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In Spanish, things are designated as either masculine or feminine nouns. This has nothing to do with the perceived gender usage or qualities of the item, rather it stems from Latin syntax. It was not invented to cause you fits. After some study, patterns emerge—even on the irregular ones—and you’ll begin to see that gender is nothing to fear.
The articles are:
Basically, any noun that ends in an "a" will be feminine, any noun that ends in "o" or "e" will be masculine. el gato, el coche, el piloto, los gatos, los coches, los pilotos la manzana, la casa, la comida, las manzanas, las casas, las comidas Words that end in "-dad" and "-ción" typically are feminine: la verdad, la bondad, la felicidad, la generosidad la información, la compenetración, la investigación, la generación However, like anything in language, there are always exceptions. #1 - Spanish is Latin spoken today. Romans spoke Latin, and we know that the Romans were in love with all things Greek. Some words are of Greek origin, and end in -eta and -ama. According to our rules, these words should be feminine -- they aren’t (of course) el planeta, el cometa el sistema, el programa, el problema I still cringe when I hear Edward Furlong repeatedly say "no problemo" to the T-800 in Terminator 2. #2 - Some words are shortened versions of a longer word. The shorter version ends in a different vowel than the original longer word. The original gender is conserved in these cases. la foto = la fotografía la moto = la motocicleta la disco = la discoteca #3 - Sometimes the gender of a word varies from one geographic region to another. "La mar" and "el mar" both mean the sea, but some places use the feminine and others the masculine. I remember someone telling me once that people who live close to the sea tend to use "la" more than "el" mar, but I can’t document this nor remember who told me. It’s complete hearsay. Another example is "la radio" and "el radio." While both of these can refer to the radio, in some places the difference in gender means a different component of the overall thing... and still other places, "la radio" means radio, and "el radio" means radius (think geometry class). Finally, think of it this way: la cólera = anger el cólera = cholera the disease If someone says "la cólera me subió" that does not mean that you should don a surgical mask, it means leave them alone until they calm down. The Colombian Nobel Laureate Gabriel García Márquez wrote "El amor en los tiempos del cólera" (Love in the Time of Cholera), meaning the disease, yet the title hints at the "la" versión of the word. Think of all the fun you can have with gender! This is one of those things that you won’t be tested on, but will pick up as time goes by. #4 - If I go to a female doctor, I can call her "el médico" or "la médica." The dentist is always "dentista" but I can choose to differentiate between gender if he is male "el dentista" or she is female "la dentista." Professions are the only time where the actual gender of something determines the article that can be used. #5 - If a word begins with an "a" or an "h" and the stress in pronunciation naturally falls on this initial "a", then in the singular form ONLY, the article is masculine. el agua, el águila, el hacha, el alma However, in the plural form, these words shift back to feminine articles: las aguas, las águilas, las hachas, las almas Also adjectives used to modify the singular forms of these nouns will use the feminine forms: el agua salina (seawater), el águila poderosa (the powerful eagle), el alma perdida (the lost soul) #6 - There are still some words that do not fall into the previous classifications. These are the kinds of words that you’ll just have to memorize. Here are a few examples: el cura = Catholic priest/curate el papa = the Pope (note that "la papa" means potato, a rather large difference) el día = the day, the morning (in greeting) la tarde = the afternoon la noche = the night la mano = the hand Good luck, and remember that gender is nothing to fear. If you get lost, hug a tree and someone will find you. |
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