Question

How do you tell what Spanish words are feminine and masculine? Are there any exceptions? I just want a proper answer with someone who knows.

Answer 1

It's quite difficult actually well i believe for people that are just starting to learn Spanish that is. I am in fluent in Spanish so i don't have a problem knowing if they are talking about a woman or a man. One of the hardest things for people to get used to when learning Spanish is the idea that nouns (people, places, animals, things, ideas, and feelings) have a gender (male, female). There is always a question of "How can a table be feminine? and "How can a a book be masculine?" This doesn’t mean that the table or the book is physically feminine or masculine, but in a grammatical sense, the ending is. Why is gender so important in Spanish? Well, if a noun is masculine, then its descriptive adjectives and articles will also need to be masculine. In order to describe something accurately, an adjective must match a noun in both gender and number. For example:

La manzana es roja. (The apple is red.)
El plátano es amarillo. (The banana is yellow.)

Masculine Nouns

Most masculine nouns end in -o. Ending in an -o can indicate that a person or animal is male, or just an object, idea, etc. that is grammatically masculine.

Common Masculine Noun that End in -O

el cartero (mailman/postman)
el niño (child/son)
el tío (uncle)
el teatro (theater)
el dormitorio (bedroom)

Feminine Nouns

Most feminine nouns end in -a. Ending in an -a indicates that a person or animal is feminine or that an object, idea, etc. is grammatically feminine.

Common Feminine Nouns that End in -A

la enfermera (nurse)
la profesora (teacher)
la hija (daughter)
la rosa (rose)
la guitarra (guitar)
la piscina (pool)

I am not saying all words that end with -a have to be feminine and i am not saying all words that end with -o have to be masculine because they don't have to be and sometimes they aren't.

For All Those Masculine Nouns that Don't End in -O...

If it ends in -e, an accented vowel (á, é, í, ó, ú), -ma, or a consonant other than -d, -z, or ión, it's also masculine.

For All Those Feminine Nouns That Don't End in -A...

If it ends in -d, -z, or ión, it's also feminine.

It's sort of confusing if you are just starting out and you are a beginner at learning Spanish but i believe you would get the hang of it later on, I hope this helped Amigo!(:

Answer 2

Thanks so much! :)

Answer 3

You are quite welcome!