Recursio
Gender and Articles in Spanish: el, la, un, una
Every Spanish noun is masculine or feminine, and the article must match. Learn el, la, un, una, the endings that help, and the common exceptions.
In English a table is just “it.” In Spanish every noun is either masculine or feminine — el libro (the book), la mesa (the table) — and the words around it, starting with the article, have to match. The good news: word endings give you a strong hint most of the time, and the exceptions that matter at the start are a short list.
The four articles (and their plurals)
English has the and a/an. Spanish has the same two ideas, but each one changes for gender and number.
Un/una also mean “one”: un café can be “a coffee” or “one coffee” — the context makes it clear.
Endings that help
You can often guess gender from the ending. Treat these as strong hints, not laws:
-a → usually feminine: la casa, la mesa, la playa
Exceptions worth learning early
A handful of very common words break the -o/-a pattern. Learn them with their article from day one:
la mano · la foto · la moto (feminine, even with -o)
Words ending in -e or a consonant can go either way. The ending alone is not a reliable shortcut for all of them — learn each noun with its article:
la noche · la calle · la flor · la leche
People: two forms or one
For many people and jobs, the ending changes with the person's gender. Some nouns keep one form, and only the article shows who you mean:
el estudiante / la estudiante · el artista / la artista (same form)
For a mixed group, Spanish uses the masculine plural: los chicos can mean “the boys” or “the boys and girls.”
Careful: el agua
A feminine noun beginning with a stressed a- sound takes el when the article is directly before it (and usually un as the indefinite article). If another word comes between them, use la: la misma agua. The noun is still feminine, so adjectives stay feminine, and the plural goes back to las:
las aguas frías · las aulas nuevas (plural: las)
Gender belongs to the word, not the object, and it can differ between countries: the computer is el ordenador in Spain, la computadora in most of Latin America and el computador in countries such as Chile and Colombia.
Common mistakes
Following the -a ending blindly. Problema is one of the common masculine exceptions.
✓el problema
Following the -o ending blindly. Mano is feminine.
✓la mano
Treating agua as masculine. Directly before the singular noun use el, but its adjectives are feminine.
✓el agua fría
Forgetting that -dad words are feminine. The article has to match: una ciudad, la ciudad.
✓una ciudad
Quick exercise
Choose el or la.
- ___ mapa
- ___ canción
- ___ mano
- ___ día
- ___ universidad
- ___ agua
Answer key
- el (masculine exception ending in -a)
- la (-ción is usually feminine)
- la (feminine exception ending in -o)
- el (masculine exception ending in -a)
- la (-dad is usually feminine)
- el (feminine, but el before a stressed a-)
Practice this in Recursio
Gender sticks best when you learn every noun together with its article. Recursio helps you practice Spanish grammar — el and la, un and una, plurals and exceptions like el día or la mano — in short exercises, and spaced review brings the words back so the right article gets easier with time.
Practice Spanish grammar in Recursio → · Free to start, on iOS and Android.