2. A noun is a person, place, thing, or idea
In Spanish, all nouns are either masculine or
feminine.
Masculine Nouns Feminine Nouns
el libro la puerta
el escritorio la cama
el colegio la tarea
3. The idea that nouns have gender seems perfectly
natural when the noun stands for a living creature.
This is because in English, living creatures often have
different names depending on whether they are male
or female.
Masculine Feminine
boy girl
grandfather grandmother
tiger tigress
uncle aunt
4. Certain nouns that denote living things have
both a masculine and feminine form in
Spanish.
Masculine Feminine
el gato---- male cat la gata---- female cat
el abuelo--- grandfather la abuela--- grandmother
el padre-- father la madre--- mother
el chico--- boy la chica--- girl
5. El gato
El abuelo
El cuaderno
El libro
El carro
El armario
What does “el” mean?
6. La abuela
La puerta
La calculadora
La ventana
La tarea
La chica
What does “la” mean?
7. Nouns that end in –o are usually masculine.
Nouns that end in –a are usually feminine.
Notice the term “usually.”
-There are exceptions to these two rules!
8. You can’t predict the gender of a noun, except
in the case of living creatures.
The word “Dress” is a masculine word in
Spanish--- “el vestido”
“Necktie” is a feminine word in Spanish---
“la corbata”
9. When you learn a new
noun, you MUST
memorize its definite
article (el or la).
10. Definite Articles Indefinite Articles
(the) (a, an, some)
el libro - los libros un perro - unos perros
la casa - las casas una pluma – unas plumas
el hombre- los hombres un lápiz - unos lápices
la mujer – las mujeres una mesa - unas mesas
