Masculine & Feminine 2
Spanish: AQA A Level, topic 11.2.2
Masculine Nouns
Certain types of nouns are always masculine. Here are the rules:
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
Numbers
- El seis.
- Six
- El veinte.
- 20
Colours
- When colours are used as nouns they are always in the masculine form.
- El amarillo está de moda.
- Yellow is in fashion.
- El naranja es el color nacional neerlandés..
- Orange is the national colour of the Netherlands
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.
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.
El bolso → la bolsa
- 'El bolso' means 'the handbag'.
- 'La bolsa' means 'the bag' or 'the stock exchange'.
El pendiente → la pendiente
- 'El pendiente' means 'earring'.
- 'la pendiente' means 'slope'
El capital → la capital
- 'El capital' means 'capital (money)'.
- 'La capital' means 'the capital city'.
El final → la final
- 'El final' means 'the end'.
- 'La final' means 'the final (game of a tournament)'.
Test yourself on Masculine & Feminine 2
How do you say 'the Atlantic Ocean' in Spanish?
How do you say 'The Ganges' in Spanish?
How do you say 'the stock exchange' in Spanish?