Spanish Nouns and Gender - with audio!

Is it “el” sofá or “la”sofá?

Why are some words masculine and others feminine?… And… What does that even mean?

We get it. The whole masculine feminine thing in Spanish is a bit of a minefield. And that’s not the only headache you have to put up with.

一Enter stage left: singular and plural nouns.

Singular and plural nouns also make life difficult for us. There are “s” endings and “es” endings, there’s a lot to think about.

But allow us to let you in on a little secret. Sometimes, it’s not the grammar itself that is tricky to understand, but rather, the way the grammar is taught that makes us want to pull our hair out.

Masculine and feminine nouns and singular and plural nouns are part of the foundations of Spanish grammar. You have to master them in order to speak well. That’s why this article will clearly explain how you can go about perfecting these portions of Spanish grammar.

In this article we’ll cover:

What is a Spanish noun?
Spanish gender
Masculine Spanish nouns
Exceptions for masculine nouns
- Masculine words that end in “a”
- Words with other endings
Top tricks for identifying masculine nouns
- The days of the week
- The months of the year
- Ordinal numbers
- Cardinal points
- Oceans
- Mountains

Feminine Spanish nouns
Exceptions for feminine nouns
- Feminine words that end in “o”
- Words that have other endings
Top tricks for identifying feminine nouns
- Names of cities
- Names of countries
- Names of islands
- Letters of the alphabet

Practice time
Singular and plural nouns in Spanish
Spanish nouns that end in vowels
Exceptions for nouns that end in vowels
Spanish nouns that end in consonants
Exceptions for nouns that end in consonants

More exceptions
- When a noun finishes in an “x” or an “s”
- When a noun ends in an accents
Practice time
Final words
Answers

In this article, you will find useful tips and tricks that will help you understand the grammar behind gender and number in Spanish.

What is a Spanish noun?

A Spanish noun is a word used to name a person, an animal, a thing, a place, or even an idea. A noun could be something physical, or something abstract.

Let’s take a look at some examples of nouns:

Noun category	English nouns	Spanish nouns
Person	Ana, mom, friend	Ana, madre, amigo
Animal	Dog, cat, spider	Perro, gato, araña
Thing	Car, table, apple	Carro, mesa, manzana
Place	Beach, house, Miami	Playa, casa, Miami
Idea	Love, education, democracy	Amor, educación, democracia

Spanish gender

We know what you’re thinking.

What does Spanish gender mean?

We agree, it does sound strange, but it is a fact that all Spanish nouns have a gender. Their gender can either be masculine or feminine.

This part of Spanish grammar is a little taxing for us to remember. We’re not used to words being masculine or feminine. But as tempting as it is, we can’t just gloss over this portion of grammar. That’s because the nouns in a sentence have to be linked to the right article. Here are some examples of articles:

The noun in a sentence also has to match the right adjective according to its gender. Here is an example:

Tall
Alto

Tall
Alta

Masculine Spanish nouns

We’ll let the guys go first just this once and start by talking about masculine nouns.

It’s important to know the gender of a noun so that we can match it to the correct article. But, when conversing in Spanish, there won’t be any time for you to stop and look in the dictionary to see if a word is masculine or feminine. So, here comes the important question.

How can you know which nouns are masculine?

Most nouns that end in the letter “o” are masculine.

Examples:

The dog
El perro

The boy
El niño

The car
El carro

The grandfather
El abuelo

Note: We know it takes a lot of extra effort to learn the noun and its gender. But try to learn both at the same time. This will save you work in the long run when you come to use the noun with an article. (If you are not too sure about what an article is, we recommend you view this guide.)

Exceptions for masculine nouns

When it comes to Spanish genders, there are always a couple of exceptions just to keep you on your toes. We’re now going to take a look at some masculine nouns that do not end in the letter “o”.

Masculine words that end in “a”

There are a number of Spanish nouns that end in the letter “a” but are masculine.

Examples:

The day
El día

The sofa
El sofá

The planet
El planeta

Words with other endings:

Some masculine Spanish nouns have other endings, let’s check those endings and some examples of them in words.

Other endings for masculine nouns	Examples
Or	Love, the professor, the heat El amor, el profesor, el calor
On	The truck, the pants, the plane El camión, el pantalón, el avión
Aje	The massage, courage, the trip El masaje, el coraje, el viaje
An	The bread, the guardian, the captain El pan, el guardián, el capitán
Ma	The problem, the weather, the language El problema, el clima, el idioma
Consonants other than “d” and “z”	The tree, the train, the rumor El árbol, el tren, el rumor
E	The coffee, the perfume, the passport El café, el perfume, el pasaporte

Top tricks for identifying masculine nouns

Memorizing which nouns are masculine and which are feminine is no easy feat. That’s why we want to make your job a little bit easier.

There are some groups of nouns that are always masculine. The following information will help you to remember masculine nouns by group.

The days of the week

Examples:

The day
El día

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
El lunes, el martes, el miércoles

The months of the year

Examples:

The month
El mes

January, February, March
El enero, el febrero, el marzo

Ordinal numbers

Examples:

The number
El número

The first, the second, the third
El primero, el segundo, el tercero

Cardinal points

Examples:

The cardinal point
El punto cardinal

The north, the south
El norte, el sur

Oceans

Examples:

The ocean
El océano

The Caribbean, the Atlantic
El Caribe, el Atlántico

Mountains

Examples:

The mountain
El monte

The Mount Everest, the Mount Kilimanjaro
El monte Everest, el monte Kilimanjaro

Learning nouns by groups is a good way for you to learn their genders fast.

Who said there wasn’t a fast-track for learning Spanish?

Feminine Spanish nouns

It’s time to give the girls a turn. We’ll now take a look at feminine Spanish nouns. And you’re no doubt already wondering:

Is there a quick way of telling which nouns are feminine?

And the answer is yes! Most nouns that end in the letter “a” are feminine.

Here are some examples of feminine nouns:

The cow
La vaca

The girl
La niña

The bicycle
La bicicleta

The grandmother
La abuela

Exceptions for feminine nouns

We hate to be the bearers of bad news, but you knew it was coming. Some feminine Spanish nouns don’t follow a pattern. They do not end in the letter “a” but they are still feminine nouns.

We’re now going to take a look at some of these pesky rulebreakers.

Feminine words that end in “o”

Here are some examples of Spanish nouns that end in the letter “o” but are feminine:

The hand
La mano

The radio
La radio

The picture
La foto

Words with other endings

Not only do some feminine nouns end in “o” but they also have a bunch of other endings. Let’s take a look at some of the most common, feminine word endings.

Other endings for feminine nouns	Examples
D	The truth, health, half La verdad, la salud, la mitad
Ión	The song, the passion, the decision La canción, la pasión, la decisión
E	The night, the street, the meat La noche, la calle, la carne
Consonants other than “d” and “z”	The salt, the skin, the flower La sal, la piel, la flor

Note: The “e” ending appears in both the masculine and the feminine chart. Some nouns ending in the letter “e” could be either masculine or feminine.

To avoid confusion, we recommend you to memorize the article that goes with the noun as you learn.

Top tricks for identifying feminine nouns

You’ve already got enough on your plate.

So, why make learning genders more complicated than it needs to be?

That’s why we’ve put together the following list of feminine nouns. It groups the nouns by category so that you can learn them faster.

Yes, another cheat guide!

Names of cities

Examples:

The city
La ciudad

Barcelona
La Barcelona

Names of countries

Examples:

Argentina, Greece, India
La Argentina, la Grecia, la India

Names of islands

Examples:

The island
La isla

Mallorca, Palma
La Mallorca, la Palma

Letters of the alphabet

Example:

The letter
La letra

The a, the b, the c
La a, la b, la c

Note: There are some cities, countries, and islands that are masculine.

Practice time

Warning:

Written exercises can help you pass Spanish tests, but they won’t help you learn to actually speak Spanish.

To get truly conversational in Spanish, you need lots of one-on-one practice with great Spanish teachers.

Try out LingoToGo with 10 days of unlimited Spanish lessons, completely free!

TRY TEN DAYS FOR FREE

Or, learn more about our Spanish lessons here.

Exercise 1: Mark which nouns are masculine and which ones are feminine

The table
La mesa

The dog
El perro

The friend
El amigo

The plane
El avión

The decision
La decisión

The car
El carro

The bread
El pan

The table
La mesa

The hand
La mano

The coffee
El café

Note: The answers are at the end of the article.

Singular and plural nouns in Spanish

It’s time for us to get our heads around the idea of singular and plural nouns in Spanish.

Ok, but do you really need to know this?

Yes! Because when talking, we often need to indicate whether we are talking about one noun (singular) or more than one noun (plural).

Luckily though, forming singular and plural nouns in Spanish is very similar to how we form them in English. In English for example, you just add an “s” at the end of the noun to make it plural.

Example:

I have two cats

But how would we translate this same idea into Spanish?

In Spanish, you just simply add the letter “s” or the letters “es” to the end of a noun to make it plural. But here comes another great question.

When should you use an “s” and when should you use the letters “es”?

Hold on to your hat as the next section will explain everything you need to know.

Spanish nouns that end in vowels

When a Spanish noun ends in a vowel (a, e, i, o, u,) or in some cases a vowel with an accent, you need to add an “s” at the end of the Spanish noun to make it plural.

Fancy taking a look at that?

Then let’s see some examples.

Examples:

The house
La casa
The houses
Las casas

The coffee
El café
The coffees
Los cafés

The pantyhose
El panti
The pantyhose
Los pantis

The car
El carro
The cars
Los carros

The tribe
La tribu
The tribes
Las tribus

The tea
El té
The teas
Los tés

Note: As you have noticed, we have to match the articles and adjectives to the noun in plural. If you are finding this difficult, you should check out our articles and adjectives guide.

Exceptions for nouns that end in vowels

Exceptions. They are tricky to master because they don’t follow the rules. But, allow us to let you in on a little secret. In this portion of Spanish grammar, there is a really neat rule that we think you’ll be rather fond of.

If the Spanish noun in singular ends in the letter “í” or “ú” (with an accent), you can use either an “s” or an “es” at the end to make it plural. That means you can choose and use whichever format is easiest for you to remember!

Examples:

The taboo
El tabú
The taboos
Los tabús or los tabúes

The chili
El ají
The chilis
Los ajís or los ajíes

The Israeli
El Israelí
The israelis
Los israelís or los israelíes

The peanut
El maní
The peanuts
Los manís or los maníes

Spanish nouns that end in consonants

Now, let’s move on to the cases where you just add the letters “es” to the end of the Spanish noun to make it plural.

When the singular noun finishes in a consonant you have to add the letters “es” at the end to make it plural.

Examples:

The month
El mes
The months
Los meses

The watch
El reloj
The watches
Los relojes

The professor
El profesor
The professors
Los profesores

The color
El color
The colors
Los colores

The king
El rey
The kings
Los reyes

The light
La luz
The lights
Las luces

Ok, so it’s all plain sailing up to here. But there’s now something you should bear in mind. Singular nouns that end in the letter “z” must change to a “c” before adding the “es”.

That was a lot to swallow. But it’s not as complicated as it sounds. Here are some examples:

The fish
El pez
The fish
Los peces

The pencil
El lápiz
The pencils
Los lápices

Exceptions for nouns that end in consonants

Yep, that’s right, we’re dishing out the exceptions thick and fast in this article. But thankfully, there aren’t many cases of this exception to remember.

So what’s the exception this time?

Some Spanish singular nouns end in a consonant, but to make them plural you only add the letter “s”.

Examples:

The iceberg
El iceberg
The icebergs
Los icebergs

The mammoth
El mamut
The mammoths
Los mamuts

The zigzag
El zigzag
The zigzags
Los zigzags

These words aren’t commonly used, but it’s still good to know them.

You should also know that if the Spanish singular noun ends in “st” or “zt”, the plural is the same as the singular.

Example:

The test
El test
The tests
Los test

More exceptions

You’ve done it! You know how to convert nouns from singular into plural!

Now that you’ve got singular and plural nouns under your belt, let’s check out some more general exceptions for both cases.

When a noun ends in an “x” or an “s”

In some cases is not you don’t need to add an “s” or “es” to the end of the word to make a singular noun plural. When this happens the singular and plural in Spanish are completely the same.

Examples:

The analysis
El análisis
The analyses
Los análisis

The thorax
El tórax
The thoraxes
Los tórax

Monday
El lunes
Mondays
Los lunes

Tuesday
El martes
Tuesdays
Los martes

As you can see from these examples, the only thing that changes is the article!

Note: Only the days of the week that finish in the letter “s” are the same in the singular as they are in the plural.

When a noun ends in an accent

If the singular noun finishes in an “n” or an “s” and also has an accent on the last syllable, it loses its accent when it becomes plural.

If that last sentence made you a little dizzy, take a look at the examples below.

Examples:

The plane
El avión
The planes
Los aviones

The song
La canción
The songs
Las canciones

The French
El francés
The French
Los franceses

The occasion
La ocasión
The occasions
Las ocasiones

Ok, so that was easy enough.

(We all tend to forget to add accents in anyway, so remembering to not put one in is easy.)

But, Spanish nouns that end in the letter “n” and put emphasis on the second-to-last syllable in the singular, add an accent when they are changed to the plural.

We hear you loud and clear. We’ll definitely need some examples of this one. Here they come.

Examples:

The adolescent
El joven
The adolescents
Los jóvenes

The crime
El crimen
The crimes
Los crímenes

The exam
El examen
The exams
Los exámenes

Wow!

Did that feel like a bit of an information overload?

Please, don’t try to remember everything we’ve seen all at once or you’ll still be up staring at your screen this time tomorrow. Instead, why don’t you stick this article in your bookmarks and try to learn one rule or exception every time you sit down to study?

With a little practice, it will become natural! Checking out our article on Spanish gender will also help you to become more confident with this topic as the two go hand-in-hand.

Practice time

Warning:

Written exercises can help you pass Spanish tests, but they won’t help you learn to actually speak Spanish.

To get truly conversational in Spanish, you need lots of one-on-one practice with great Spanish teachers.

Try out LingoToGo with 10 days of unlimited Spanish lessons, completely free!

TRY TEN DAYS FOR FREE

Or, learn more about our Spanish lessons here.

Exercise 2: Make the following singular nouns plural

Tea
Té

Bread
Pan

Flower
Flor

House
Casa

Pizza
Pizza

Dog
Perro

Watch
Reloj

Plane
Avión

Friend
Amigo

Friday
Viernes

Saturday
Sábado

Family
Familia

Beer
Cerveza

Note: The answers are at the end of the article.

Final words

Hats off to you, you’ve made it! You can now say that you have gone through everything you need to know about Spanish gender, singular, and plural nouns too!

But we all know that looking through the information is just the start of the journey. Now the rest is up to you! You must keep going over these important topics so that you can build a solid foundation that will help you learn the language quicker.

So with practice in mind, why not take advantage of our unlimited lessons and start going over what you’ve learned with a native speaker? There’s no faster way for you to start feeling confident with the new grammar we’ve seen today.

Check out our series of Complete Spanish Grammar articles – everything you’ll ever need to know about Spanish grammar.