And it sounds quite logical if nouns refer to living creatures: Masculine: El hombre (The man) Feminine: La mujer (The woman) Masculine: Un caballo (A horse) Feminine: Una yegua (A mare) But what about nouns that stand for non-living things? I like the pink dress. You could possibly sayel tortugo to refer to a male turtle, but it might get you a weird look or two. More examples: rea (el rea/las reas), aula (el aula/las aulas), guila (el guila/las guilas), etc. El diseo de mi prima no est terminado. Thomas grew up in suburban Massachusetts, and moved to New York City for college. For instance, a table (la mesa) is feminine, while a desk (el escritorio) is masculine. A lot of irregular forms happen among farm animals, for the same reason that English has a different word for cow and bull. The gender affects their role on the farm, so having different words comes in handy. Plural of Masculine Nouns [edit | edit source]. Take Note: When it comes to living things (people and animals), masculine nouns are always used when referring to a mixed group (no matter how many females or males are) or when talking about the group as a whole. 250 words that are the same in English and Spanish, Spanish words that are similar to English words, its not really incorrect to use the feminine form. There are also adjectives where the singular masculine form ends in -e or a consonant, and it keeps the same form in the feminine singular ( verde, azul, gris, marrn) and both gender . SpanishDict is the world's most popular Spanish-English dictionary, translation, and learning website. El ftbol es muy aburrido. If the noun is masculine and singular, use the masculine, singular ending (usually - o ). The journalist works all day. Memorizing just the exceptions will be a lot easier than memorizing every single word in the Spanish language. Even though these endings can generally help you with the gender of a noun, there are some words that do not follow these rules. Although its not really incorrect to use the feminine form, its less common. You cant apply it to plural nouns or that would mean that every word would be masculine. With these rules below, youll know which to use with every word el or la. There are a few exceptions to this rule (for example, la mano and el mapa ). List of colors in Spanish - Spanish to English - Google Sites I need a vacation from my family after the reunion. Colours in Spanish - gender and number (adjectives) Masculine & Feminine in Spanish | Overview, Nouns & Exceptions - Study.com Tell Me In Spanish (tellmeinspanish.com) is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. -Fue un lunes, -Ha sido un septiembre hmedo -Nac en el 84 -Son las cinco y cuarto -Poner los puntos sobre las es -La hache delante de la 'a' es muda Here, well go through some of the most common giveaways that a word is masculine or feminine, as well as the cases when Spanish grammatical gender can switch for a single word. One other common word that ends in -a but that is masculine is the word el da (day). One ending with a final -a, -ista, can be used on words for male or female people, and is both masculine and feminine. Todava me quedan das de vacaciones antes de que termine el ao. I know we said we would only be giving you rules that didnt have any exceptions, the rules above are full proof- its when you get to people and occupations where you need to put your thinking cap on. For instance, a cat can be el gato (masculine) or la . Colors are always masculine, even if they end with -a: el rojo, el negro, el azul, el naranja, el prpura, etc.