In Spanish grammar, you need to be able to distinguish a noun’s gender (either masculine or feminine) so that you can use the correct gender of any article or adjective that describes it. You can follow some simple guidelines to help you identify a Spanish noun’s gender.
Masculine nouns include the following:
Most nouns that end in -o, such as año (year)
Nouns that identify males, such as tío (uncle)
Nouns that end in -aje or -ambre, such as equipaje (luggage) and alambre (wire)
Certain nouns that end in -or or -án, such as amor (love) and champán (champagne)
Nouns that end in -ama, -ema, -oma, -ma, or -ía, such as programa (program) and dilema (dilemma)
Days of the week and months of the year
Colors used as nouns
Names of languages, rivers, seas, and oceans
Compound nouns that consist of noun-verb combinations and that usually end in -s, such as abrelatas (can opener)
Feminine nouns include the following:
Most nouns that end in -a, such as ensalada (salad)
Nouns that identify females, such as hija (daughter)
Nouns that end in -dad or -tad, such as ciudad (city) and libertad (liberty)
Nouns that end in -ie, -eza, -sis, or -itis, such as especie (species), riqueza (richness), tesis (thesis), and sinusitis (sinusitis)
Nouns that end in -ción, -sión, -tud, or -umbre, such as canción (song) and misión (mission)
