vacation translate: vacances [feminine, plural], vacances [feminine, plural], passer ses vacances, vacances, passer des. If you have studied Spanish, you are painfully aware of this. 2. Even though Spanish is a language of exceptions, there are a few guidelines that can help when wanting to determine if a noun is feminine or masculine. Subscribe to the Lawless Spanish newsletter, New lessons and features in your inbox every Thursday. But, sometimes a word is a shorter forms of a longer word, like moto or radio. When we have 2 or more nouns with different genre (one is masculine and the other one is feminine), and there is 1 adjective used to describe both of them, the genre of this adjective will be masculine. Origin adjectives express where people or things come from. This is why despite how difficult it is to learn Spanish, we are confident there is a realistic and achievable path to fluency. Why is a car masculine but a house feminine? This means that every time you use a noun, you must express whether its a feminine or masculine word. Ests muy estresado; necesitas irte de vacaciones. So, well cover those exceptions below, too. There is not a single pattern, as you can see from the following examples. There are one hundred chairs available. Sometimes we have a different word for each sex: Just the same as what happens with people, sometimes we have different words for each sex: Many words have an only form, masculine or feminine: El tiburn, el cocodrilo, el dinosaurio, el pulpo, etc. Well the answer is just because . Mi padres pasaron las vacaciones de Semana Santa en Argentina. As established before, a Spanish noun can be classified as masculine or feminine depending on its gender. It's the person's gender that will determine whether we use el or la. When using adjectives to describe a person, use the gender that the person identifies with. With these rules below, you'll know which to use with every word "el" or "la". Another example of this is la radio, which is a shorter form of the word radiodifusin. Mi primo tambin es inteligente. Making educational experiences better for everyone. Even though the brother is a man, the word persona is always feminine. They have a master's degrees in English from Southeast Missouri State University and a master's degree in Spanish literature from the University of Missouri Columbia. Both are masculine in Spanish, but when translated to French they become feminine even though the words are almost exactly the same: la couleur, la dent. Even if the nouns are in singular! Yet if you are referring to a person or occupation this is what happens: EL espa = The spy (if the spy is a man) LA espa = The spy (if the spy is a woman. This semester is really tough. We said words that end in -or are masculine. Sus zapatos son muy caros. When you are starting out in Spanish knowing the gender of nouns is very difficult. Is vacation in Spanish masculine or feminine? A noun is a word used to denominate a person, thing, place or concept. Most adjectives must agree in gender with the noun they modify. Im going to list them one by one, and also I will teach you what the exceptions are if there are any. Spanish nouns have a gender, which is either feminine (like la mujer or la luna) or masculine (like el hombre or el sol). I am going to travel to Mexico during summer vacation. El periodista trabaja todo el da. I know we said we would only be giving you rules that didnt have any exceptions, the rules above are full proof- its when you get to people and occupations where you need to put your thinking cap on. Do you want to practice your Spanish? The light is quite bright. La disco is short for la discoteca, andla foto is short forla fotografa. (Translation of vacation from the Cambridge English-Spanish Dictionary Cambridge University Press), (Translation of vacation from the GLOBAL English-Spanish Dictionary 2020 K Dictionaries Ltd), Watch your back! There are some words that end with -o, -ma, -pa, -ta, or LONERS that are feminine. Soy Daniela Sanchez, Ive taught Spanish in Mexico to a wide array of foreigners. "Uncle" and "aunt," for example, are el to and la ta. Nouns in Spanish can be either feminine or masculine, and this distinction can often seem illogical to people who don't speak Spanish. (f) means that a noun is feminine. Take Note: You can also imply the gender of these nouns by saying the name of the person youre talking about. This can be confusing, especially when some words, like persona (person), can refer to a person that is man or a woman. The kids play in the park. Me gusta el vestido rosa. Dont be shy and post a message! Recuerdas aquella vez que estuvimos de vacaciones en Vermont? Here's what's included: Get conjugations, examples, and pronunciations for millions of words and phrases in Spanish and English. 1000 5th St, suite 200 In Spanish, the masculine form of these animals almost always takes precedence. Exceptions to that rule are la crema and la yema, which come from French and Latin respectively. Cardinal directions are masculine, too: el norte, el sur, el este, el oeste. Because aguas is plural in the second example, the s on the end of the article las breaks up the stressed a in aguas. Learn and practice Spanish * Daily practice * Find your level (proficiency test) * Spanish for beginners * Travel Spanish, A1 | A2 | B1 | B2 | C1 Find your level. All of these expressions, as well as a number of others, have one thing in common. The standard rules are here on the top of the page, but you shouldn't trust them fully. -A, -in, -dad, -tad and -tud are all endings for feminine words. Soy Daniela Sanchez, Ive taught Spanish in Mexico to a wide array of foreigners. The use of the masculine gender includes the feminine and is used only to facilitate the reading. Pink is my favorite color. Browse Spanish translations from Spain, Mexico, or any other Spanish-speaking country. The user may also prefer cheaper vacations and may have desiderata or wishes such as visiting an attraction park in each stop. hand From Latin manus (" hand " ). With these types of nouns, you still have to mark the gender. For objects and concepts, Spanish gender is, The Spanish masculine gender can be used to talk about a, Most feminine words in Spanish end with , Singular feminine words that start with a, Certain nouns related to professions have fixed endings. So how come it's "el problema" and not "la problema" since "el" should always modify a masculine noun and "la" a feminine noun. Why? document.write(d); However, things start getting tricky when determining the gender of objects and concepts. Distinguishing between gender is fairly straightforward - words ending in an 'a' are usually feminine, where those ending in 'e' are masculine. Some animals, particularly those you dont come in contact with every day, tend to have one accepted Spanish grammatical gender. Lucia has very nice qualities. Also, notice that there are masculine nouns that end in -l, -z, and -n. I would recommend you learn the following by heart. We said all words ending in -a are feminine. Within the Fluenz team, amongst us who Spanish is our first language we still have numerous discussions onwhether certain words are masculine or feminine. Animals With Irregular Masculine And Feminine Forms. As you can see, below that chart, youll then see the el & la exceptions for Spanish words. Just because two words look alike doesnt mean they have the same definition. Me gusta la vestido rosa. vacacion is more commonly used in plural than in singular. *Note: la moto and la foto are a shortened version of the feminine words motocicleta and fotografa. La cancin es muy larga. On your particular example of a dropdown menu with the names of languages, you don't have to worry because there is only one name for (the language) Spanish: espaol, masculine. Here are some key points that you should keep in mind about masculine and feminine words in Spanish: Hola! Hay cien sillas disponibles. Copyright (c) Minerva Webworks LLC All Rights Reserved. I desperately need a vacation! La periodista es muy insistente. For these types of cases, there are certain guidelines that can give you a better idea of how Spanish gender is formed. Many nouns that refer to jobs or roles of people can be either masculine or feminine depending on the person they refer to. Feminine nouns that end in -o * These words are shortened from words that do end in A: discoteca, fotografa, motocicleta, pornografa, and radiodifusin. is vacation in spanish masculine or feminine. The adjective for Italia is italiano. For that reason, this guide covers all the information you need to understand this topic. Also, in plural they keep the feminine definite article (las), because the S avoids the cacophony: las aguas. Animals With A Regular Masculine And Feminine Form. Most Spanish masculine nouns end in "o". Retrieved from https://lingualinkup.com/el-la-spanish/. Control of polling in presence of vacations in heavy traffic with applications to satellite and mobile radio systems. Generally, if the masculine form ends with an -o, to form the feminine you just need to replace it with an -a: If the masculine form ends witn a consonant, to form the feminine we just add an -a: They usually have the same form for masculine and feminine: el/la estudiante, el/la cantante, el/la agente, el/la paciente, etc. . Encarga doscientas galletas.Order two hundred cookies. Nouns that end in -ma are masculine, such as the word problema (problem), Nouns that end in -pa, like the word mapa (map), are also masculine. Other nouns that are always feminine are those words that end with -ad or -ed. Los dentistas estn muy jvenes. Not knowing if a word is feminine or masculine in Spanish can lead to poor communication and, in some cases, misunderstandings. Many people mistakenly think the gender of a noun in Spanish is determined by who uses that object. Not bad, huh? Feminine: (a, cin, dad) La chica- the girl. Even though these endings can generally help you with the gender of a noun, there are some words that do not follow these rules. The name Isaac means 'he will laugh.'. So, if you put a . His shoes are very expensive. Uruguay es muy bonito. Then little by little you will learn the others. Every single noun in Spanish has a gender: feminine or masculine. Lingua Linkup. 1) For example, the days (el da), months (el mes), and years (el ao) are masculine; while letters of the alphabet (la letra) and the hours (la hora) of the day are feminine. Why is it important to know if a noun is feminine or masculine? Me encanta el salmn ahumado. Helpful, right? If the noun is masculine and singular, use the masculine, singular ending (usually - o ). Sometimes you cant tell if a word is masculine or feminine in Spanish only by its form. Un - unos. All rights reserved. Learn more in the Cambridge English-French Dictionary. These nouns are: Mi caballo es negro y mi yegua parda. But for example to most of us the word mdicAsounds wrong- we wouldnt use it. A few of the most common ones are: Any words that are actually a shorter form of a longer word. Its El nino y el gato. This means that most Spanish adjectives will change their gender to match the noun. Nouns ending with -a are usually feminine: la mesa, la cama, la casa, la palabra, etc. LONERS - words that end with any of the letters in LONERS are usually masculine. Tweet. However, on top of its irregularities, this verb also has E to I and E to IE stem changes in certain tenses. Sofa es muy inteligente. See answer (1) Copy. The word in the example sentence does not match the entry word. To do so, youll use Spanish articles, adjectives, or pronouns. Again, there is no real reason. In Spanish nationalities are expressed through origin adjectives (known as gentilicios in Spanish). Suzys bottle is empty. Claudias make-up is very good. The food was delicious. As a romance language, Spanish has grammatical gender whose purpose is to express whether a noun is masculine or feminine. Because coming from English you dont have any reference to hold on to, sometimes our memory can only recall so much and we mix up the gender. Fortunately, even the exceptions have rules. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors. On the other hand, when working as nouns, Spanish colors are always masculine. In addition to these anomalies, there are other Spanish gender exceptions that you must keep in mind. In English, you use a form of the verb 'to be' (am, is, are, was, were, etc.) This is the only noun ending that does not have a guideline gender classification. I love smoked salmon. Comment *document.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id", "afd5b14b53088abe26398d903d076933" );document.getElementById("a465f5e1c1").setAttribute( "id", "comment" ); Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Names of rivers, oceans, and seas are always masculine: el Ro de la Plata, el Amazonas, el Misisipi, el Atlntico, el Pacfico, el Mediterrneo, etc. Nouns ending with -dez and -umbre are usually feminine, too: la solidez, la desnudez, la costumbre, la incertidumbre, etc. During the day Im a freelancer and marketer, while at night Im here writing for students of the world wide web looking to learn Spanish. That means you have to know when to use El or La for every single noun. A noun is a word referring to a person, animal, place, thing, feeling or idea (e.g. This allows us to ease the pronunciation! There is one other ending that ends in -a, -ista, that is actually both feminine and masculine. Names of rivers, lakes, and oceans are usually masculine; names of mountains are usually feminine. Masculine and Feminine in Spanish (el & Masculine and Feminine in Spanish (el & la): The Rules & Their Many Exceptions, how to tell if a word is masculine or feminine in spanish, what is the difference between masculine and feminine in spanish, 35 Vegetables Translated to Spanish | The Ultimate Master List, Demonstrative Adjectives: This, That, These, and Those Get Them Right. Passive Voice in Spanish: Examples & Practice, Psychological Research & Experimental Design, All Teacher Certification Test Prep Courses, What are Cognates in Spanish? El telfono is masculine. Copyright Curiosity Media, Inc., a division of IXL Learning. There are three genders in Spanish: masculine, feminine, and neutral. However your friend is a hypochondriac and you need to assure him/her everything is going to be fine. In the sections below, youll find tables with the most common endings for masculine words in Spanish. Me urge una vacacin! Access millions of accurate translations written by our team of experienced English-Spanish translators. Los nios juegan en el parque. Both are fem. The 27 Letters of the Spanish Alphabet [2022], Learn Basic Spanish: The First 10 Spanish Words You Need To Learn [2022]. If you were referring to a male friend, which article would you use EL or LA? To put it in simple terms, if youre working with a Spanish masculine noun, you must make sure its modifiers are also masculine. These apples are very sour. las vacaciones and la estaci'on.