In Spanish, all nouns (object words, like cat, house, London) are either masculine or feminine. We can usually tell if nouns are feminine because they end in 'a' and that they are masculine if they end in 'o'.
For example, gato (cat) is masculine, and casa (house) is feminine.
But why does this matter?
The way we talk about nouns changes depending on their gender: instead of simply 'the', we have 'la' for feminine nouns and 'el' for masculine nouns.
Similarly, instead of 'a/an', we use 'una' for feminine nouns and 'un' for masculine nouns.
So, a sentence describing a cat and a house would look something like:
El gato está en la casa = The cat is in the house. OR Un gato está en una casa = A cat is in a house.
FAQs
The feminine includes all living beings of female sex (e.g. woman, girl, cow...) and diminutives; the masculine encompasses all other nouns (e.g. man, boy, pot, broom...).
How are masculine words different from feminine? ›
If a noun refers to a male person it will be masculine, if it refers to a female person it will be feminine.
How can you tell if a word is masculine or feminine? ›
There are different ways to find out a noun's gender: we can look in the dictionary and check for the abbreviations m. (masculine) or f. (feminine); we can check the noun's ending, which generally gives an indication whether the noun is masculine or feminine; or we can look at the noun's article.
What are masculine words? ›
Examples of Commonly Used Masculine Nouns: Person: man, boy, king, father, brother, uncle, husband, nephew, son. Occupation: doctor, engineer, lawyer, teacher, firefighter, police officer, mechanic. Animals: lion, tiger, bull, stallion, rooster, ram, buck, boar.
What are feminine words? ›
The feminine gender is used to refer to the nouns and pronouns naming the female counterparts of human beings, animals and birds. The Oxford Learner's Dictionary defines the feminine gender as “belonging to a class of words that refer to female people or animals and often have a special form”.
What is feminine energy like? ›
Generally speaking, feminine energy is often said to be connected to positive emotional qualities, such as empathy and patience, and beneficial traits, like creativity, good communication skills, and high self-esteem.
Is tea masculine or feminine? ›
In the U.S., tea has been coded as feminine for the better part of the last 150 years, despite the fact that in just about every other part of the world where it is consumed, it's simply another beverage to be enjoyed by men and women alike.
How are masculine and feminine words decided? ›
As to rules, for "most" words the gender comes from the object of the word. Also, some words have a gender from their sense, for example, qualities are mostly feminine. Masculine is used for languages, substantives, most countries, city names in general, materials, "calendar" (months, days, seasons)...
Is pizza masculine or feminine in French? ›
The word for 'pizza' in French is the exact same word as it is in English: pizza. The difference is that in French, this noun is considered a feminine noun.
Is death masculine or feminine? ›
In English and German culture, Death is typically portrayed as male, but in French, Spanish, and Italian culture, it is not uncommon for Death to be female.
What are the four types of genders? The four genders are masculine, feminine, neuter, and common.
What is the feminine of uncle? ›
Thus, 'uncle', when converted into feminine gender will become 'aunt', whereas the male noun counterparts for Mother, Daughter and Sister are Father, Son and Brother respectively, and none of three are present in the sentence. Thus, Option A, Aunt, Is the correct answer.
How do you know if a word is masculine or feminine? ›
The most well-known rule or guideline is that nouns ending in -o are masculine and those ending in -a are feminine, but there are numerous exceptions to this gender rule, especially for those ending in -a. Some of the exceptions are listed below.
How to change masculine to feminine? ›
- ess is added without any change of the main masculine form. by adding –ess after dropping-o and –e. by adding –ess after certain slight changes in masculine form.
What is the difference between feminine and masculine? ›
Masculinity is seen to be the trait which emphasizes ambition, acquisition of wealth, and differentiated gender roles. Femininity is seen to be the trait which stress caring and nurturing behaviors, sexuality equality, environmental awareness, and more fluid gender roles.
What is the difference between feminine and masculinity? ›
Masculinity is seen to be the trait which emphasizes ambition, acquisition of wealth, and differentiated gender roles. Femininity is seen to be the trait which stress caring and nurturing behaviors, sexuality equality, environmental awareness, and more fluid gender roles.
Why are some words masculine or feminine? ›
"Grammatical gender is a classification system for nouns," said Dorman. She says gendered grammar most likely evolved to reduce ambiguity in our speech and to increase the effectiveness of communication. We can't pinpoint exactly when languages started doing this, but it's been going on for a long time.
