HEA Nouns 3.1 I Gender ‘There are no exceptions to the rule that all nouns in Spanish are either masculine or feminine in gender. Nouns are preceded by the definite article: el for masculine singular nouns and fa for feminine singular nouns. Its sometimes possible to determine the gender of a noun according to biological gender. masculine nouns feminine nouns el hijo son la hija daughter el tio uncle lata aunt el suegro father-in-law la suegra mother-indaw elprofesor _teacher (male) la profesora teacher (female) el leon lion fa leona lioness In most cases there is no obvious reason for a noun being masculine or feminine, and so the gencler has to be learned: el piso flat la casa house el caballo horse la rata rat el brazo arm la cabeza head In general, nouns ending in -0 are masculine and nouns ending in -@ are feminine, but there are too many exceptions to rely on this rule, as these examples show el dia day la radio radio elmapa map lamano hand lamoto ——_-motorbike elplaneta planet lamodelo (fashion) model @ 0) Nouns with the following endings are normally masculine: -aje, -or, and a stressed vowel: el garaje garage el olor smell el paisaje landscape al jabalt wild boar el alor heat al plato (cinema) set Nouns with the following endings are normally feminine: -i6n, -dad, -tad, -triz, -tud, -umbre, -nza, -cia, “ie: lasolucién solution la virtud virtue lapoblacién population Ia incertidumbre uncertainty la universidad university la esperanza hope la libertad freedom Iaexperiencia _ experience fa cicatriz scar la serie series Note: the following are exceptions to the above: el avion (aeroplane), and el camién (lorry). Certain categories of noun are normally masculine, as follows; Rivers (Ios rfos), seas (los mares), lakes (los lagos), mountains (los montes, los picos) anid mountain ranges (los sistemas montatiosos): elTajo el Tamesis, el Mediterraneo el lago Titicaca el Aconcagua los Pirineos the Tagus the Thames the Mediterranean Lake Titicaca Mt Aconcagua the Pyrenees, Fruit trees (los arboles frutales): el almendro el manzano almond tree apple tree Note thatthe fruits derived from these trees are normally feminine: la almendra (almond), la manzana (apple).