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Introduction to Gender
©RCAguilar
OBJECTIVE: Lose "It."
TASK:
Start viewing the world as only "He's" and "She's."!!!
PERPLEXED?
This is a hard one for many English speakers. He and she seem so defined, yet in French, Russian, German, many other languages, ... he and she have no reference to sexuality.
About "gender" ...
English is the only language I know of that has HE standing only for males and SHE standing only for females. Everything else is an IT.
This isn't so in other languages. In Spanish, "it" doesn't exist! There is no CONCEPT for such a thing. The latino mentality sees all things as simply either a masculine entity or a feminine entity.
So, a major hurdle for all you English speakers: forget "IT!"
Start viewing everything around you, attaching a gender to that entity. It's better if you just learn the name of the object in Spanish, and learn el or la with the name.
 

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English refers to all nouns in masculine, feminine, and neuter genders,

... and it all just depends on whether something is male, female, or naught ...

... that's how we know whether to say "he," "she," or "it."

©Unknown
masculine
he ... him ... his
©Unknown
feminine
she ... her ... hers
©Unknown
neuter
it ... its
The Spanish language is not based on reference to male or female in its gender distinction.
EVERYTHING is either masculine or feminine.
There is no "it" in Spanish !!!
Click on the Gender Symbol to hear the words pronounced!
la casa - las casas
house
... in English = " it "
... en español = " she "
el árbol - los árboles
tree
... in English = " it "
... en español = " he "
la hoja- las hojas
leaf
... in English = " it "
... en español = " she "
el libro - los libros
book
... in English = " it "
... en español = " he "
la rosa - las rosas
rose
... in English = " it "
... en español = " she "
Masculine nouns are indicated by "el"--- which means "the" --- .
Feminine nouns are indicated by "la"--- which means "the" --- .
Learn all nouns with "el" or "la."
Nouns are masculine if their ending is:
-ismo
-or
-io
-al
The great majority of words ending -o are masculine, with very few exceptions.
Cognates to English words of foreign origin ending -ma.
Nouns are feminine if their ending is:
-ción
-dad
-sión
-ía
-ra
-tad
-tud
-umbre
The great majority of words ending -a are feminine, with very few exceptions.

The importance of knowing the gender becomes obvious when you start using adjectives. If you have to describe something, the "describing word" has to match its referent. If you're referring to a "male whatever" - the adjective will be masculine. If you're referring to a "female whatever" - the adjective will be feminine. Adjectives also have to match according to number, meaning that if it's only one "male whatever" - the adjective is singular. If there are TWO or MORE "male whatevers" - the adjective will be plural. Same goes for feminine.

Check out the Adjective Lists and you'll get a better idea of what this means.