Spanish Reference Grammar - Nouns, articles, adjectives and adverbs
Nouns
'Nouns are the types of words which give the names of things, people, places, happenings and ideas… Nouns can be singular (referring to one thing) or plural (referring to many).' (LILT 2001)
All nouns in Spanish are either masculine or feminine, even those referring to objects or things.
In Spanish, nouns which end in 'o' or refer to a male human or animal are almost always masculine.
Nouns which end in 'a' or refer to a female human or animal are almost always feminine.
However, there are exceptions, such as:
- 'el dentista' - the dentist ('the female dentist' would be 'la dentista')
- 'el mapa' - the map
- 'el día' - the day
- 'la mano' - the hand
- 'la foto' - the photo
Nouns ending in '-ión', '-dad', '-tad' and '-tud' are almost always feminine. Examples include 'la canción' (the song) and 'la cuidad' (the city). Common exceptions to this are 'el avión' ('the aeroplane') and 'el camión' ('the lorry').
However not all nouns indicate their gender by their ending or meaning, so it is important to learn the gender along with the noun. For example, 'la flor' ('the flower') is feminine; 'el guante' ('the glove') is masculine; 'la clase' ('the class') is feminine.
Plurals
In Spanish if a noun ends in an unstressed vowel, add an 's' to make it plural. If a noun ends in a consonant or a stressed vowel, add '-es'. This '-es' is always pronounced as a separate syllable.
Examples:
- 'cafés' - cafés or coffees
- 'tes' - teas