Introduction to Spanish Articles

In Spanish, every noun has an article. There are two types of articles: masculine and feminine. That means a spanish noun is either feminine or masculine. Therefore, when we learn a spanish noun, we have to learn its article as well. The masculine article is called "el" and the feminine article is called "la". In most cases, we have to memorize the article, that means there is no way to guess if it is a feminine word or a masculine word. On the other hand, in some cases there are rules we can rely on to guess the correct gender:

1. The nouns which end with "o" are 99% masculine: el libro, el monumento
2. The nouns which end with "a" are 99% feminine: la mesa, la fiesta

There are some exceptions to points 1&2. Examples:

• la mano, la radio, la foto, la moto
• el clima, el idioma, el planeta

If the word ends with "ema"  its article is most probably "el", not "la"

• el tema, el problema, el sistema

    3.  The nouns which end with "sión" and "ción" are feminine: la tradición, la televisión

    4.  The nouns which end with "dad" are feminine: la cantidad, la universidad   

    5.  The nouns which end with "or" are generally masculine: el señor, el profesor. This is expected, because the words ending with "or" are mostly used in order to describe professions for males (el pescador, el director etc.). For a woman, you would for example say "la  profesora". I will write an article on the desciption of professions in Spanish very soon.

And, of course, if the natural gender is male, then the article is "el" and if it is female, the article is "la". Examples:

• el niño (boyfriend) & la niña (girlfriend)
• el padre (father) & la madre (mother)

In Spanish there are many words which end with "e". If a noun ends with "e", unfortunately there is no rule whether its article is feminine or masculine.

Plural Form

The articles "el" and "la" are used for the singular forms of the nouns. In the plural form, "el" becomes "los" and "la" becomes "las":

• el niño (boy friend), los niños (boy friends)
• la mesa (table), las mesas (tables)

Nationalities and Languages in Spanish

The natural gender (if the person is male or female) is very important in Spanish language. Many things change based on the gender. This can be seen best, when talking about nationalities. For instance, in English you say "she is italian" and also "he is italian". But in Spanish, for "he" and "she" different adjectives are used; italiano for a he and italiana for a she. The adjectives ending with "o" in masculine form end with "a" in feminine form. Other examples: cubano-cubana, turco-turca. If the masculine form ends with a consonant, then the feminine form ends again with "a". For example: alemán-alemana,  francés-fracesa. Note that, in the feminine version, the accent above the letters are dropped. I sum the rules up in the following.

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NATIONALITIES

RULE: -o/-a Adjectives ending with a consonant for the masculine form, end with “a” for the feminine form	COUNTRY	MASCULINE	FEMININE
	Argentina	argentino	argentina
	Italia	italiano	italiana
	Brasil	brasileño	brasileña
	Egipto	egipcio	egipcia
	Suiza	suizo	suiza
	Suecia	sueco	sueca
	Turquía	turco	turca
	Australia	australiano	australiana
	México	mexicano	mexicana
	Cuba	cubano	cubana

RULE: Adjectives whose masculines end with a “consonant”, end with “a” in the feminine form	COUNTRY	MASCULINE	FEMININE
	Inglaterra	inglés	inglesa
	Francia	francés	francesa
	Japón	japonés	japonesa
	Holanda	holandés	holandesa
	Portugal	portugués	portuguesa
	Dinamarca	danés	danesa
	Alemania	alemán	alemana
	España	español	española

RULE: Adjectives ending with “ense”, “a” , “í” are the same for masculine and feminine forms	COUNTRY	MASCULINE	FEMININE
	Bélgica	belga	belga
	Chipre	chipriota	chipriota
	Estados Unidos	estadounidense	estadounidense
	Canadá	canadiense	canadiense
	Nicaragua	nicaragüense	nicaragüense
	Marruecos	marroquí	marroquí
	Irán	iraní	iraní
	Iraq	iraquí	iraquí

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LANGUAGES

As for the languages, the rule is that most of the time the language is the same as the masculine form of the nationality. For example, italiano is also the name of the italian language.  The following list summarizes some languages which this rule is valid for, together with the country which it is spoken.

RULE: The language spoken in a country is called the same as the word for the nationality for males	COUNTRY	LANGUAGE	MASCULINE
	España	español	español
	Italia	italiano	italiano
	Dinamarca	danés	danés
	Inglaterra	inglés	inglés
	Japón	japonés	japonés
	Francia	francés	francés
	Holanda	holandés	holandés
	Portugal	portugués	portugués
	Alemania	alemán	alemán

Of course, there are exceptions, but one can easily guess them. For example, in Iraq "arabe" is spoken, in Irán "persa" is spoken.

Related spanish words:

Country: PAÍS                                                                                                     

Language: IDIOMA, LENGUA (both words can be used for language in spanish)  

Rule: REGLA