Nouns — Masculine Spanish Nouns

Nouns — Masculine Spanish Nouns

Nouns indicating male beings, regardless of endings, are masculine.

el hombre	the man
el rey	the king
el muchacho	the boy

The names of most countries are considered masculine.

(el) Japón	Japan
(el) Perú	Peru

Note: However, if a country's name ends in an unstressed -a, it is considered to be of feminine gender.

(la) Francia	France
(la) España	Spain

The names of rivers and oceans, regardless of endings, are considered masculine.

el Pacífico	Pacific Ocean
el Atlántico	Atlantic Ocean
el Amazonas	Amazon

Infinitives used as nouns are masculine.

el fumar

smoking

The points of the compass are masculine.

el norte	north
el sur	south
el este	east
el oeste	west

The days of the week, and the months of the year are all masculine.

el lunes	Monday
el diciembre	December

Most nouns that end in -o are masculine.

el niño	boy
el vino	wine
el libro	book
el vestido	dress

Note: A few nouns ending in -o are feminine, the most common of which are:

la mano	hand
la radio	radio
la moto *	motorcycle
la foto **	photograph

* (abbreviation of la motocicleta)
**(abbreviation of la fotografía)

Some nouns (usually of Greek origin) ending in -ma, -pa, and -ta are masculine.

el problema	problem
el día	day
el idioma	language
el drama	drama
el sistema	system
el clima	climate
el programa	program
el mapa	map
el poeta	poet
el planeta	planet
el tema	subject, topic

The plurals of many nouns when used to include the members of both sexes become masculine.

los alumnos	the students (male and female)
los padres	the parents (both mother and father)
los niños	children (boys and girls )

Note: In all three examples, the groups could be comprised of either all males or (a mix of males and females).