Spanish Gender Rules and Exceptions

Please note: Take the information on this page with a grain of salt.

General Rules
Feminine nouns ending in -o
Feminine nouns ending in -i
Feminine nouns ending in -y
Feminine nouns ending in -j
Feminine nouns ending in -l
Feminine nouns ending in -n
Feminine nouns ending in -r
Feminine nouns ending in -u
Feminine nouns ending in -s
Feminine nouns ending in -z
Feminine nouns ending in -e
Masculine nouns ending in -a
Masculine nouns ending in -d
Masculine nouns ending in -ión
Masculine nouns ending in -umbre
Double-gendered nouns with equivalent meaning (género común)
Double-gendered nouns with different meaning (ambiguo)
Feminine nouns using el
Feminine nouns not using el though they should

General rules

The Spanish language has two grammatical genders: Masculine and Feminine. In general, every noun has exactly one well-defined grammatical gender. There are some exceptions to this rule: Some nouns are called de género común (of common gender), those nouns can be used with either the masculine or the feminine article to refer to a male or female being. See the list of them here. Another class are substantivos epicenos (epicene nouns) which use the same article and noun to refer to both male and female beings. The third class of exceptions are called ambiguo (ambiguous), those nouns can either have different meanings if being used with masculine and feminine articles or have no well-defined grammatical gender. Sometimes their genders are also a subject of regional variations.

The gender of a noun defines which articles are used with it. The masculine articles are el, los, un and unos, the feminine articles are la, las, una and unas. The table below shows their usage:

	Masculine	Feminine	English Equivalent
Definite Singular	el	la	the
Indefinite Singular	un	una	a/an
Definite Plural	los	las	the
Indefinite Plural	unos	unas	-

As you can see, Spanish offers a greater variety of articles than English. There is one exception to these rules, most of the feminine nouns beginning with a stressed a- use el instead of la, see the list of them below.

So how do you know the gender of a noun? If you want to be sure, you have to learn them by heart. For this reason, nouns should always be learnt with their respective article. If you don't know the article, you will have to guess. For German and French this does not work very well, but the Spanish language has some useful rules and a finite list of exceptions to them. Most word endings have a gender associated with them:

Masculine	-o , -i , -y , -j , -l , -n , -r , -u , -s , -z , -e , -w
Feminine	-a , -d , -ión , -umbre , -triz
Common	-ista

Some of these rules are more useful than others. There are a lot of Spanish nouns ending in -o, -a or -ión and a comparatively short list of exceptions. Some word endings are just very rare in Spanish. There may be two nouns ending in -w (el bungalow, el dhow) and both of them are masculine, so you can make a rule out of that, but what's the point? Others endings have whole classes of exceptions, there are only few feminine nouns in -n except a legion ending in -ión. The point is, don't waste your time arguing about what should be considered a rule and what not. Just remember the rules which make sense to you. Forget about the rest.

Feminine nouns ending in -o

Note that some of these words are just abbreviations of regular words such as la discoteca, la fotografía, la motocicleta.

la disco°	the disco
la foto	the photo
la mano	the hand
la modelo*	the femalo model
la moto	the motorcycle
la nao	the boat (specific boat type)
la radio	the radio
la reo*	the female criminal
la seo	the cathedral, Christian temple
la soprano*	the female soprano
la testigo*	the female witness

* equivalent masculine noun exists
° masculine noun with different meaning exists

la troj	the granary
la contrarreloj	the time trial
la sij*	the (female) sikh

la cal	the lime
la capital	the capital (town)
la cárcel	the prison
la col	the cabbage
la miel	the honey
la piel	the skin
la sal	the salt
la señal	the signal
la vocal	the vowel

la cargazón	the load
la crin	the horsehair, the mane
la desazón	the ailment
la imagen	the image
la razón	the reason
la sinrazón	the injustice
la sartén	the frying-pan
la sien	the (anatomic) temple

la bilis	the bile
la crisis	the crisis
la elipsis	the ellipsis
la lis	the fleur-de-lis
la mies	the crop
la perífrasis	the periphrase
la tos	the cough

la codorniz	the quail
la cerviz	the cervix
la cruz	the cross
la coz	the back-kick
la luz	the light
la nariz	the nose
la nuez	the nut, Adam's apple
la pez°	the tar, pitch
la voz	the voice
la raíz	the root
la tez	the complexion

el ave	the bird, fowl
la barbarie	the barbarity
la base	the basis
la calle	the street
la carne	the meat
la fiebre	the fever
la fuente	the fountain
el hambre	the hunger
la mente	the mind
la noche	the night
la parte	the part
la quiete	the quiet
la sangre	the blood
la serpiente	the serpent
la torre	the tower

el albacea*	the executor
el aroma	the aroma
el atleta*	the athlete
el aristócrata*	the aristocrat
el artista*	the artist
el astronauta*	the astronaut
el Belga*	the male Belgian
el Canadá	Canada
el clime	the climate
el cólera°	cholera
el cometa°	the comet
el comentarista*	the commentator
el cortaplumas	the penknife
el cura	the priest
el dentista*	the dentist
el día	the day
el diagrama	the diagram
el dilema	the dilemma
el diploma	the diploma
el drama	the drama
el enigma	the enigma
el epigrama	the epigram
el esquema	the outline, diagram
el Etna†	the Etna
el fantasma	the ghost
el florista*	the florist
el gimnasta*	the male gymnast
el gorila	the gorilla
el guardacostas	the coastal vessel
el guardia°*	the policeman, male guard
el guía°*	the male guide
el homicida*	the murder
el idioma	the language
el idiota*	the male idiot
el indígena*	the indigenous male
el izquierdista*	the leftist
el jurista*	the jurist
el mañana°	the future
el mapa	the map
el morfema	the morpheme
el oficinista*	the office worker
el panorama	the panorama, outlook
el papa°	the pope
el paraguas	the umbrella
el pijama	the pyjamas
el planeta	the planet
el plasma	the plasma
el poema	the poem
el poeta*	the poet
el policía°*	the policeman
el problema	the problem
el profeta*	the prophet
el programa	the program
el quechua	the Quechua language
el reúma	the rheumatism
el síntoma	the symptom, sign
el sistema	the system
el sofá	the sofa
el suicida*	the male suicidal person
el tanga	the thong
el tecnócrata	the technocrat
el telegrama	the telegram
el tema°	the theme, subject
el teorema	the theorem
el tequila	the tequila
el tirabala	the pop-gun
el tranvía	the streetcar
el trauma	the trauma
el turista*	the tourist
el Volga†	the Volga
el yoga	yoga

el adalid	the warrior or chieftain
el ardid	the trick
el ataúd	the coffin
el césped	the turf, lawn
el sud	the south

el embrión	the embryo
el gorrión	the sparrow
el morrión	the morion (type of helmet)
el sarampión	the measles

el/la albacea	the executor/executrix
el/la Belga	the Belgian
el/la espía	the spy
el/la idiota	the idiot
el/la indígena	the native
el/la mártir	the martyr
el/la reo	the criminal
el/la culpable	the culprit
el/la gimnasta	the gymnast
el/la homicida	the murder/murderess
el/la sij	the sikh
el/la suicida	the suicide/suicidal person
el/la testigo	the witness

la diócesi	the diocese
la metrópoli	the metropolis

la grey	the flock
la ley	the law

la flor	the flower
la labor	the work
la segur	the axe

el agua	the water
el ama	the woman of the house
el asma	asthma
el arca	the ark
el hambre	hunger
el hampa	the underworld
el arpa	the harp
el águila	the eagle
el ave	the bird, fowl

Spanish Noun	Masculine Translation	Feminine Translation
el/la batería	the male drummer	the battery, the female drummer
el/la busca	the pager	the search
el/la capital	the investment	the capital (city), the capital letter
el/la cólera	the cholera	the anger
el/la coma	the coma	the comma
el/la cometa	the comet	the kite
el/la corte	the cut, blade	the court (justice)
el/la cura	the (Catholic) priest	the cure
el/la delta	the delta (river)	the delta (Greek letter)
el/la disco	the disc	the disco, club
el/la doblez	the fold, grease	the duplicity, double-dealing
el/la editorial	the editorial	the publishing business
el/la escucha	the male guard	the female guard, the act of listening
el/la final	the end	the final game of a tournament
el/la frente	the front	the forehead
el/la guardia	the policeman	the protection, custody, guard, police force, policewoman
el/la guía	the male guide	the female guide, guidebook
el/la mañana	the future	the morning
el/la margen	the margin	the bank (of a river)
el/la moral	the blackberry bush	the morale, morality
el/la orden	the order (law & order)	the (religious) order
el/la ordenanza	the (military) order	the official person, regulation
el/la papa	the pope	the potato
el/la parte	the document	the portion
el/la pendiente	the earring	the slope
el/la pez	the fish	the tar, pitch
el/la policía	the policeman	the policewoman, police force
el/la radio	the radius, radium	the radio
el/la tema	the subject	the obsession
el/la terminal	the electronic terminal	the shipping terminal
el/la trompeta	the male trumpeter	the female trumpeter, trumpet
el/la vista	the male custom officer	the female custom officer, the view
el/la vocal	the male committee member	the female committee member, vocal

la áraba	the Arabic woman
la Haya	the Hague
la a	the letter A
la hache	the letter H
la haz	the face

Table of contents

Feminine nouns not using el though they should