Spanish Nouns and Articles

I. Masculine or Feminine Nouns

Masculine nouns end in -o * el cartero - the mailman/postman * el niño - the child/son * el tío - the uncle * el teatro - the theater * el dormitorio - the bedroom
Acronym: L.O.N.E.R.S.

1a. Masculine Nouns that Don’t End in -o

Words that end in the following letters or letter combinations are often masculine: * An accented vowel (á, é, í, ó, ú) * el colibrí - hummingbird * el ají - chili pepper * el ñandú - rhea * -ma * A consonant other than d, z * el árbol - tree * el rumor - rumor * el cojín - cushion * e * el perfume - perfume * el estante - shelf * el maquillaje - makeup
A lot of nouns that end in -ma, -pa, and -ta are masculine because they are Greek in origin.
The following nouns are exceptions to the above rules and are feminine, not masculine.

Words ending in -o	Words ending in -e	Words ending in consonants besides d or z
la foto	la llave	la miel
la mano	la calle	la sal
la moto	la fiebre	la hiel
la libido	la carne	la piel
la radio	la frase	la coliflor
la polio	la gente	la sor
la virago	la nieve	la labor
	la noche	la flor
	la nube
	la sangre
	la suerte
	la tarde
	la muerte
	la madre
	la base
	la clase
	la clave
	la corriente
	la fuente
	la sede
	la serpiente
	la torre

Feminine nouns end in -a * la enfermera - the nurse * la profesora - the teacher * la hija - the daughter * la rosa - the rose * la guitarra - the guitar * la piscina - the pool
Acronym: DiónZA

Ending	Examples	English
d	la felicidad, la virtud, la salud	happiness, virtue, health
z	la paz, la nariz, la luz	peace, nose, light
-ión	la canción, la religión, la irritación	song, religion, irritation

The following nouns are exceptions to the above rules and are masculine, not feminine.

Words ending in -a	Words ending in -d	Words ending in -z	Words ending in -ión
el drama	el huésped	el aprendiz	el ansión
el enigma	el ataúd	el cáliz	el roción
el esquema	el abad	el arroz	el notición
el estigma	el alud	el pez	el sentención
el estratega	el áspid	el lápiz	\n
el idioma	el laúd	el ajedrez	\n
el mapa	el récord	el antifaz	\n
el morfema	el milord	el maíz	\n
el planeta	el césped	el albornoz	\n
el problema	\n	el avestruz	\n
el sistema	\n	el altavoz	\n
el tema	\n	el atramuz	\n
el día	\n	el barniz	\n
el aroma	\n	el cariz	\n
el axioma	\n	el disfraz	\n
el buda	\n	el haz	\n
el carisma	\n	el matiz	\n
el clima	\n	\n	\n
el diagrama	\n	\n	\n
el dilema	\n	\n	\n
el fantasma	\n	\n	\n
el panda	\n	\n	\n
el prisma	\n	\n	\n

II. Words that end in ==-ma== or ==-ta== are usually masculine.

-MA

El problema - problem
El tema - subject
El drama - drama
El sistema - system
El dima - money
El programa - program
El idioma - language
Exception: la pluma - pen
Note: Not all words ending in -ma are masculine. Some, like forma (form) are feminine.
There are also many common words ending in -e that are feminine, so this rule must be taken with a grain of salt.

-TA

III. Some nouns referring to people having only one form

El estudiante → la estudiante (the student)
El cantante → la cantante (the singer)
El dentista → la dentista (the dentist)
El policía → la policía (the police)
Spanish nouns ==must== match the noun’s gender!
Nouns that end in a consonant: * papel → papeles (paper)
Nouns that end in ==“z”== have a spelling change in the plural * Luz → Lu==c==es (light) * Lápiz → lapi==c==es

Definite Articles (the): el, la, los, las
Indefinite Articles (a/an/some/a few): un, una, unos, unas
Spanish nouns ==must== match the noun’s number! (Singular or Plural)
Look at the noun * Is it singular or plural? * Is it masculine or feminine? * Does it need a definite or an indefinite article?
Exceptions: * When a feminine singular noun begins with a stressed a or ha sound, the masculine (in)definite article is used instead of the feminine (in)definite article. * When the same noun is plural, the regular feminine article is used. * These examples of feminine words take the masculine singular article, el, in the singular, but the feminine plural article, las, in the plural.

Note: WATCH OUT FOR CONTRACTIONS! When the article el appears after the prepositions a or de, the two words combine to make al and del.

In some cases, we can pair an article with an adjective to make it into a noun. The type of article we use in this case is called the neuter article because it doesn’t attach to a noun with a specific gender. Look at the following sentence: * A mi gato le encanta lo brillante. - My cat loves shiny things. * The neuter article, lo, pairs with the adjective brillante to make the rough translation of shiny things.

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