Nouns: Gender and Number

Question 1

What people nouns are always feminine? (x3)

Answer 1

Persona - male or female person
Víctima - victim
Estrella - TV/film star

Question 2

What people nouns are always masculine? (x3)

Answer 2

Bebé - baby boy or baby girl
Personaje - character, e.g. in a book or film
Genio - genius

Question 3

What animal nouns are always feminine - no matter the gender of the animal? (x3)

Answer 3

Tortuga - tortoise
Jirafa - giraffe
Ballena - whale

• hembra must be added after these nouns when determining the sex of the animal i.e. ballena hembra

Question 4

What animal nouns are always masculine - no matter the gender of the animal? (x2)

Answer 4

Chimpancé - chimpanzee
Cocodrilo - crocodile

• macho must be added after these nouns when determining the sex of the animal i.e. ballena macho

Question 5

How do you change a masculine noun ending in ‘o’ into a feminine noun?

Answer 5

Replace the ‘o’ with and ‘a’ i.e. abuelo - abuela

Question 6

How do you change masculine nouns ending in ‘-or’ into a feminine noun?

Answer 6

Add an ‘-a’ onto the masculine form i.e. profesor - profesora

Question 7

How do you change masculine nouns ending in ‘-ón, -ín, -és’ into a feminine noun?

Answer 7

Change to ‘-ona, -ina, -esa’ i.e. campeón - campeona

Question 8

How do you change masculine nouns ending in ‘-e’ or a consonant into a female noun?

Answer 8

Many of them remain the same i.e. joven, líder, cantante

• however there are some exceptions; jefe/jefa (boss), dependiente/dependienta (shop assistant), pariente/parienta (relative)

Question 9

How do you change masculine nouns that end in ‘-a’ into a female noun?

Answer 9

They remain the same i.e. artista (artist), dentista (dentist) astronauta (astronaut), atleta (athlete) nómada (nomad)

Question 10

What ‘thing’ nouns are masculine but end in an ‘-a’ (x7)

Answer 10

día - day
clima - climate
idioma - language
mapa - map
planeta - planet
problema - problem
programa - programme

Question 11

What ‘thing’ nouns are feminine but end in ‘-o’ (x3)

Answer 11

Mano - hand
Foto (short for fotografía) - photograph
Moto (short for motocicleta) - motorcycle

Question 12

Nouns ending in -dad, -tad, -ud are usually masculine or feminine?

Answer 12

Feminine i.e. cuidad, libertad, salud (health)

Question 13

Nouns ending in -ión are usually masculine or feminine?

Answer 13

Feminine i.e. acción, estación (station), pasión

• there are two exceptions: avión (aeroplane) and camión (lorry)

Question 14

The names if letters are usually masculine or feminine?

Answer 14

Feminine i.e. la a, la be, la ce…

Question 15

Nouns ending in -ón are usually masculine or feminine?

Answer 15

Masculine i.e. jamón, melón

Question 16

Nouns ending in -or are usually masculine or feminine?

Answer 16

Masculine i.e. amor, motor

Question 17

Nouns ending in -aje are usually masculine or feminine?

Answer 17

Masculine i.e. garaje, paisaje (landscape)

Question 18

Nouns ending in a stressed vowel are usually masculine or feminine?

Answer 18

Masculine i.e. sofá, plató (cinema set)

Question 19

Names of the days are usually masculine or feminine?

Answer 19

Masculine i.e. el lunes, el martes, el miércoles

Question 20

Names of languages are usually masculine or feminine?

Answer 20

Masculine i.e. el español, el inglés

Question 21

Names of rivers, seas and oceans are usually masculine or feminine?

Answer 21

Masculine i.e. el Támesis, el Mediterráneo, el Atlántico

Question 22

Names of colours are usually masculine or feminine?

Answer 22

Masculine i.e. el rojo, el azul

Question 23

When making singular nouns ending in a vowel (a, e, i, o, u, á, é, ó) form a plural, what do you add to the end of the noun?

Answer 23

-s
i.e.
cama - camas
hombre - hombres
sofá - sofás

Question 24

When making singular nouns ending in a consonant, or í or ú form a plural, what do you add to the end of the noun?

Answer 24

-es
i.e.
profesor - profesores
iraní - iraníes

• exceptions:
  champú - champús
  menú - menús

Question 25

When making singular nouns ending in a -z form a plural, what do you change?

Answer 25

You change the -z to a -c i.e. luz - luces

Question 26

When making singular nouns ending in an accented last syllable form a plural, what do you change?

Answer 26

You lose the accent i.e inglés - ingleses, región - regiones

Question 27

When making singular nouns ending in an unstressed vowel plus -s form a plural, what do you change?

Answer 27

No change i.e. lunes