of Spanish nouns: masculine and feminine

The general rule states that all Spanish nouns are masculine or feminine.

Words ending in -o are generally masculine, while ones ending in -a are generally feminine. The articles which accompany a masculine noun are el (definite) / uno (indefinite), while the feminine ones are  la (definite) / una (indefinite). 

General rules to recognize masculine nouns

Usually words with the following endings are masculine:

1. -o;
2. -a (-ía; -ma; -ama; -ema; -oma);
3. -ambre / -aje;
4. ón / -án. 

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1. Masculine nouns ending in -o

• El bolígrafo (pen)
• El zapato (shoe)

Besides, nouns that designate male beings generally end in -o.

Examples: 

• El cartero (mailman)
• El hermano (brother)

However, nouns that designate male beings may have other endings: 

   Examples:

• El profesor (male professor)
• El hombre (man)

2. Masculine nouns ending in -a (-ía; -ma; -ama; -ema; -oma)

Although nouns ending in -a are mostly feminine, some of them are masculine. 

Note that nouns ending in -ía, -ma, -ama, -ema, -oma have similar spelling and meaning in both English and Spanish.

3. Masculine nouns ending in -ambre and -aje

4. Masculine nouns ending in -or and -án

Masculine group of nouns

Certain groups of nouns are masculine.

General rules to recognize feminine nouns

Usually words with the following endings are feminine:

1. -a;
2. -o;
3. -dad / -tad;
4. -ción / sión;
5. -ie / -eza /-sis / -itis;
6. -tud / -umbre.

1. Feminine nouns ending in -a

• La rosa (rose)
• La guitarra (guitar)

Besides, nouns which designate female beings generally end in -a. 

Examples: 

• La maestra (female teacher)
• La doctora (female doctor)

However, nouns that designate female beings may have other endings: 

  Example:

  La mujer (woman)

2. Feminine nouns ending in -o

Although nouns ending in -o are mostly masculine, some of them are feminine. Except for mano, most of them are abbreviations of compound nouns. 

Examples: 

• Mano (hand)
• Foto : fotografía (photo, photograph)
• Moto : motocicleta (motorcycle)

3. Feminine nouns ending in -dad and -tad

4. Feminine nouns ending in -ción and -sión

5. Feminine nouns ending in -ie / -eza /-sis / -itis

6. Feminine nouns ending in -tud / -umbre

Other endings for masculine and feminine nouns

Feminine nouns which begin with a stressed -a or -ha take the masculine definite article in their singular form. 

  Examples: 

• El agua (water)
• El hambre (hunger)

Other masculine and feminine group of nouns

The following goup of nouns include some common words: 

• nouns referring to people or animals may have different forms for the masculine and feminine: 

• some nouns have a different meaning if used with the masculine or the feminine article: