Masculine singular: EL
Masculine plural: LOS
Feminine singular: LA
Feminine plural: LAS
Masculine substantives that refer to masculine animals or people are masculine.
_ el gato
_ el hombre
_ el padre
Feminine substantives that refer to feminine animals or people are feminine.
_ la gata
_ la mujer
_ la madre
Normally substantives that end in –l, -e, -r, -s, -o, -n (LERSON) are masculine.
_el mármol
_el puente
_el calor
_el paraguas
_el niño
_el salón
Exceptions: la imagen, la fuente, la nube
Some substantives of foreign origin that end in –a are masculine.
_el sofá
_ el diagrama
_ el planeta
_ el poema
Substantives that end in –dad, -tad, -ión, -is, -ie, -umbre are feminine.
_la ciudad
_la amistad
_la canción
_la crisis
_la superficie
_la cumbre
Exceptions: el pie, el avión, el análisis
The days of the week are always masculine.
_el lunes
_el martes
_el miércoles
_el jueves
_el viernes
_el sábado
_el domingo
Substantives that begin with a- or ha- are feminine but require the masculine article ‘el’ to respect the pronunciation. However in the plural form, the article respects the gender of the word.
_el agua (las aguas)
_el águila (las águilas)
_el hacha (las hachas)
Some words are ‘cut in half’ by their daily use. These are feminine even if they end in –o, because they end in -a in the original uncut form.
_la moto (motocicleta)
_la foto (fotografía)
_la disco (discoteca)
Some substantives have different meanings depending on their gender.
_la policía (the police) _el policía (the policeman)
_la guía (the book guide) _el guía (the guide (person))