Identifying Reverse-Gender Nouns in Spanish
Although the gender of most Spanish nouns is fairly obvious (nouns that end in -o often are masculine, and nouns that end in -a often are feminine), some Spanish nouns reverse their gender. These reverse-gender nouns can be quite tricky — unless of course you know to watch for them.
True reverse-gender Spanish nouns
Some nouns that end in -eta and -ma (words that are derived from the Greek language) are masculine, as are the words el día (the day) and el mapa (the map). El planeta (the planet) is the trickster reverse-gender noun that ends in -eta. Following are the deceptively masculine words that end in -ma:
el clima (the climate)
el drama (the drama)
el idioma (the language)
el poema (the poem)
el problema (the problem)
el programa (the program)
el sistema (the system)
el telegrama (the telegram)
el tema (the theme)
Here are a couple nouns that end in -o that are feminine:
la mano (the hand)
la radio (the radio)
Special gender considerations
To prevent the clash of two vowel sounds, the Spanish language uses the masculine singular article el (un) with feminine singular nouns that begin with a stressed a sound (a- or ha-). In the plural, you use las (unas) for these nouns. EVen though, in the singular, they look like masculine nouns, they really are feminine nouns.
Commonly used words with this designation include el agua (the water) and las aguas (the waters); un alma (a soul) and unas almas (some souls); and el ave (the bird) and las aves (the birds).
And don't be fooled by abbreviations. La foto is the abbreviation for la fotografía (the photograph), and la moto is the abbreviation for la motocicleta (the motorcycle).
Spanish Glossary
adjective
A word that describes a noun or pronoun, giving it specific attributes or characteristics.
Spanish Glossary
adverb
A word used to modify a verb, adjective, or another adverb by expressing time, place, degree, and so on. Many Spanish adverbs end in -mente.
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bartering
Giving goods or services in return for other goods and services, as opposed to the exchange of money.
Spanish Glossary
cardinal number
Any number used in counting or showing how many.
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comparative
A form of an adjective or adverb which indicates that one thing has some feature to a greater or lesser extent than the thing it is being compared to. Example: slower, more believable.
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conditional
A verb tense that expresses an action that should have, could have, or would have happened if the conditions were right.
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conjugate
To give different forms of a verb according to voice, mood, tense, number, and person. A conjugated verb is a verb that has been changed from its infinitive form to a form that agrees with the subject.
Spanish Glossary
consonant
Any of the letters b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, ñ, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z; the double letters ch, ll, and rr may also be considered consonants in Spanish.
Spanish Glossary
customs
1. The government agency in charge of collecting taxes or duties imposed on imported and/or exported goods. 2. The common social acts and conventions of a particular area.
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declare
To inform customs officials of any goods you’re carrying that may be taxable.
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definite article
Any one of the words el, la, los, or las used as adjectives to point out a specific noun.
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demonstrative adjective
An adjective that indicates or points out this, that, these, or those people, places, or things to which a speaker is referring.
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demonstrative pronoun
Replaces a demonstrative adjective and its noun.
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diminutive
1. Small. 2. A word that has been altered with a suffix to indicate a degree of smallness, often ending with -ito or -ita.
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diphthong
A complex vowel sound made by gliding from one vowel sound to the next within the same syllable.
Spanish Glossary
direct object noun
A sentence element that answers the question, “Whom or what is the subject acting upon?” and may refer to people, places, things, or ideas.
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direct object pronoun
Replaces a direct object noun and agrees with it in number and gender.
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duty
A tax imposed on imports, exports, or manufactured goods.
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future
Verb tense indicating an action to come.
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gerund
A verb form that ends in -ing and works like a noun. Spanish gerunds are also derived from verbs.
Spanish Glossary
haggling
Negotiations between a seller and a buyer to come to an agreement upon the price of an item for sale. The vendor typically proposes a high price while the buyer suggests a significantly lower price, and, through bartering, the two typically meet somewhere in the middle.
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imperative
A verb mood that indicates a command or request.
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imperfect
Verb tense indicating a continuing, uncompleted, customary, or simultaneous past action.
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indefinite article
Any one of the words un, una, unos, or unas used as adjectives to point out some person, place, thing, or idea, but not a specific one.
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indirect object noun
Answers the question “To or for whom is the subject doing something?” and refers only to people or beloved pets.
Spanish Glossary
indirect object pronoun
Replaces an indirect object noun, but is also used when the indirect object noun is mentioned.
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infinitive
The unconjugated form of a verb — dormir (to sleep), for example.
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interrogative adverb
An adverb used to ask a question.
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interrogative pronoun
A word that replaces a noun and is used to ask a question.
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market
1. (noun) In Spanish cultures, a traditional market is where vendors gather to sell their goods. Markets may be open or under a roof, and they offer a less formal shopping environment than typical supermarkets or grocery stores. Prices are usually negotiable. 2. (verb) To advertise and sell an item.
Spanish Glossary
mood
1. A characteristic of a verb that indicates the manner in which the action occurs. 2. A characteristic of a person that indicates the overall emotional state of that person.
Spanish Glossary
ordinal number
A number used to indicate order in a particular series.
Spanish Glossary
past participle
A form of a verb that expresses a completed action or a time gone by.
Spanish Glossary
possessive adjective
A word that goes before the noun that’s possessed in order to express my, your, his, her, its, our, or their.
Spanish Glossary
possessive pronoun
A word that replaces a noun and its possessive adjective and indicates ownership.
Spanish Glossary
preposition
A word that connects nouns to nouns, verbs to verbs, or verbs to nouns/pronouns and shows their relationship to one another.
Spanish Glossary
prepositional pronoun
A pronoun that serves as the object of a preposition and always follows the preposition.
Spanish Glossary
preterit
Verb tense expressing a past action or state.
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pronoun
A word that takes the place of a noun in a sentence.
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reflexive pronoun
A pronoun used in conjunction with a reflexive verb to express that an action is performed by a subject on itself.
Spanish Glossary
reflexive verb
A verb that indicates that the sentence's subject is acting upon itself. Reflexive verbs require reflexive pronouns.
Spanish Glossary
stem-changing verb
A verb that requires an internal change in the vowel before the -ar, -er, or -ir infinitive ending in all the singular and third-person plural forms of certain tenses.
Spanish Glossary
subject pronoun
A pronoun used as a subject.
Spanish Glossary
subjunctive
A grammatical mood indicating uncertainty, desire, supposition, hypothetical and theoretical situations, or impersonal opinions.
Spanish Glossary
subordinate clause
A part of a sentence containing a subject and verb that can’t stand on its own but describes something in the larger sentence.
Spanish Glossary
suffix
Letters added to the end of a word that change its meaning, give it a different grammatical function, or form a new word.
Spanish Glossary
superlative
A form of an adjective or adverb which indicates that one thing has some feature to a greater degree than anything it is being compared to. Example: greatest, most honorable
Spanish Glossary
syllable
A word or part of a word pronounced with a single sound, usually consisting of a vowel and one or more consonants.
Spanish Glossary
tilde
A mark (~) used in Spanish over an “n” to indicate the ny sound.
Spanish Glossary
vowel
Any of the letters a, e, i, o, and u. The letter y is never a vowel in the Spanish language, unlike its use in English.
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