{"id":10655,"date":"2024-11-16T02:07:03","date_gmt":"2024-11-16T01:07:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/conexionsp.com\/el-mar-o-la-mar-the-grammatical-genders\/"},"modified":"2025-03-30T05:48:02","modified_gmt":"2025-03-30T03:48:02","slug":"el-mar-o-la-mar-the-grammatical-genders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/conexionsp.com\/en\/el-mar-o-la-mar-the-grammatical-genders\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00bfEl mar o la mar? The Grammatical Genders"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"10655\" class=\"elementor elementor-10655 elementor-10641\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-eff2ecf elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default qodef-elementor-content-no\" data-id=\"eff2ecf\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-3bb1d8d\" data-id=\"3bb1d8d\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-275e954 elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-widget-mobile__width-initial elementor-widget elementor-widget-elipsa_core_dropcaps\" data-id=\"275e954\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"elipsa_core_dropcaps.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"qodef-shortcode qodef-m  qodef-dropcaps qodef-type--simple\">\n\t<span class=\"qodef-m-letter\" >I<\/span>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"qodef-m-text\" >n Spanish, nouns are basically divided into two grammatical genders: masculine and feminine. The gender of the noun determines, for example, which articles are used with it and also affects the form of adjectives. Additionally, there are cases of neuter nouns, as we will see later, such as in the case of adjectival nouns.<\/p>\n\t<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-183bfc5 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default qodef-elementor-content-no\" data-id=\"183bfc5\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-cbb4b3c\" data-id=\"cbb4b3c\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-e327d15 elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-widget-mobile__width-initial elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"e327d15\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Broadly speaking, nouns ending in -o are masculine, and those ending in -a are feminine, but there are exceptions in both cases:<\/p><ul><li aria-level=\"1\">El libro (the book), el perro (the dog), el zapato (the shoe) (masculine) but la mano (the hand), la foto (the photo) (short for fotograf\u00eda), la moto (the motorcycle) (short for motocicleta). There are few feminine nouns ending in -o, and most of them are abbreviations of other feminine nouns.<\/li><li aria-level=\"1\">La mesa (the table), la casa (the house), la corbata (the tie) (feminine), but el mapa (the map), el d\u00eda (the day), el problema (the problem). There are more masculine nouns ending in -a than feminine nouns ending in -o, so the recommendation\u2014especially since there are nouns ending in other letters\u2014is to learn nouns along with their respective articles.<\/li><\/ul>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-c8dffa9 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default qodef-elementor-content-no\" data-id=\"c8dffa9\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-e4c4375\" data-id=\"e4c4375\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-0f5f04e elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-widget-mobile__width-initial elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"0f5f04e\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>When it comes to nouns that refer to inanimate objects, it is common for each noun to have only one grammatical gender. For example, la pared (the wall), el reloj (the clock), la puerta (the door), el auto (the car), la casa (the house), el vaso (the glass), and la chimenea (the chimney) present no ambiguity regarding their grammatical gender. Once again, while the rule of ending in -o or -a can help determine a noun\u2019s gender, there are exceptions, and many nouns do not end in either of these two letters.   <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-cd5bbd2 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default qodef-elementor-content-no\" data-id=\"cd5bbd2\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-3b812ae\" data-id=\"3b812ae\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-72b5c77 elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-widget-mobile__width-initial elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"72b5c77\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>In the case of animals, we can distinguish two groups. For many animals, there is one word to refer to the male and another to refer to the female: el toro\/la vaca (bull\/cow), el gato\/la gata (cat), el caballo\/la yegua (horse\/mare), el perro\/la perra (dog), el gallo\/la gallina (rooster\/hen). For most animals, however, there is only one noun used to refer to both males and females: el \u00e1guila (eagle), la zarig\u00fceya (opossum), el rat\u00f3n (mouse), or la rata (rat) can refer to either males or females. These are known as epicene nouns, meaning the same word with the same grammatical gender can refer to individuals of different biological sexes.    <\/p><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-c8eff59 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default qodef-elementor-content-no\" data-id=\"c8eff59\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-e7ad6a6\" data-id=\"e7ad6a6\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-346ff32 elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-widget-mobile__width-initial elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"346ff32\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>When referring to people, there are even more exceptions. Some nouns have both a masculine and a feminine form distinguished by their endings, such as hermano\/hermana (brother\/sister) or ni\u00f1o\/ni\u00f1a (child, kid), while others have completely different names, such as padre\/madre (father\/mother) or yerno\/nuera (son-in-law, daughter-in-law). There are also nouns known as common gender nouns, which differ from epicene nouns because the same word can take either grammatical gender. Examples include el\/la artista, el\/la pianista, el\/la profesional (artist, pianist, professional). Additionally, there are epicene nouns that refer to people: el personaje (character) and el v\u00e1stago (offspring), for instance, can refer to men or women, while la persona (person) or la v\u00edctima (victim) always remain feminine regardless of the individual&#8217;s sex.    <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-ed05dfa elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default qodef-elementor-content-no\" data-id=\"ed05dfa\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-36cb1b5\" data-id=\"36cb1b5\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-0690961 elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-widget-mobile__width-initial elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"0690961\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Ambiguous nouns in terms of gender: There are nouns for which both grammatical genders are accepted without changing the meaning of the word. Their use generally depends on cultural norms or linguistic varieties. Examples include el\/la mar (sea), el\/la sart\u00e9n (frying pan), el\/la vodka (yes, vodka :)).  <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-604efe6 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default qodef-elementor-content-no\" data-id=\"604efe6\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-27e147a\" data-id=\"27e147a\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-075619a elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-widget-mobile__width-initial elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"075619a\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>There are also words that exist in both grammatical genders, but whose meaning changes depending on the gender: el cometa (comet) \/ la cometa (kite), el c\u00f3lera (disease) \/ la c\u00f3lera (anger), el editorial (journalistic article) \/ la editorial (publishing house), el cura (priest) \/ la cura (cure), el corte (cut) \/ la corte (court).<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-4d990be elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default qodef-elementor-content-no\" data-id=\"4d990be\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-2e58cc7\" data-id=\"2e58cc7\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-b29e33e elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-widget-mobile__width-initial elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"b29e33e\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Finally, some expressions can be grammatically neutral in Spanish. In \u00bfQu\u00e9 es eso? (What&#8217;s that?) we are asking, for example, what is something we are seeing, which could be a masculine or feminine noun. In &#8220;Lo bueno del verano es que se puede ir a la playa&#8221; (the good thing od the summer is that you can go to the beach), we refer to an advantage of summer, but without reference to grammatical genders. And in &#8220;Aquello fue hermoso&#8221; (that was beautiful), we could be referring to a trip (el viaje), which is masculine, or a dinner (la cena), which is feminine. But we will explore this in another article.      <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-28f601b elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default qodef-elementor-content-no\" data-id=\"28f601b\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-662e5a6\" data-id=\"662e5a6\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-22da5cb elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-widget-mobile__width-initial elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"22da5cb\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Since this is a blog about Spanish as a foreign language, it&#8217;s worth making the following clarification: if the language(s) you speak have grammatical genders that affect all nouns, don&#8217;t expect them to match in Spanish. Nor should you expect them to follow any logical pattern. Grammatical gender is, after all, purely grammatical and a consequence of the evolution of languages. For example, the word <i>chica <\/i> or <i>muchacha<\/i> in German is M\u00e4dchen, das M\u00e4dchen, which is grammatically neuter, even though it refers to a female person. This occurs because the word derives from <i>Magd<\/i>, a word from medieval German to which the diminutive suffix &#8211;<i>chen <\/i> was later added. All words with this suffix in German are grammatically neuter, regardless of what they refer to. And one more example: there are nouns in Spanish that are synonyms but have different grammatical genders. La palta\/el aguacate (avocado), la cometa\/el barrilete (kite), la jerga\/el argot (jargon), la torta\/el pastel (cake).        <\/p>\n<p>I hope this article has been helpful to you. If you have any questions, feel free to write to me. Thank you for reading!  <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-9697b62 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"9697b62\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-f72004d elementor-widget-mobile__width-initial elementor-post-navigation-borders-yes elementor-widget elementor-widget-post-navigation\" data-id=\"f72004d\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"post-navigation.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post-navigation\" role=\"navigation\" aria-label=\"Post Navigation\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post-navigation__prev elementor-post-navigation__link\">\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/conexionsp.com\/en\/articulo-definido-find-the-mistake\/\" rel=\"prev\"><span class=\"post-navigation__arrow-wrapper post-navigation__arrow-prev\"><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"e-font-icon-svg e-fas-angle-left\" viewBox=\"0 0 256 512\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"M31.7 239l136-136c9.4-9.4 24.6-9.4 33.9 0l22.6 22.6c9.4 9.4 9.4 24.6 0 33.9L127.9 256l96.4 96.4c9.4 9.4 9.4 24.6 0 33.9L201.7 409c-9.4 9.4-24.6 9.4-33.9 0l-136-136c-9.5-9.4-9.5-24.6-.1-34z\"><\/path><\/svg><span class=\"elementor-screen-only\">Prev<\/span><\/span><span class=\"elementor-post-navigation__link__prev\"><span class=\"post-navigation__prev--label\">Anterior<\/span><span class=\"post-navigation__prev--title\">Art\u00edculo definido: find the mistake<\/span><\/span><\/a>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post-navigation__separator-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post-navigation__separator\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post-navigation__next elementor-post-navigation__link\">\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/conexionsp.com\/en\/lo-hago-por-y-para-ti-the-prepositions-por-and-para\/\" rel=\"next\"><span class=\"elementor-post-navigation__link__next\"><span class=\"post-navigation__next--label\">Siguiente<\/span><span class=\"post-navigation__next--title\">Lo hago por y para ti: the prepositions por and para<\/span><\/span><span class=\"post-navigation__arrow-wrapper post-navigation__arrow-next\"><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"e-font-icon-svg e-fas-angle-right\" viewBox=\"0 0 256 512\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"M224.3 273l-136 136c-9.4 9.4-24.6 9.4-33.9 0l-22.6-22.6c-9.4-9.4-9.4-24.6 0-33.9l96.4-96.4-96.4-96.4c-9.4-9.4-9.4-24.6 0-33.9L54.3 103c9.4-9.4 24.6-9.4 33.9 0l136 136c9.5 9.4 9.5 24.6.1 34z\"><\/path><\/svg><span class=\"elementor-screen-only\">Next<\/span><\/span><\/a>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Grammatical Genders in Spanish.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15971,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[144],"tags":[182],"class_list":["post-10655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-grammar","tag-down-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/conexionsp.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/conexionsp.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/conexionsp.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conexionsp.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conexionsp.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10655"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/conexionsp.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10655\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15975,"href":"https:\/\/conexionsp.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10655\/revisions\/15975"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conexionsp.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/conexionsp.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conexionsp.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conexionsp.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}