Los sustantivos
Thousands of years ago, our human ancestors practiced religions called animism. They
believed that spirits inhabited not only humans, but plants and non-living objects like
rocks, rivers, clouds and mountains. Because of this belief, early humans referred to all
objects as either masculine or feminine, depending on what kind of spirit they believed
lived inside it. While Modern English no longer distinguishes nouns based on their
gender, Spanish, and most other languages, continue this practice even if they do not hold
on to this belief.
Spanish nouns are grouped as either masculine or feminine. Masculine singular nouns are
preceded by the prefix el and means “the.” Feminine singular nouns are preceded by the
prefix la which also means “the.” The gender of the noun determines what prefix you will
use. Below are some helpful rules to help determine if a noun is masculine or feminine.
Masculine Nouns
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Words that end in –o are usually masculine.
el perro
el bolígrafo el libro
Numbers are always masculine.
el dos
el cincuenta
Days of the week and months are masculine.
el martes
el abril
Nouns that end with –aje are masculine.
el viaje
el personaje
Most nouns that end with –or are masculine.
el color
el calor
Compound nouns are also masculine.
el paraguas el sacapuntas
Because of their Greek origin, some nouns ending in –ma are masculine.
el diploma
el fantasma el idioma
el problema
Feminine Nouns
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Words that end in –a are usually feminine.
la lengua
la cosa
la pluma
Letters of the alphabet are feminine.
la a
la ce
la uve doble
Nouns that end in –ción, –sión or –xión.
la canción
la discusión la reflexión
Nouns ending in –tad, –dad , –tud or –umbre.
la libertad
la ciudad
la virtud
Nouns ending in –ie.
la serie
la superficie
la costumbre
Changing the Gender
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Masculine nouns that end in –or, –ón, –ín or –és can be made feminine by adding
an –a. The accent mark is also lost when made feminine.
el doctor/la doctora
el campeón/la campeona
el bailarín/la bailarina
el francés/la francesa
Some nouns do not change but the article changes to signify a man or woman.
Often these nouns end in –a, –nte or –ista.
el/la atleta
el/la estudiante
el/la dentista el/la modelo
Some nouns cannot change even if the masculine nouns refers to a woman or a
female noun refers to a man.
la persona
el ángel
la víctima
el personaje
Most feminine nouns that begin with a stressed a- use the masculine article el, but
will keep feminine adjectives
el agua
el asma
BUT NOT la abogada
la acción
Knowing the gender of a noun is very important. In some cases, using the wrong
prefix can change the entire meaning of the word!
 el cometa (the comet)
la cometa (the kite)
 el cura (the priest)
la cura (the cure)
 el mañana (tomorrow)
la mañana (the morning)
Irregular Nouns
As with most rules, there are always exceptions. With these nouns, you will just have to
memorize them as different. Some examples are:
el mapa (the map)
el planeta (the planet) el día (the day)
la mano (the hand) la foto (the picture) la crema (the cream)
Words ending in –ión (other than –ción, -sión or –xión) do not follow a rule.
el avión
el camión
la unión
la región
Plural Nouns
Like English, most nouns are made plural in Spanish by adding an –s (the dogs) or –es
(the cockroaches). The articles also change in the plural. El becomes los (el perro: los
perros) and la becomes las (la cucaracha: las cucarachas).
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Nouns that end in a vowel become plural by adding an –s.
el libro/los libros
la hora/las horas
Nouns that end in consonants become plural by adding –es.
el mes/los meses
la ley/las leyes
la virtud/las virtudes
o Nouns that end in an unstressed –s do not change spelling, only its article.
el lunes/los lunes
el sacapuntas/los sacapuntas
o Words that end in –án –és or –ón lose the tilde in the plural.
el tucán/los tucanes el inglés/los ingleses la canción/las canciones
o Some words add an accent mark when made plural to maintain its stress.
el orden/los órdenes el crimen/los crímenes
o Words that end in –z change to –ces in the plural.
el pez/los peces
la cruz/las cruces