Page 1 of 6 English-Spanish Helpful Handouts
Spanish Nouns and Gender # 1 People and Animals
For English Speakers Who Want to Learn Spanish
A Review for Intermediate and Advanced Students In Spanish, all nouns are classified as either masculine or feminine. Most nouns ending in -o are masculine and most nouns ending in –a are feminine. Nouns that refer to people and animals generally reflect their genders.
el abuelo
la abuela
Masculine el abuelo el amigo el chico el compañero el cuñado el esposo el gato el hermano el hijo el muchacho el nieto el niño el padre el perro el primo el sobrino el suegro el tío el toro el vecino
grandfather friend (male) little boy classmate (female) brother-in–law husband cat (male) brother son boy grandson child (male) father dog (male) cousin (male) nephew father-in-law uncle bull neighbor (male)
Feminine la abuela la amiga la chica la compañera la cuñada la esposa la gata la hermana la hija la muchacha la nieta la niña la madre la perra la prima la sobrina la suegra la tía la vaca la vecina
grandmother friend (female) little girl classmate (female) sister-in-law wife cat (female) sister daughter girl granddaughter child (female) mother dog (female) cousin (female niece mother-in-law aunt cow neighbor (female)
Exercise 1 Fill in the blank with the Spanish masculine or feminine noun. 1. La __________ de María aún tiene vigor a los 82 años. (Maria’s grandmother is still vigorous at age 82.)
2. Estoy casada y tengo un __________ y una __________. (I am married and I have a son and a daughter.) la mujer y el hombre
3. Mi hermana tiene un hijo lo que significa que you tengo un __________. (My sister has a son so I have a nephew.)
4. El queso es un alimento elaborado a partir de la leche de la __________. (Cheese is a food made from cow’s milk.) Free handout from English-Spanish Helpful Handouts http://sites.google.com/site/englishspanishhelpfulhandouts Photos: www.flickr.com (Creative Commons License) A. Blight, matt.simpson, Alie Aesthetic, dalbera, Graham Hodgson, fanz, sean dreilinger, CharlesFred, semuthutan, Scott Abelman, IXQUICK, Alice Popkorn, Tambako the Jaguar, Flávio Cruvinel Brandão