¿Masculino o femenino?

[xchic]

I know that all nouns have a gender, and that it’s the word rather than the thing that has the gender. I also know that generally speaking, words ending in D, A, Z & IÓN are feminine & just about all the others are masculine.

Obviously there are exceptions such as el sofá, el agua, el día, el mapa & my personal favourite el problema (most of the problems in my life have been caused by men, so it seems strangely appropriate!)

What I really want to know is, is there a rule for detecting the irregular words, or, as I suspect, do we just have to learn them?

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by xchic

Obviously there are exceptions such as .... el agua,

I think you need to revise this - the article is el for a feminine noun which starts with a vowel or h (el hada (fem.) as well)

Originally Posted by xchic

my personal favourite el problema (most of the problems in my life have been caused by men, so it seems strangely appropriate!)

What I really want to know is, is there a rule for detecting the irregular words, or, as I suspect, do we just have to learn them?

Hmm - I could list a load of nouns which are feminine which could invoke personal comments, but I won't . As for the exceptions, it does sometimes help if you know the origin of the word, but the short answer is you have to learn them.

[xchic]

Originally Posted by Perikles

I think you need to revise this - the article is el for a feminine noun which starts with a vowel or h (el hada (fem.) as well) Hmm - I could list a load of nouns which are feminine which could invoke personal comments, but I won't . As for the exceptions, it does sometimes help if you know the origin of the word, but the short answer is you have to learn them.

Yes - agua fría


I really want a kicking myself smiley

[laepelba]

Isn't it words of Greek origin that end in "-a" but are masculine: problema, tema, drama, programa, mapa, and planeta. ??

Edit: add more: idioma, telegrama, clima, poeta, profeta, cometa, systema, lema

??

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by laepelba

Isn't it words of Greek origin that end in "-a" but are masculine: problema, tema, drama, programa, mapa, and planeta. ??

Edit: add more: idioma, telegrama, clima, poeta, profeta, cometa, systema, lema

??

|I was thinking on those lines but wanting to give a more specific answer. Both problema and tema are direct from Greek and originally neuter, but others are not (kometes is masculine, meaning having long hair). Some are derived (planeta) and others invented (telegrama).

[laepelba]

Originally Posted by Perikles

|I was thinking on those lines but wanting to give a more specific answer. Both problema and tema are direct from Greek and originally neuter, but others are not (kometes is masculine, meaning having long hair). Some are derived (planeta) and others invented (telegrama).

Notice that I wrote all sorts of question marks around my post.

The funny thing is that I was searching online for nouns of Greek origin that are masculine in the Spanish language. I came up with mostly websites that had pages of lists of words that are masculine or feminine for whatever reasons. Many of these pages listed "agua" in the list of masculine nouns that end in "-a". But isn't true, right? Isn't it a feminine noun that simply takes "el" as the definite article in the singular because of the sound combinations?

[ookami]

Yes, you are right. Because it starts with a stressed "a" it takes "el" as article. But is feminine, from the Latin word aqua.
"El agua de río..." ; "La misma agua..." ; "No queda demasiada agua..." ; "Más allá del agua..."

[irmamar]

Take a look here.

There are also feminine nouns ending in -o (mano, moto, radio, etc.).

[xchic]

Originally Posted by irmamar

Take a look here.

There are also feminine nouns ending in -o (mano, moto, radio, etc.).

I've often wondered why mano is feminine too.

moto = motobicicleta & radio = radiograma so the reason there is obvious.


I suppose I should just be grateful that there are less irregularities in Spanish than in English!

[irmamar]

Because mano comes from Latin "manus", which was a feminine noun, but changed -us into -o.

And yes, you should.

[xchic]

Originally Posted by irmamar

Because mano comes from Latin "manus", which was a feminine noun, but changed -us into -o.

And yes, you should.

The roots of language fascinate me, but without studying this more than I have I'll just have to learn which are irregular.

& trust me, I am grateful

[irmamar]

Originally Posted by xchic

The roots of language fascinate me, but without studying this more than I have I'll just have to learn which are irregular.

& trust me, I am grateful

Learning languages is both hard and fun.

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by xchic

I suppose I should just be grateful that there are less irregularities in Spanish than in English!

*cough* fewer irregularities.

[xchic]

Originally Posted by Perikles

*cough* fewer irregularities.

In my defence - it was 6.30am & pre- coffee

[laepelba]

Originally Posted by Perikles

*cough* fewer irregularities.

I wasn't going to say it...........

By the way - isn't "foto" feminine because it's short for "fotografía"?

[bobjenkins]

Originally Posted by laepelba

I wasn't going to say it...........

By the way - isn't "foto" feminine because it's short for "fotografía"?

Sí

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by laepelba

By the way - isn't "foto" feminine because it's short for "fotografía"?

In the same manner, la moto from motocicleta

[bobjenkins]

Originally Posted by Perikles

In the same manner, la moto from motocicleta

Hay otras?

[CrOtALiTo]

Originally Posted by irmamar

Learning languages is both hard and fun.

Yes you're right.


The languages are fascinates in the ambit cultural, but anyhow they've something hard in the learning, and at the same time are they fun when you are learning them.

[irmamar]

Originally Posted by Perikles

In the same manner, la moto from motocicleta

Yes, but nowadays a "moto" is bigger than a "motocicleta".

Originally Posted by bobjenkins

Hay otras?

Aparte de polio (de poliomielitis), disco (de discoteca) y radio (que no sé si viene de radiodifusión o de radiotelefonía), no se me ocurren más . He oído alguna vez "eco" de ecografía, pero no de forma habitual (como foto o moto, por ejemplo, que sí son habituales).