Gender of nouns
Masculine. Used for nouns that are grammatically male, often ending in -o. They use the articles 'el' (the) or 'un' (a/an).
Feminine. Used for nouns that are grammatically female, often ending in -a. They use the articles 'la' (the) or 'una' (a/an).
The book is interesting.
The house is big.
I need a new phone.
I want a table for two.
The problem is the water.
The grammatical concept of 'el género de los sustantivos' is universal across all Spanish-speaking countries. What changes regionally is the specific noun used for an object, but that noun's gender remains fixed. For example, 'car' is masculine everywhere, but the word itself changes.
The word for 'car' is 'el coche' (masculine).
The most common word for 'car' is 'el carro' (masculine).
The preferred word for 'car' is 'el auto' (masculine).
La libro es bueno. — El libro es bueno. — Learners often forget to match the article ('el' or 'la') to the noun's gender. 'Libro' is masculine, so it must use 'el'.
La casa es grande. — La casa es grande. — A common mistake is failing to make the adjective agree with the noun. Since 'casa' is feminine, the adjective must also be feminine: 'grande' instead of 'grande'.
El problema es dificil. — El problema es difícil. — Many words ending in '-ma' are masculine, which is an exception to the general '-a' is feminine rule. It's 'el problema', not 'la problema'.
La agua está fría. — El agua está fría. — Feminine nouns that start with a stressed 'a' or 'ha' sound use the masculine article 'el' in the singular to avoid the awkward 'la agua' sound. However, the noun is still feminine, so adjectives must agree in the feminine ('fría').
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how to say water in spanish
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