masculine and feminine in spanish
Sophia Vance
Updated on August 08, 2026
Let’s start with something simple: the word for “gender” in Spanish is género, and our two genders are femenino (“feminine” ) and masculino (“masculine” ). That’s easy; everyone knows these two genders.
Is female El or LA?
El is the singular, masculine definite article, meaning “the,” in Spanish and is used to define masculine nouns, while la is the feminine version.
Is Una masculine or feminine?
Before feminine singular nouns → use una. Before feminine singular nouns starting with stressed a or ha → use un. Before masculine plural nouns → use unos.
How do you remember masculine and feminine in Spanish?
Language Learning: Spanish Noun Gender Tips
Use the O and A rule. In general, nouns ending with o are masculine and nouns ending in a are feminine. Remember the MA exception. Memorize genders for word endings. Always learn nouns with their articles. Pair words with adjectives as a memorization aid.
What letters are feminine in Spanish?
In addition to the general rule that nouns ending in an –a are feminine, another feminine ending is the letter –d. Typically, a word that ends in –dad, –tad, or –tud will be feminine. Notice that most of these words have English equivalents that end in – ty.
How do you use EL and LA?
Before masculine singular nouns → use el. Before feminine singular nouns → use la. Before feminine singular nouns starting with stressed a or ha → use el. Before masculine plural nouns → use los.
Is el he or the?
“Él” means “he” and “el” means “the”, therefore they are two words with different meaning and used for different things. “él” is a personal pronoun, to express that “he” does the action. “el” is a defined article, means “the”, it goes before a masculine singular noun. And that’s all!
What is un and una?
Un is ‘a,’ masculine. Una is ‘a,’ feminine. Unos means ‘some’ or ‘a few, ‘ masculine. Unas means ‘some’ or ‘a few, ‘ feminine.
Is Casa masculine or feminine?
E.g. Mundo (world), Trabajo (job), Perro (dog) are all masculine, and Casa (house), Palabra (word), Hora (hour) are all feminine. We use the article El for a masculine noun, and La for a feminine noun.
Is Dia masculine or feminine?
Spanish nouns that end with -o are masculine, and ones that end with -a are feminine, right? Yes, usually. But there are plenty of exceptions to this gender rule, of which the two best known are mano, the word for hand, which is feminine, and día, the word for day, which is masculine.
Is un for a boy?
For masculine nouns “A” is Un, whilst for feminine nouns “A” is Une. If the noun is plural then “Some” becomes Des. For example : A boy = Un garçon.
What are feminine words?
Feminine nouns are words for women, girls and female animals.
What are the examples of feminine?
Nouns and pronouns that stand for female are said to be of feminine gender. Example: mother, girl, daughter, sister, tigress, lioness, she.