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Spanish Gender and Articles

In Spanish, unlike English, all nouns (persons, places or things) are either masculine or feminine. The article (‘a’, ‘an’ or ‘the’ in English) must change according to whether the noun that follows is masculine or feminine. It must also agree with the number of the noun – whether it is singular or plural:

Unfortunately, there are no hard and fast rules to tell you which gender a noun should be and most simply need to be learnt.

However, here are some guidelines to show you some common patterns.

Nouns denoting male people and animals are usually but not always masculine:

Nouns denoting female people and animals are usually but not always feminine:

Some nouns are masculine or feminine depending on the sex of the particular person to whom they refer:

A noun ending in –ista can be masculine or feminine, depending on whether it refers to a male or female:

Similarly, a noun ending in –nte can be masculine or feminine, depending on whether you are talking about a male or female:

Some nouns can refer to men or women but have only one gender, whether the person is male or female:

Although you’re likely to be understood by Spanish speakers if you use the wrong genders, there are some instances where it could cause a great deal of confusion. A few nouns change their meaning radically, depending on whether they are masculine or feminine, so they’re well worth learning. Here are some of the more common examples: