Comentarios: Spanish Grammar Podcast

Gender of Nouns: Part I (free mini version)

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The subject of this episode is "gender of nouns." We have divided this topic into two parts, and this is part one.

In Spanish all nouns are either masculine or feminine, but this reference to gender has nothing to do with sex; it is merely a grammatical feature of the language. Most nouns that end in the letter "o" are masculine and most nouns that end in the letter "a" are feminine, although there are exceptions to this rule which you will be learning later. Here are some examples of masculine nouns:

el burro
el mosquito
el poncho

And here are some examples of feminine nouns:

la fiesta
la piņata
la salsa

These words are all called "loan words" because they are Spanish words that have found their way into the English language. There are a lot of loan words, and you already know the meaning of most of them.

There's one more thing that you need to know about loan words. Although these words are often spelled exactly the same in both languages, they are not pronounced the same, and it is important that you start paying attention to the differences. Listen carefully as I say the words, and notice how they don't sound the same in Spanish as they do in English.

el burro
el mosquito
el poncho
la fiesta
la piņata
la salsa

To review, in Spanish, all nouns are either masculine or feminine. Most nouns that end in "o" are masculine and most nouns that end in "a" are feminine. Spanish words that have found their way into the English language are called "loan words," and they are pronounced differently in Spanish than in they are in English.

That wraps up our mini-episode on gender of nouns, part one.