Explanation

Quick Answer

All Spanish nouns (sustantivos), including people, places, animals, things, ideas, and feelings, have a gender (male or female).

The fact that inanimate objects have a gender in Spanish does not mean that things like tables and books are physically feminine or masculine. They have genders in a grammatical sense and must be used with articles and adjectives that match their gender.

There are a few general rules you can follow to determine if a noun is feminine or masculine.

Masculine Nouns

Most masculine nouns end in o. An o ending can indicate that a person or animal is male or that an object, idea, etc. is grammatically masculine.

Masculine Nouns that End in O

examples
el cartero the mailman/postman
el niño the child/son
el tío the uncle
el teatro the theater
el dormitorio the bedroom

Masculine Nouns that Don't End in O

Words that end in the following letters or letter combinations are often masculine:

an accented vowel (á, é, í, ó, ú)
-ma
a consonant other than d, z
e

Not all words ending in -ma are masculine. Some, like forma(form), are feminine.

There are also many common words ending in e that are feminine, so this rule must be taken with a grain of salt.

The table below shows examples of masculine words with the endings listed above.

Ending	Examples
e	el perfume(perfume), el estante(shelf), el maquillaje(makeup)
accented vowel	el colibrí(hummingbird), el ají(chili pepper) , el ñandú(rhea)
consonant other than d, z	el árbol(tree), el rumor(rumor), el cojín(cushion)
-ma	el programa(program), el drama(drama), el idioma(language)

Borrowing From Greek!

A lot of nouns that end in -ma, -pa, and -ta are masculine because they are Greek in origin.

Exceptions

The following nouns are exceptions to the above rules and are feminine, not masculine.

Words Ending in o	Words Ending in e	Words Ending in Consonants Besides d or z
la foto	la llave	la miel
la mano	la calle	la sal
la moto	la fiebre	la hiel
la libido	la carne	la piel
la radio	la frase	la coliflor
la polio	la gente	la sor
la virago	la nieve	la labor
	la noche	la flor
	la nube
	la sangre
	la suerte
	la tarde
	la muerte
	la madre
	la base
	la clase
	la clave
	la corriente
	la fuente
	la sede
	la serpiente
	la torre

Feminine Nouns

Most feminine nouns end in a. Ending in an a indicates that a person or animal is female or that an object, idea, etc. is grammatically feminine.

Feminine Nouns that End in A

examples
la enfermera the nurse
la profesora the teacher
la hija the daughter
la rosa the rose
la guitarra the guitar
la piscina the pool

Feminine Nouns that Don't End in A

Nouns that end in in d, z, or -ión are also feminine.

Ending	Examples
d	la felicidad(happiness), la virtud(virtue), la salud(health)
z	la paz(peace), la nariz(nose), la luz(light)
-ión	la canción(song), la religión(religion), la irritación(irritation)

Exceptions

The following nouns are exceptions to the above rules and are masculine, not feminine.

Words Ending in a	Words Ending in d	Words Ending in z	Words Ending in -ión
el drama	el huésped	el aprendiz	el ansión
el enigma	el ataúd	el cáliz	el roción
el esquema	el abad	el arroz	el notición
el estigma	el alud	el pez	el sentención
el estratega	el áspid	el lápiz
el idioma	el laúd	el ajedrez
el mapa	el récord	el antifaz
el morfema	el milord	el maíz
el planeta	el césped	el albornoz
el problema		el avestruz
el sistema		el altavoz
el tema		el altramuz
el día		el barniz
el aroma		el cariz
el axioma		el disfraz
el buda		el haz
el carisma		el matiz
el clima
el diagrama
el dilema
el fantasma
el panda
el prisma
el cura(in the religious sense)
el tranvía

Gender and Adjectives

Spanish adjectives must match the nouns they describe in both gender and number. For example, apples (manzanas) are feminine in Spanish, so this word must be used with feminine articles like la, las, and una. Any adjective used to describe an apple in Spanish must also be feminine (for example roja. On the other hand, bananas (plátanos) are masculine, and must be used with masculine articles and adjectives.