Spanish masculine nouns ending in A – Gender rules – Episode 022

Spanish masculine nouns ending in A – Gender rules

Podcast episode 22 – SEE ALL EPISODES

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

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As usual, we’ve got another great question to help you master the language.

Today’s question comes from Patrick, one of my newsletter subscribers. Patrick wants to know whether there are many masculine nouns endings in A.

And the answer is: yes. There are plenty of masculine nouns in Spanish that end in A, and many of them are everyday words. That’s words that will come up in conversation very very frequently.

See also: Maria’s step-by-step Spanish courses.

You may be be familiar with the Spanish gender rules that says that most nouns ending in A are feminine. When you read that rule, what you need to focus on is the word “most”. That gives you an idea of how unreliable this rule is.

Spanish masculine nouns ending in A: intro

So how do you get the gender of Spanish nouns always right? The easiest way to get the gender of Spanish nouns always right is by learning them with their article when you first come across them.

So, for instance, instead of learning just: idioma, you should learn: el idioma, the language.

Instead of learning just: mano, you should learn: la mano, the hand.

That way you’ll always get these nouns right when you use them in conversation or in writing.

Learning nouns with or without their article when you first come across them, takes the same effort. So always learn them with their article.

Make sure that your Spanish course gives you nouns with their article, and not just the nouns on their own.

in this lesson we’re going to learn ten masculine nouns that end in A. There ten nouns are everyday words. They’re very common words that will often come up in conversation with native speakers or when you’re reading something.

Spanish masculine nouns ending in A: let’s learn 10 nouns

Let’s learn and practise these ten masculine nouns. Repeat after me:

el clima – the climate
el día – the day
el idioma – the language
el mapa – the map
el planeta – the planet
el problema – the problem
el programa – the program
el sistema – the system
el sofá – the sofa
el tranvía – the streetcar, the tram

Let’s go through these ten masculine nouns once again.

Spanish masculine nouns ending in A: speaking drill

Now we’re going to do a speaking drill. Can you tell me these ten nouns in Spanish?

the map – el mapa
the system – el sistema
the planet – el planeta
the day – el día
the sofa – el sofá
the problem – el problema
the streetcar, the tram – el tranvía
the climate – el clima
the language – el idioma
the program – el programa

Have a look at
Maria’s step-by-step Spanish courses

Spanish masculine nouns ending in A: 10 sentences

We’re now going to practise saying ten sentences with these masculine nouns. Notice that all the adjectives in these sentences are in the masculine form.

So, the sentence for: el clima – the climate is

El clima de Barcelona es mediterráneo – The climate of Barcelona is Mediterranean

Repeat after me.

The sentence for: el día – the day

Hoy hace un día muy bueno – Today is a very beautiful day

El idioma – the language
Me gustan mucho los idiomas – I love languages

El mapa – the map
Este mapa es horrible – This map is horrible

El planeta – the planet
Marte es un planeta – Mars is a planet

El problema – the problem
El problema es que no tengo tiempo – The problem is that I don’t have time

El programa – the program
No me gusta nada ese programa – I don’t like that program at all

El sistema – the system
Este sistema no funciona – This system doesn’t work

El sofá – the sofa
Tienen un sofá rojo – They have a red sofa

El tranvía – the streetcar, the tram
El tranvía les lleva a la playa – The streetcar takes you to the beach

Have a look at
Maria’s step-by-step Spanish courses

Spanish masculine nouns ending in A: recap

To recap, let’s say the ten nouns again. Repeat after me:

el clima – the climate
el día – the day
el idioma – the language
el mapa – the map
el planeta – the planet
el problema – the problem
el programa – the program
el sistema – the system
el sofá – the sofa
el tranvía – the streetcar, the tram

Find out more about my Spanish courses.