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Gender and Articles in Spanish
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How to guess a noun's gender from its ending, and the four words for "the" — el, la, los, las.
Every noun is masculine or feminine
Every Spanish noun has a gender, and it shows in the article. El is "the" for masculine singular, la for feminine singular, los and las for their plurals.
The -o and -a rule (with exceptions)
Most nouns ending in -o are masculine (el libro, the book) and most ending in -a are feminine (la casa, the house). The famous exceptions are worth memorising: el día (the day), el mapa (the map), la mano (the hand), la foto (the photo).
Other endings
Nouns ending in -ción, -sión and -dad are almost always feminine: la canción, la televisión, la ciudad. Nouns ending in -ma of Greek origin are masculine: el problema, el tema, el sistema.
Agreement with adjectives
Adjectives agree with the noun: el libro rojo (the red book) but la casa roja (the red house). Adjectives ending in -e or a consonant are the same for both genders: el libro grande, la casa grande.
| Article | Meaning |
|---|---|
| el | the — masculine singular |
| la | the — feminine singular |
| los | the — masculine plural |
| las | the — feminine plural |
| un / una | a — masculine / feminine |