Answers
May 23, 2017 - 08:02 PM
Generally, a noun is masculine if the ending ends in o and feminine if the noun ends in a, although there are exceptions. So for example, if you wanted to say: I want to go to that small house, you would say: ( Yo quiero ir a esa casa pequena). In this example, you would use esa (that) because the noun ends in an a, the same thing applies to pequena. Remember that when you use an adjective, the adjective goes after the noun. Hope this helps.
May 26, 2017 - 12:29 PM
The book "Practical Spanish Grammar" by Marcial Prado contains a couple of acronyms that I have found helpful. Nouns ending in: L, O, N, E, R, or S are almost always masculine (97% of all cases). The acronym is: "L-O-N-E-R-S". Nouns ending in: D, IÓN, Z or A are almost always feminine (98% of all cases). They spell the acronym: "D-IÓN-Z-A" (Not so easy to remember. I think of it as an unusual name).
When a word doesn't follow this pattern, it is a real exception that requires special attention (i.e. "la mano" (the hand), "el problema" (the problem), el avión (the plane)). The exceptions are always the problem.
I have not seen this rule described in any other source. I have not used any other part of the book, therefore, this is not a book endorsement. I wrote these acronyms on a sticky note and placed it on my computer. Before too long, I didn't have to think about it.
When a word doesn't follow this pattern, it is a real exception that requires special attention (i.e. "la mano" (the hand), "el problema" (the problem), el avión (the plane)). The exceptions are always the problem.
I have not seen this rule described in any other source. I have not used any other part of the book, therefore, this is not a book endorsement. I wrote these acronyms on a sticky note and placed it on my computer. Before too long, I didn't have to think about it.
May 27, 2017 - 12:32 PM
words that come from greek and end with "ma" are often masculine. For example "el problema", "el idioma", etc.. There is a good article about it there: https://letscastilian.com/problema-ge...
