Gender
Spanish nouns belong to either the masculine or the feminineGender of certain nouns referring to humans and animals
Though the gender of most Spanish nouns is assigned arbitrarily, the gender of certain nouns referring to humans and animals are determined by biological sex and gender.Butt, John, et al. ''A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish''. 6th ed., Routledge, 2019. Section 1.2.''Nueva gramática de la lengua española''. Real Academia Española, 2009. Section 2.1b. For this class of nouns, the masculine and feminine often take different forms. By convention, the masculine form is treated as theGender of other nouns
In Spanish, nouns not belonging to the class described above form another class of noun. The gender of nouns in this other class are arbitrarily assigned. However, some general patterns help to predict the gender of nouns.Kattán-Ibarra, Juan, and Christopher J. Pountain. ''Modern Spanish Grammar''. 2nd ed., Routledge, 2003. Section 2.3. Notably, the endings of nouns give clues to the their genders. For instance, nouns ending in ''-o'' are usually masculine. The exceptions are ''la dínamo'' 'dynamo' (also ''el dínamo'' in Latin America), ''la disco'' 'disco', ''la foto'' 'photo', ''la líbido'' 'libido', ''la magneto'' 'magneto' (also ''el magneto''), ''la mano'' 'hand', ''la moto'' 'motorcycle', and ''la radio'' 'radio' (also ''el radio'' in Latin America). Words ending in ''-aje'', ''-or'', ''-án'', ''-ambre'' or a stressed vowel are also typically masculine. The exceptions are ''la flor'' 'flower', ''el hambre'' 'hunger', ''la labor'' 'labor', and ''la pelambre'' 'patch of hair' (also ''el pelambre''). Nouns ending in ''-men'' or ''-gen'' are also often masculine, but there are exceptions, such as ''la imagen'' 'image'. Finally, nouns that both end in ''-ma'' or ''-eta'' and are derived from Greek are typically masculine. Many grammars of Spanish suggest that nouns ending in ''-a'' are feminine, but there is no requirement that Spanish nouns ending in ''-a'' be feminine. Thus, grammars that pose such a requirement also typically include a long list of exceptions, such as ''el alerta'' 'alert', ''el bocata'' 'sandwich', el caza 'figher plane', and many others. More reliable markers of feminine nouns are ''-ez'', ''-eza'', ''-ción'', ''-ía'', ''-sión'', ''-dad'', ''-tad'', ''-tud'', ''-umbre'', ''-ie'', ''-nza'', ''-cia'', ''-sis'', and -''itis''. The exceptions for ''-ez'' are ''el ajedrez'' 'chess' and ''el pez'' 'fish', and the exceptions for ''-sis'' are ''el análisis'' 'analysis', ''el éxtasis'' 'ecstasy', ''el apocalipsis'' 'apocalypse', ''el paréntesis'' 'parenthesis', and ''el énfasis'' 'emphasis'. Though the gender of nouns in this class does not correspond to biological sex, it can mark other kinds of differences. For example, gender marks the difference between a tree (typically masculine) and its fruit (typically feminine). Thus, ''el almendro'' and ''el cerezo'' refer to 'almond tree' and 'cherry tree', respectively, while ''la almendra'' and ''la cereza'' refer to 'almond' and 'cherry', respectively.''Nueva gramática de la lengua española''. Real Academia Española, 2009. Section 2.3g. In many cases, these patterns with specific nouns can be traced to a common hypernym.''Nueva gramática de la lengua española''. Real Academia Española, 2009. Section 2.10a. For example, ''el almendro'' and ''el cerezo'' are masculine because the hypernym ''el árbol'' 'tree' is masculine. The following table lists some of these patterns. : The gender of nouns in this class may also mark distinctions related to size and shape, such as the distinction between ''el cántaro'' 'pitcher' and ''la cántara'' 'large pitcher'. Further, some polysemic nouns can be distinguished by their gender. For example, ''el margen'' (masculine) means 'margin' while ''la margen'' means 'river bank'. Similarly, ''el cura'' (masculine) means 'priest' while la ''cura'' means 'cure'. Like all nouns in Spanish, borrowed nouns must also be masculine or feminine, even when the nouns are borrowed from languages that lack grammatical gender. In these cases, nouns referring to certain humans and animals behave as expected (taking their gender from the biological sex or gender of the referent), but there are no formal rules that determine the gender of borrowed nouns of the other class. Generally, a borrowed noun in this class will be feminine if it resembles a more established feminine noun in form or meaning or, less reliably, if it is grammatically feminine in its language of origin. For example, ''la boutique'' 'boutique' is a borrowing from French, in which it is also feminine. Further, its meaning is similar to more established Spanish noun ''la tienda'' 'shop', which is also feminine. ''La app'' 'app (in computing)' is a borrowing from English, which lacks a robust system of grammatical gender. It is generally treated as feminine in Spanish because it is similar in form and meaning to ''la aplicación'' 'application', which is also feminine. Borrowed nouns of this class that do not meet these criteria are typically treated as masculine. For example, ''el aftershave'' 'aftershave' cannot inherit a gender from its language of origin (English) and is not sufficiently similar to a more established Spanish noun, so it defaults to masculine.Variation
The gender of some nouns in Spanish are subject to variation. It is rare that the same speakers use these nouns in both genders without difference in meaning; that is, speakers do not just pick a form at random, but rather, something about the speaker or the intended meaning leads one gender or the other to be preferred in a particular context. For example, ''mar'' 'sea' is typically masculine but may be feminine for those who work on or near the sea, especially in the context of that work. Similarly, ''radio'' 'radio' is feminine for many speakers in Spain but masculine for speakers in many parts of Latin America. ''Internet'' causes speakers to hesitate between making it masculine like other loanwords from English, or making it feminine to agree with ''red'', 'net'. Meanwhile, ''azúcar'' 'sugar' can be masculine with ''el'', feminine with ''la'', or feminine with ''el'' (perhaps as a carry-over fromVestiges of the neuter
Spanish has vestiges of a neuter gender; this is seen in pronouns like ''esto'', ''eso'', ''aquello'', and ''ello'', some instances of pronoun ''lo'', and the article ''lo''. Bello also notes that words such as ''nada'', ''poco'', ''algo'', and ''mucho'' can be used as neuters in some contexts. However, all this doesn't affect nouns, which never have a ''neutral'' gender.Gender of proper nouns (names)
People's names agree with the sex of the person, even when the name ending might seem the opposite: ''Chema es guapo'', ''Amparo es guapa''. The same rule applies to those animals which have a name.Names of settlements
The gender of geographical names has no fixed rules, there are just tendencies: * Names ending in ''-a'' are typically feminine, otherwise they tend to be masculine: **''la Barcelona de Gaudí'' **''el Londres de Dickens'' * Sometimes the gender agrees with the underlying noun ''el pueblo'' or ''la ciudad'': **''la gran Nueva York'' (city) **''la antigua Cartago'' (city) **''Fraga es pequeño'' (village/small town) In ''Nueva York'' (New York), the feminine ''nueva'' is a fixed part of the name, however it's still possible to deal with the name as masculine, though feminine would be more common. New Mexico is translated as ''Nuevo México'' and considered masculine, since ''México'' is a masculine noun.Number
Spanish has two grammatical numbers: singular and plural.''Nueva gramática de la lengua española''. Real Academia Española, 2009. Section 3.1a. The singular form is the lemma, and the plural is the marked form. Whether a noun is singular or plural generally depends on the referent of the noun, with singular nouns typically referring to one being and plural nouns to multiple. In this way, nouns differ from other Spanish words that show number contrast (i.e., adjectives, determiners, and verbs), which vary in number to agree with nouns. In the clause ''aquellos intentos buenos resultaron vanos'' 'those good attempts were in vain', for example, the head of the noun phrase subject (''intentos'') gives its plural number to the other elements in the noun phrase (the determiner ''aquellos'' and the adjective ''buenos''). The plural number is also reflected in the form of the verb (the third-person plural ''resultaron'') and the predicative complement (the plural adjective ''vanos''). Two or more nouns coordinated via the coordinator ''y'' 'and' are typically treated as plural for agreement purposes.Kattán-Ibarra, Juan, and Christopher J. Pountain. ''Modern Spanish Grammar''. 2nd ed., Routledge, 2003. Section 3.2.1. In the noun phrase ''el lápiz y el bolígrafo rojos'' 'the red pencils and pens', for example, the adjective ''rojos'' is plural because the two singular nouns (''el lápiz'' and ''el bolígrafo'') are coordinated via ''y''. In cases in which an adjective precedes the coordinated nouns, however, that adjective is usually in the singular form. For example, the adjective and both nouns are singular in the noun phrase ''enorme cuidado y precisión'' 'enormous care and precision'. Some words are always grammatically plural. Much as the English nouns ''mathematics'' and ''eyeglasses'', for instance, are always plural, the Spanish nouns ''las matemáticas'' 'mathematics' and ''las gafas'' 'eyeglasses' are always plural. Some of these nouns do not share their always plural status with their English counterparts. For example, ''las vacaciones'' is rare in the singular form, corresponding to both 'vacation' and 'vacations' in English. Many of the always plural nouns fall into specific semantic classes. For example, many are related to foods (e.g., ''comestibles'' 'groceries', ''espaguetis'' 'spaghetti'), amounts of money (e.g., ''emolumentos'' 'emoluments', finanzas 'finances'), and places (e.g., ''estribaciones'' 'foothills', ''exteriores'' 'exteriors'). Other Spanish nouns are always singular. Such nouns are often noncountable nouns, such as ''el caos'' 'chaos' and ''la grima'' 'disgust'.Plural formation
A noun that ends in an unstressed vowel adds ''-s'' to form the plural.Butt, John, et al. ''A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish''. 6th ed., Routledge, 2019. Section 2.1.Kattán-Ibarra, Juan, and Christopher J. Pountain. ''Modern Spanish Grammar''. 2nd ed., Routledge, 2003. Section 3.1.1. A noun that ends in a consonant (including ''y'') adds ''-es'' to form the plural. For nouns that end in ''-z'', the ''-z'' changes to ''-c-'' when the ''-es'' plural morpheme is added.Stein, Gail. ''Webster’s New World Spanish Grammar Handbook''. Wiley, 2015. P. 36. The noun ''la luz'' 'light', for example, has the plural form ''las luces'' 'lights'. A noun that ends in a stressed vowel will add ''-s'' or ''-es'' to form the plural. Generally, nouns ending in ''-á'', ''-é'', and ''-ó'' add ''-s'' to form the plural, while nouns ending in ''-í'' and ''-ú'' can admit both variants (''-s'' and ''-es'') to form the plural. For example, ''el café'' 'café' has the plural form ''los cafés'' while the noun ''el tabú'' 'taboo' has the plural forms ''los tabús'' and ''los tabúes''. Polysyllabic nouns that end in an ''-s'' following an unstressed vowel do not add an overt plural morpheme while other nouns ending in ''-s'' behave as expected for a noun ending in a consonant, adding ''-es'' to form the plural. For instance, the noun ''el jueves'' 'Thursday' has the plural form ''los jueves'' 'Thursdays'.Loanwords
The formation of plurals for foreign words borrowed into Spanish do not always follow the same rules as more established Spanish nouns. As a general rule, borrowed words ending in a vowel (stressed or unstressed) will add an ''-s'' to the singular to form the plural. For example, the plural form of the English borrowing ''el interviú'' 'interview' is ''los interviús'' 'interviews'. English loanwords often keep their English plural forms in Spanish. For instance, ''el córner'' ' corner kick' has the plural form ''los córners'' 'corner kicks'. Many Latin nouns do not change in the plural at all (e.g., ''el confíteor'' 'confession' and ''los confíteor'' 'confessions') Some Latin nouns ending in ''-m'' may simply add ''-s'' to form the plural (e.g., ''el referéndum'' 'referendum' and ''los referéndums'' 'referenda/referendums'). Other Latin nouns ending in ''-m'' allow either an invariant plural form or a plural form ending in ''-s''. For example, ''el quórum'' 'quorum' allows the plural forms ''los quórum'' and ''los quórums''. Due to the influence of English, some plurals of Latin words in Spanish occasionally occur with the plural marker ''-a'', as in ''los córpora'' 'corpora' and ''los data'' 'data', but such plural forms are disprefered by some prescriptivists that favor either invariant plurals (e.g., ''los corpus'') or Hispanicized forms (e.g., ''los datos''). Some loanwords enter Spanish in their plural forms but are reanalyzed as singular nouns (e.g., the Italian plurals ''el confeti'' 'confetti', ''el espagueti'' 'spaghetti', and ''el ravioli'' 'ravioli'). These words then follow the typical morphological rules of Spanish, essentially double marking the plural (e.g., ''los confetis'', ''los espaguetis'', and ''los raviolis'').Variation
In some varieties of Antillean Spanish, an additional ''-e'' or ''-es'' is added to the more traditional forms of certain plurals. For example, ''las cásase'' can be found in place of ''las casas'' 'houses'. Similarly, ''los güisquises'' can be found in place of ''los güisquis'' 'whiskies'. In certain registers, nouns with plural referents can occur in the singular form when the plural is implied elsewhere, such as through the determiners ''mucho'' 'many' or ''tanto'' 'so many'. For example, a speaker might say ''mucha foto'' 'many photos' or ''tanto soldado'' 'so many soldiers' while a more formal register would require ''muchas fotos'' and ''tantos soldados'', respectively. While nouns ending in ''-í'' often allow either ''-s'' or ''-es'' to form the plural, more formal registers typically prefer the ''-es'' ending, especially in demonyms and the names of ethnic groups. For example, ''bengalí'' 'Bengali' can take the plural form ''bengalíes'' or ''bengalís'', but ''bengalíes'' is typically preferred in more formal registers.Diminutives, augmentatives and suffixes
A very productive set of suffixes can be added to existing nouns and adjectives to form new Spanish nouns. This usually just slightly modifies the meaning, but sometimes it creates something new entirely. The most common subset of such suffixes are theIdiomatic diminutives
The choice of diminutive is often a mark of regional dialects and influence of coexistent Romance languages. Educated speakers who would use ''-ito'' / ''-ita'' or no diminutive at all in more formal speech may use local forms when they want a friendlier or more colourful way of expressing themselves, sometimes borrowing another region's diminutive. So, instead of the more common ''-ito'', one could hear: *''-illo'' / ''-illa'' especially inOther suffixes
As well as being an Andalusian (especially Seville) alternative to ''-ito'', the suffix ''-illo'' is also a special diminutive with a nuance of "a funny sort of...". It is also used to create new nouns: *''palo'' "stick" → ''palillo'' "toothpick" *''bolso'' "handbag" → ''bolsillo'' "pocket" *''guerra'' "war" → ''guerrilla'' "hit-and-run warfare" *''caña'' "cane" → ''canilla'' "water faucet" An example of the same phenomenon, but using an augmentative, is ''-ón'': *''soltero'' "single man" → ''solterón'' "confirmed single man" *''soltera'' "single woman" → ''solterona'' "spinster" *''puerta'' "door" → ''portón'' "gate" / "large door" Another suffix that can either denote ''a blow with'' or be an augmentative is ''-azo'': *''puerta'' ("door") → ''portazo'' ("slam of a door") *''mano'' ("hand") → ''manotazo'' ("a hit with the hand") *''cacerola'' ("saucepan") → ''cacerolazo'' (both "a blow with a saucepan" or "a big saucepan", also a form of protest) *''Bogotá'' (Bogotá, capital of Colombia) → ''Bogotazo'' (the " Bogotazo", the riots on April 9, 1948) *''Caracas'' (Caracas, capital of Venezuela) → ''Caracazo'' (the " Caracazo", the violent protests of 27 February 1989) *''derecha'' ("right hand") → ''derechazo'' (either a "right-hander" when slapping someone, or a "right-handed pass with the cape" in bullfighting) *''flecha'' ("arrow") → ''flechazo'' ("arrow shot" / "arrow wound", or figuratively "love at first sight")References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spanish Nouns Nouns Declension