That said, we need to get something out of the way before diving into the rules for gender in Spanish. Whether its a good idea to split the world into two genders is a subject for a different article, but for now well go through the various kinds of nouns that switch genders. If you have studied Spanish, you are painfully aware of this. Nouns with other endings, such as other consonants, usually need to be memorized. Just think of the Spanish word for problem: el problema! It is usually at the end of words that describe people, like artista (artist) and realista (realist). Feminine: (a, cin, dad) La chica- the girl. Although words that end in -a are usually feminine, we already know that the words with -ma at the end of them are masculine. Not bad, huh? and an adjective (hungry, thirsty,. by Kcastonguay. Generally, if the masculine form ends with an -o, to form the feminine you just need to replace it with an -a: If the masculine form ends witn a consonant, to form the feminine we just add an -a: They usually have the same form for masculine and feminine: el/la estudiante, el/la cantante, el/la agente, el/la paciente, etc. My mom has a cherry tree. I've still got some vacation time left before the end of the year. Privacy | Terms of Use. Is vacation feminine or masculine in Spanish? Spanish nouns have a gender, which is either feminine (like la mujer or la luna) or masculine (like el hombre or el sol). If a color is working as a Spanish adjective, it will need to change its gender to agree with the noun unless such a color ends with a consonant or -e. This can be very confusing. Part of Paglia's understanding of men's and women's sexual "personae" is shaped by Nietzsche's Apollonian/Dionysian polarity: The former represents the masculine impulse for stoic order and rationality, while the latter represents the feminine drive toward ecstatic, bodily revelry and the chaotic, unpredictable forces of the natural world. In many cases, the worst that can happen to you is that your Spanish will not sound very good: La problema es que no tengo tiempo. With these rules below, you'll know which to use with every word "el" or "la". Well break it down into three basic groups. For instance, when the word for a person or occupation ends in -e. When occupations end in -a it gets messy. How do numbers and gender affect adjectives in Spanish? is vacation in spanish masculine or feminine. These nouns are: Mi caballo es negro y mi yegua parda. All rights reserved. The articles which accompany a masculine noun are el (definite) / uno (indefinite), while the feminine ones are la (definite) / una (indefinite) . However your friend is a hypochondriac and you need to assure him/her everything is going to be fine. Nouns that end in -ma are masculine, such as the word problema (problem), Nouns that end in -pa, like the word mapa (map), are also masculine. Test yourself on the gender of Spanish nouns: Note: You must be logged into your Progress with Lawless Spanish account to take these tests. Create your account. La disco is short for la discoteca, andla foto is short forla fotografa. They actually come from Ancient Greek and they are all masculine: el dilema, el emblema, el teorema, el fonema, el lexema. This attribute allows us to classify words as either masculine or feminine. From students and tourists to doctors and soldiers whove moved and visited here over the years. Everything weve ever written about Spanish, all in one place. Mis perros son muy tranquilos. For those who are serious about their Spanish, there is nothing like the entire Fluenz journey including our digital App, the face-to-face Online Immersion, and the six-day experiences in Mexico City, Barcelona, or Oaxaca. Dont worry! This is why despite how difficult it is to learn Spanish, we are confident there is a realistic and achievable path to fluency. -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 Access millions of accurate translations written by our team of experienced English-Spanish translators. 501 lessons. (university) (United Kingdom) a. la vacaciones (F) to take a vacation tomarse unas vacaciones intransitive verb 2. We know that all people have gender, but in Spanish all nouns have gender. ). Nouns that refer to people and animals have two forms. Unlike the masculine, theres no fun acronym for feminine nouns. Larry fue a Londres un par de das durante las vacaciones, El ao pasado pasamos unas vacaciones maravillosas en Mallorca. When you are starting out in Spanish knowing the gender of nouns is very difficult. Hay cien sillas disponibles. 2. As you can see, most of them are nouns used to describe a persons profession or occupation: And here are some examples of what you can do to mark the gender of these words: [Masculine or feminine determiner] + [noun]+ (adjective). A student learns how to identify gender in Spanish. Thats why agua, a feminine noun, in singular is el agua. Me gusta la vestido rosa. However, there are a few masculine nouns that end in -a. Sometimes the word is the same and we can only figure out the meaning with the articles or pronouns that go with them: El capital (money) La capital (capital city), El editorial (editorial) La editorial (publisher), El pendiente (earring) La pendiente (slope). Tu voz es muy chillona. Exceptions to that rule are la crema and la yema, which come from French and Latin respectively. There are some words that end with -o, -ma, -pa, -ta, or LONERS that are feminine. Yes, when speaking to someone you are familiar with it is t and the verb will end with an 's' such as t quieres. Soy Daniela Sanchez, Ive taught Spanish in Mexico to a wide array of foreigners. Because all the nouns that end with -in are feminine words in Spanish. Take Note: Do not get mixed up! For that reason, in this guide, Ill provide you with all the key information you need to know to determine the gender of nouns in Spanish. Because coming from English you dont have any reference to hold on to, sometimes our memory can only recall so much and we mix up the gender. See answer (1) Copy. And to make things more interesting, the fact is that with time, languages evolve and change. Think youve got it? A few of the most common ones are: Any words that are actually a shorter form of a longer word. 4. We said words that end in -or are masculine. Recuerdas aquella vez que estuvimos de vacaciones en Vermont? Even though the brother is a man, the word persona is always feminine. Estamos de vacaciones en la Florida ahora mismo. In the tables below, youll find the most common endings for feminine words in Spanish. Learn and practice Spanish * Daily practice * Find your level (proficiency test) * Spanish for beginners * Travel Spanish, A1 | A2 | B1 | B2 | C1 Find your level. In Spanish, some nouns use different words for the masculine and feminine forms. Soy Daniela Sanchez, Ive taught Spanish in Mexico to a wide array of foreigners. We only do this when those words start with a stressed a sound. Voy a viajar a Mxico durante las vacaciones de verano. The Philippines (/ f l p i n z / (); Filipino: Pilipinas), officially the Republic of the Philippines (Filipino: Republika ng Pilipinas), is an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia.It is situated in the western Pacific Ocean and consists of around 7,641 islands that are broadly categorized under three main geographical divisions from north to south: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. On the other hand, when working as nouns, Spanish colors are always masculine. A noun is a word referring to a person, animal, place, thing, feeling or idea (e.g. Spanish nouns have a gender, which is either feminine (like la mujer or la luna) or masculine (like el hombre or el sol). Cuntas clases faltan para las vacaciones? La camisa rosa es muy grande. Estas manzanas estn muy agrias. Dont be shy and post a message! What gender is the sea in your mind? There are one hundred chairs available. Since it can be challenging to conjugate, well Probar Conjugation 101: Conjugate Probar in Spanish. Your lipstick is so pretty! When you first start learning Spanish, grammatical gender can seem arbitrary and confusing. Me urge una vacacin! There is one other ending that ends in -a, -ista, that is actually both feminine and masculine. Un - unos. There are three genders in Spanish: masculine, feminine, and neutral. . We only say "el agua" only because it's smoother to pronounce than "la aqua." Period. Take Note: To pluralize these Spanish words, you must change the -z for the ending -ces. The man sneezed.). In Spanish, the following nouns are always masculine: (Determiner] +[noun] + [verb conjugated] + [complement]. I like the red bag more. Your email address will not be published. Here we will explain the rules, and then the 3 categories of exceptions: Below are a number of words you would think should be la according to the rules above, but they are el, as they are exceptions to the el/la rules. The idea that nouns have gender seems perfectly natural when the noun stands for a living creature. La sangre - the blood. Professions also refer to people, but are kind of their own subset. 1000 5th St, suite 200 With these nouns in singular, the indefinite article (un/una) is masculine, too: un aula, un guila, etc. One of the first things youll find out when learning Spanish is that all nouns have a gender. Luca tiene cualidades muy buenas. Este semestre est bien pesado.I desperately need a vacation! -A, -in, -dad, -tad and -tud are all endings for feminine words. Check these examples of sentences with colors in Spanish: El rosa es mi color preferido. La comida estuvo muy rica. For these types of cases, there are certain guidelines that can give you a better idea of how Spanish gender is formed. With these rules below, youll know which to use with every word el or la. The name is thought to have acquired this meaning as communities in the time of Sarah and Abraham thought it to be hysterical that they were to have a child at such an elderly age. noun uk / veke.n/ us / veke.n/ A1 [ C or U ] US (UK holiday) a time when someone does not go to work or school but is free to do what they want, such as travel or relax vacaciones We're taking a vacation in June. Su habitacin es morada. Names of lakes, oceans, seas, and rivers. The bull is very aggressive, and the cow is very calm. The last three of them are actually abbreviations of feminine compound words: la radiofona, la motocicleta, la fotografa. "Water" in Spanish is not masculine. The Amazon River is the worlds largest river. On your particular example of a dropdown menu with the names of languages, you don't have to worry because there is only one name for (the language) Spanish: espaol, masculine. Required fields are marked *. Claudias make-up is very good. * This is the only word ending in -ua that takes a masculine article. Some examples are hijo (son), zapato (shoe) and mono (monkey). Most adjectives in Spanish can be either feminine or masculine depending on the genre of the accompanying noun. las vacaciones de Navidad, las vacaciones de Pascua, las vacaciones de verano. Many nouns that refer to jobs or roles of people can be either masculine or feminine depending on the person they refer to. The only exception to the weekly sampling rate occurred between sessions 11 and 12 when the family took a two-week. La juez es muy puntual. In fact, a few masculine words also end with this vowel. Not only in Spanish, but also in other Romance and non-Romance languages, such as German and Russian. The noun is called "de gnero comn" (common gender) when with the same termination it may . vacation translate: vacances [feminine, plural], vacances [feminine, plural], passer ses vacances, vacances, passer des. Time to dive into a topic that combines grammar and etiquette. In Spanish, all nouns are either masculine or feminine. Please check your email and click the link to confirm your subscription - gracias! They wish that they were in love now. Thomas grew up in suburban Massachusetts, and moved to New York City for college. For objects and concepts, Spanish gender is, The Spanish masculine gender can be used to talk about a, Most feminine words in Spanish end with , Singular feminine words that start with a, Certain nouns related to professions have fixed endings. Plural of Masculine Nouns [edit | edit source]. We know, we know, the exceptions are very frustrating. Most masculine nouns end in -o, like hermano, meaning 'brother' and most feminine nouns end in -a, like hermana, meaning 'sister'. either to a group of male persons or a . Nouns ending with -dez and -umbre are usually feminine, too: la solidez, la desnudez, la costumbre, la incertidumbre, etc. Boroditsky proposes that because the word for "bridge" in German die brucke is a feminine noun, and the word for "bridge" in Spanish el puente is a masculine noun, native speakers. Yet if you are referring to a person or occupation this is what happens: EL espa = The spy (if the spy is a man) LA espa = The spy (if the spy is a woman. Learn all about the Spanish gender roles below - Feminine (la) vs Masculine (el). The masculine form is the one that appears on a dictionary. Unfortunately, there are not as many rules to know whether a noun in Spanish is masculine. Add vacation to one of your lists below, or create a new one. If the noun is plural and feminine, then use the plural, feminine ending (usually - las ). Conseiller(re) aux ventes Corbeil lectromnager recherche une personne qui aime offrir aux clients une exprience de magasinage remarquable et qui a un bon sens de l'analyse des besoins. Most Spanish adjectives must agree in gender and number with the accompanying noun. LONERS - words that end with any of the letters in LONERS are usually masculine. As mentioned above, this rule comes into effect with amounts superior to two hundred. The two most basic rules about gender are based on the last letter of the noun: A word that ends in -o is masculine, and a word that ends in -a is feminine. During the day Im a freelancer and online marketer, while at night Im here writing for students of the world wide web looking to learn Spanish. b. holiday (United Kingdom) Ests muy estresado; necesitas irte de vacaciones.You are too stressed out; you should go on holiday. There are some nouns that end in a, but they are not feminine, but masculine: And vice versa, some nouns that end in -o are feminine: When a masculine noun ends in a consonant, its feminine form ends in a (We just have to had an a after that last consonant). This is a feminine word because it is a short form of the longer word, la motocicleta. Mi padres pasaron las vacaciones de Semana Santa en Argentina. Nuestros perros son pequeos. What does the root Manus mean? Colors are always masculine, even if they end with -a: el rojo, el negro, el azul, el naranja, el prpura, etc. 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? (in summer) a. veranear Copyright 2006 Harrap Publishers Limited vacation noun 1 especially (Britain) (Jur) receso (m) vacacional (formal); periodo (m) vacacional We say EL agua frA (The cold water). I have one hundred pesos. endings to determine the gender of a word in Spanish. 3. Have you tried it yet? Its the persons gender that will determine whether we use el or la. There are a few exceptions to this rule (for example, la mano and el mapa ). If the occupation ends in -a it tends not to change. Collins Complete Spanish Electronic Dictionary HarperCollins Publishers 2011. La torre - the tower. Objectos de clase (masculine - feminine ) Group sort. 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. When it comes to the world of animals, things can get even more complicated. Here are some key points that you should keep in mind about masculine and feminine words in Spanish: Hola! The user may also prefer cheaper vacations and may have desiderata or wishes such as visiting an attraction park in each stop. In English, you use a form of the verb 'to be' (am, is, are, was, were, etc.) El Amazonas es el ro ms largo del mundo. Idioms with the word back, Cambridge University Press & Assessment 2023. Nouns ending in o are usually masculine, and nouns ending in a are usually feminine.