11.3.6

Masculine & Feminine 2

Test yourself

Masculine Nouns

Certain types of nouns are always masculine. Here are the rules:

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Days of the week and names of months

  • In Spanish the days of the week and names of months are written with lower case letters.
    • El viernes.
      • Friday.
    • El julio.
      • July
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Numbers

  • El seis.
    • Six
  • El veinte.
    • 20
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Colours

  • When colours are used as nouns they are always in the masculine form.
    • El amarillo está de moda.
      • Yellow is in fashion.
    • El naranaja es el color nacional neerlandés..
      • Orange is the national colour of the Netherlands
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Rivers, seas and oceans

  • All rivers, seas and oceans are masculine.
    • El Ganges.
      • The Ganges.
    • El Pacífico.
      • The Pacific.
    • El Mar del Norte.
      • The North Sea.
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The names of languages

  • You need to remember that in Spanish the names of languages are not written with a capital letter to start with.
    • El inglés.
      • English.
    • El francés.
      • French.

Masculine and Feminine Nouns

Some nouns have different meanings when they are in the masculine and feminine forms.

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El bolso → la bolsa

  • 'El bolso' means 'the handbag'.
  • 'La bolsa' means 'the bag' or 'the stock exchange'.
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El pendiente → la pendiente

  • 'El pendiente' means 'earring'.
  • 'la pendiente' means 'slope'
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El capital → la capital

  • 'El capital' means 'capital (money)'.
  • 'La capital' means 'the capital city'.
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El final → la final

  • 'El final' means 'the end'.
  • 'La final' means 'the final (game of a tournament)'.

Jump to other topics

1The Basics

2Home & Abroad

3Education & Employment

4Personal Life & Relationships

5The World Around Us

6Social Activities, Fitness & Health

7Listening

8Common Tenses

9Important Verbs

10Advanced Tenses

11Extra Grammar

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