Gender

In this presentation,
we will look at two
very important
concepts in Spanish:
gender and agreement.
Gender
Look at these English
words and guess whether
they refer to male or
female:
Bull
Hen
Husband
Niece
Cousin
Calculator
Love
Gender
Some are obvious:
Bull (m.)
Hen (f.)
Husband (m.)
Niece (f.)
Others are unknown:
Cousin (m. or f.)
While others are neither
(neuter):
Calculator, love
Gender
In English, nouns and
pronouns fall into
three grammatical
groups:
Masculine: man,
husband, rooster, he
Feminine: woman,
wife, hen, she
Neuter: child, bird, it
Gender
In Spanish, all nouns fall
into just two categories:
Masculine (masculino)
Feminine (feminino)
There is no neuter class
in which to place nouns
such as table and
chair.
So what does this mean?
You should start
thinking about Spanish
nouns as being either
masculine or
feminine.
Lets take a look!
Here are some nouns with
their corresponding
definite article (the):
el nio (the boy)
la nia (the girl)
el profesor (the professor)
la profesora (the professor)
el amigo (the friend)
la amiga (the friend)
Lets reorganize these words.
Put all of the el words
together:
el nio
el profesor
el amigo
And all the la words
together:
la nia
la profesora
la amiga
Thats easy!
Masculine nouns use
the definite article el
while feminine nouns
use la.
Lets look at a few
more:
La mesa (the table)
El libro (the book)
La pluma (the pen)
El telfono (the phone)
Just a minute!!
Words that are neuter in
English are either
masculine or feminine in
Spanish.
This does not mean that
these words have
masculine or feminine
characteristics! It is just a
purely grammatical
classification.
Lets practice!
Do you think these nouns are
masculine (el) or feminine
(la)? Dont worry about
the meanings for now.
___ hermano
___ mam
___ trabajo
___ historia
___ planta
___ taco
How did you do?
el hermano
la mam
el trabajo
la historia
la planta
el taco
Generally speaking, nouns that end in o are
masculine, while those that end in a are
feminine. There are exceptions, but we will
worry about them on a case-by-case basis.
Here are some different ones:
.. ciudad
universidad
..... religin
. divisin
.. actor
doctor
. espaol
.. tnel
Do you see the pattern?
Not all Spanish nouns end
in o and a, but they still
must be either masculine
or feminine.
Nouns that end in in are
masculine and feminine.
Nouns that end in dad are
always feminine.
Nouns that end in l and r
are usually masculine.
What about?
Nouns that end in e can
be either masculine or
feminine:
la clase; el presidente
Some nouns can be both,
depending on the
meaning:
el presidente (a man)
la presidente (a woman)
Whats the bottom line?
Learn every Spanish
noun with its article.
It will pay off soon,
because you will be
able to classify new
nouns as you see the
patterns develop.
Agreement
Look at these sentences
(alto = tall; guapo = good-
looking):
El nio es alto y guapo.
La nia es alta y guapa.
Words that describe nio
also end in o: alto, guapo
Words that describe nia
also end in a: alta, guapa
Whats going on here?
Other words in the
sentence also change to
agree (match the form
of the noun they describe).
Heres another one:
El profesor es bajo,
anciano, y gordo.
How would you change
this sentence to talk about
a woman professor?
Agreement
La profesora es baja,
anciana, y gorda.
What if there is more
than one male teacher?
Agreement
Los profesores son bajos,
ancianos, y gordos.
What is happening??
Los > the plural
Profesores > plural
Son > are
Bajos, ancianos, gordos > adjectives
match the ending of the nouns, too.
This doesnt happen in English
(except for this/these and
that/those). But its an
important feature in Spanish!
Lets try one!
Put the correct ending
on each word.
La chica es bonit__ y
delgad__.
Mi auto es antigu__ y
fe__.
The envelope, please!
La chica es bonita y
delgada.
Mi auto es antiguo y
feo.
Now make these
sentences plural!
Your final answer
Las chicas son bonitas
y delgadas.
Mis autos son antiguos
y feos.
How about this
sentence in the plural?
El estudiante es
inteligente y
trabajador.
How did you do?
Los estudiantes son
inteligentes y trabajadores.
Adjectives that end in e
can be used with either
masculine or feminine
nouns. To make them
plural, just add s.
Adjectives that end in r
add es for plural.
Thats enough for now!
This is a very tricky concept for
learners of Spanish, mainly
because it is so different from
English.
However, it is extremely
important and requires a lot of
concentration on your part!
Keep your eyes and ears open
for gender and agreement, and
soon the patterns will become
clearer.