Cactus Language Blog

10 Spanish Words That Defy The Gender Rule

Posted by Sarah under Cactus Languages Abroad, Learning a language, Spanish

Don’t get caught out by these common ‘trip-up’ words…

In Spanish, as in other Romance languages, words are classified as either masculine or feminine. And it’s usually the case that a masculine word will end in ‘-o‘ while a feminine word will end in ‘-a‘. But, as is always the case when learning a language, there are irregularities to this rule that are well worth learning: some are exceptions for no particular reason other than they just are (the worst kind, as listed below), whereas others may be exceptions for the following reasons…

• Professions: When describing someone’s profession, the word in Spanish may finish with ‘-a’, as in dentista, policía and periodista. This does not necessarily mean the person is female; the word remains the same for both men and women. Equally, there are some professions that always end in ‘-o’, such as modelo.
• Dual-gender words: Some words exist in a masculine and feminine form, with or without different meanings. Arte, for example, is often masculine in its singular form (el arte), but feminine in its plural form (las artes bellas). Radio means ‘radius’ in its masculine form, but when it means ‘radio’ it is found in both its masculine (eg. Mexico) and feminine form (eg. Spain).
• Feminine words beginning with ‘a’: In the singular form, a feminine word beginning with ‘a’ or ‘ha’, and whose first syllable should be stressed, will be preceded by ‘el’ rather than ‘la’, e.g. el alma, el águila. Note that this rule does not continue into the plural form, i.e. las almas, las águilas.
• Abbreviations: Words that are abbreviated can easily trip you up as they invariably lose their giveaway ‘-a’ or ‘-o’ at the end. La moto and la foto, for example, are feminine because that is their gender of their full form, la motocicleta and la fotografía.

10 common exceptions to the gender rule:

1. El clima (climate)
2. El problema (problem)
3. El día (day)
4. El mapa (map)
5. La mano (hand)
6. El sistema (system)
7. El síntoma (symptom)
8. El programa (programme)
9. El enigma (enigma)
10. El planeta (planet)

Related articles:

• Beware these 15 false friends in Spanish!
• How to make language part of your everyday life
• Variations of Spanish in the world
• Language learning: setting yourself goals

Good luck with your learning!

Tags:gender rules, Spanish