Gender & Number  


Quick explanation:

Nouns in Spanish can be masculine or feminine.

el baño - the bathroom
la mesa - the table

They can also be singular or plural.

las flores - the flowers
los libros - the books

Adjectives usually agree in gender and number with the nouns they describe.

  • el joven alto - the tall young man
  • los baños sucios - the dirty bathrooms
  • la muñeca linda - the pretty doll
  • las chicas bellas - the beautiful girls


Long explanation:

Singular vs. Plural
1. If a word ends in a vowel2 in Spanish, we'll usually add "s" to make it plural.3

    el chico → los chicos
       the boy → the boys
    la chica → las chicas
       the girl → the girls
    el hombre → los hombres
       los hombres → the men
    el libro → los libros
       the book → the books
    la botella → las botellas
       the bottle → the bottles

2. If a word ends in a consonant4 in Spanish, we'll usually add "es" to make it plural.5

    el cojín → los cojines6
       the cushion → the cushions
    la flor → las flores
       the flower → the flowers
    el televisor → los televisores7
       the television (set) → the television (sets)
    el ratón → los ratones6
       the mouse → the mice
    el reloj → los relojes
       the watch → the watches
Masculine vs. Feminine8
1. A noun is usually feminine in Spanish if it:
  • refers to a female person (or some animals)
       la mujer – the woman
       la niña – the (girl) child
       las gatas – the (female) cats
  • ends in: –a, -ión, -dad, -tad, -tud, -triz, -ez, -umbre
       la canción – the song
       la television – the television7
       la actriz – the actress
       la costumbre – the custom

2. A noun is usually masculine in Spanish if it:

  • refers to a male person (or some animals)9
       el hombre – the man
       los niños – the children
       el perro – the (male) dog
  • ends in: -o, -or, -en
       el libro – the book
       el examen – the test
       el secador – the (hair) dryer
People with adjectives:
It makes sense that in Spanish, people would have gender. But notice the adjectives that describe the people below.
    El chico es muy alto.
    The boy is very tall.
    La chica es alta.
    The girl is tall.
    Los chicos son altos.
    The boys are tall. / The boys and girls are tall.10
    Las chicas son altas.
    The girls are tall.11

“alto” tells us that there is one person who is a male who is tall.

“alta” tells us that there is one person who is female who is tall.

“altos” tells us that there are multiple people who are male (and possibly female)10 who are tall

“altas” tells us that there are multiple people who are female who are tall

Let's look at a couple more examples with different people and adjectives. Notice how the adjectives match the information of how many and what gender the people are.
Ex:

    El niño es bajo.
       The boy is short.
    Mi abuelita es muy baja.
       My darling grandmother is very short.
    Nosotras no somos rubias.
       We are not blonde [haired].
    Ella es rubia.
       She is blonde [haired].
    La maestra es delgada.
       The teacher is thin.
    Esas mujeres son más delgadas que éstas.12
       Those women are thinner than these [women].

    As we can see in the examples above, the adjectives usually agree in gender and number with the nouns they describe.

Other nouns with adjectives:

In Spanish, all nouns have gender. When describing those nouns, the adjectives will usually need to match their gender and number like they did above when describing people.

    Las flores son bonitas.
       The flowers are pretty.
    La hamburguesa es pequeña.
       The hamburger is small.
    El cuaderno es verde.13
       The notebook is green.
    La camisa es roja.
       The shirt is red.
    Los lápices son baratos.14
       The pencils are cheap.
Notas:
1. Spanish comes from Latin. In Latin, nouns are also masculine and feminine as well as the nouns in the other languages that came from Latin: Portuguese, Italian, & French.
2. The vowels are: a, e, i, o, u
3. Exception: words ending in stresses vowels: (el tisú → los tisúes)
4. Consonants are any letter that is not a vowel (see footnote 2).
5. Exceptions:
   a. words from other languages: (el robot → los robots) (los jeans)
   b. words that are combination of multiple words. (el paraguas → los paraguas); (el rompecabezas → los rompecabezas)
6. If the last syllable has an accent mark before the consonant, we do not need the accent mark when we add –es. (cojín → cojines); (ratón → ratones)
7. la televisión is used more for the networks and programming while the actual physical television you buy is el televisor.
8. To see a well organized list of the different endings of nouns in Spanish, click here
9. some more common animals like dog (el perro) or cat (el gato) also have female versions (la perra; la gata). Others like ant (hormiga) and snake (la serpiente) might be feminine words but they could refer to male ants or snakes.
10. If we have a mixed group of males and females, in Spanish we can use the plural male form usually (chicos - boys / boys and girls)
11. In Spanish, even the word for "tall" can have four different forms (alto, alta, altos, altas) depending on who it describes.
12. Notice that the plural of 'mujer' (woman) is 'mujeres' (women) because mujer ends in a consonant.
13. If an adjective ends in ‘e’, it stays ‘e’ for both masculine and feminine words. It will go to ‘es’ for plural words. (el libro verde → los libros verdes)
14. If the word ends in 'z', notice how we change the plural to -ces. (lápiz → lápices)



Popular Phrase: plural forms   | Spanish for Kids
Conjugated Verb: agregar - to add [ click for full conjugation ]