Nouns

The most important thing to know about Spanish nouns is that they have gender, meaning they are either masculine or feminine. For example, "sol" (sun) is masculine, while "luna" (moon) is feminine. Knowing whether a noun is masculine or feminine is important and we will explain why in a bit. But first, let’s learn how we can tell whether a word is masculine or feminine.

Most nouns that end in -a, -d, -ción, or -sión are feminine.
Here are some examples of feminine nouns:

-a: mesa (table), cama (bed), familia (family), casa (house)

-d: ciudad (city), pared (wall), libertad (freedom), seguridad (safety)

-ión: canción (song), televisión (television), nación (nation), celebración (celebration)

Most nouns that end in -o, -l, -r, -s, or -n (not including words that end in -ción or -sión) are masculine.
Here are some examples of masculine nouns:

-o: perro (dog), gato (cat), jugo (juice), cielo (sky)

-l: árbol (tree), alcohol (alcohol), sal (salt), sol (sun)

-r: amor (love), lugar (place), dólar (dollar), par (pair)

-s: país (country), crisis (crisis), mes (month), cactus (cactus)

-n: león (lion), avión (airplane), pan (bread), salmón (salmon)

Nouns that end in -z, or -e can be feminine or masculine depending on the word.

If a noun does not end in any of the letters mentioned, it's likely a masculine noun. All the nouns below are masculine:

reloj (clock), menu (menu), bistec (steak), club (club)

el vs la

"el" and "la" both mean "the" in spanish, but that does not mean they are the same. "el" is used with words that are masculine. "la" is used with words that are feminine.

How to make nouns plural

To make a noun plural, you just need to add an "s" to the end if it ends in a vowel or "es" if it ends in a consonent. Reminder: the letters a, e, i, o, u are vowels. A consonent is any letter that is not a vowel.

If a noun ends in -z, the "z" needs to be changed to a "c" when the noun is plural

los vs las

"los" is the plural version of "el", while "las" is the plural version of "la". "los" is used for masucline nouns that are plural, while "las" is used for feminine nouns that are plural.

In spanish, the letter "a" is not suppose to appear twice in a row. Saying "las aguas" is correct, but saying "la agua" is incorrect because the "a" appears twice in a row. As a result, "el" is used instead of "la" for singular feminine nouns that begin with the letter a.

Irregular Nouns

Some nouns are irregular, which means they are feminine even though they appear to be masculine, or they are masculine even though they appear to be feminine.

Nouns that can be both feminine and masculine

There are a few nouns in spanish that can be both feminine and masculine, and the meaning of the noun depends on whether it's feminine or masculine. For example, "el corte" means "the cut", but "la corte" means "the court".

Words frequently used with nouns