In Spanish, all nouns have a gender. A noun is either masculine or feminine. This concept can be difficult for native speakers of English, however there are a few tricks to help memorize the genders of Spanish nouns.
Almost all nouns that end in “o” are masculine. There are very few exceptions to this rule, listed below:
la mano is feminine.
la radio is feminine.
la moto is feminine.
la foto is feminine.
Most nouns that end in “a” are feminine. However, there are exceptions. Some common exceptions are listed below.
Here is a chart that lists noun endings and whether they usually signal a masculine or feminine noun. There are some exceptions to the following rules.
| masculine endings | feminine endings |
|---|---|
| -o | -a |
| -ma | -ie |
| -ante | -ión |
| -ente | -d |
| -e | -sis |
| -al | -z |
| -or |
A variety of nouns are always masculine: days, months, numbers, colors, and languages. Also, nouns that refer to someone of obvious male or female gender will be masculine or feminine depending on the gender of the person being referred to.
| Monday January two green man woman | el lunes el enero el dos el verde el hombre la mujer |