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Masculine & Feminine

Spanish: Edexcel IGCSE, topic 11.3.5

Noun Endings that Are Usually Feminine

There are a lot of feminine nouns that do not end in 'a'. These nouns still follow patterns. These rules make it easier to work out the gender of a noun:

Nouns that end in 'dad', 'tad' and 'ud'

Nouns that end in 'dad', 'tad' and 'ud'

  • Nouns that end in 'dad', 'tad' and 'ud' are always feminine.
  • La sociedad.
    • Society.
  • La libertad.
    • Freedom.
  • La salud.
    • Health.
Nouns that end in 'ez'

Nouns that end in 'ez'

  • Una nuez
  • A nut
  • Una escasez.
  • A shortage
Nouns that end in 'ión'

Nouns that end in 'ión'

  • La estación.
  • The season.
  • La comprensión.
  • Understanding.
  • There are two exceptions to this rule:
  • El camión (lorry) and el avión (aeroplane).
Letters of the alphabet

Letters of the alphabet

  • All names of the letters in the Spanish alphabet are feminine.
  • La ce (c), la jota (j), la ve(v).
  • In English 'ñ' does not exist.
  • It is spelt 'la eñe'.

Noun Endings that Are Usually Masculine

There are a lot of masculine nouns that do not end in either 'o'. These nouns still follow patterns. These rules make it easier to work out the gender of a noun:

Nouns that end in 'ón'

Nouns that end in 'ón'

  • El jamón.
  • Ham.
  • El guión
  • Hyphen.
Nouns that en in 'or'

Nouns that en in 'or'

  • El color.
  • Colour.
  • El amor.
  • Love
Nouns that en in 'aje'

Nouns that en in 'aje'

  • El maquillaje.
  • Make-up
  • El patinaje.
  • Skating.

Test yourself on Masculine & Feminine

  • How do you say 'freedom' in Spanish?

  • ¿Cómo diríais 'a shortage' en español?

  • How do you say 'make-up' in Spanish?

  • How do you say 'ham' in Spanish?

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