Any rules that might help regarding the gender of words that do not end in either -a or -o?

Question

Just curious if there are any rules or hints that a Spanish learner can follow or pick up on regarding the gender of words that do not end in either -a or -o. I realize there are exceptions to the "ending in -a/-o" rule, like some adopted from Greek, but they are few by comparison. I want to know if there is any way to determine gender of words like "red," "sal," "razón," "sartén," etc. without having to consult a dictionary. I am guessing we just have to learn the appropriate article and press on?

• Ok, I did pull up Mariana's entry = http://www.spanishdict.com/answers/100009/nouns-gender, and it helps some... but I am still wondering if there are quick & helpful methods of recognition. - cristalino Feb 13, 2011

Answer 1

You should learn words with their article. Don't learn "coche," instead learn "el coche." There's no short cut I know of. Mistakes will be made!

• Thanks Web! You pretty much summed it up! :) - cristalino Sep 17, 2011
• Hah, and at this point my view has changed. I now I feel it is okay to use a few rules for words you might not be too familiar with yet. - webdunce Sep 18, 2011
• O is probably masculine, A (except the -ma words) is probably feminine, -ción and -dad words are probably feminine. But look them up first chance you get to be sure. - webdunce Sep 18, 2011

Answer 2

Muchas de estas palabras de origen Griego, que siendo sustantivos masculinos, terminan en a (panorama, estadista) o palabras que siendo femeninas terminan en o u en e tienden a ser las excepciones y no las reglas. Te recomiendo que te las memorices.

Many of these Greek words that end in a and yet are masculine nouns (panorama, estadista) or feminine nouns ending in o or e are more exceptions than anything else. I would recommend learning them by heart.

Answer 3

Gender

You might find the above link to the reference interesting and helpful.

Answer 4

As uzarenzo stated above, many words that end in "ma" are maculine (el programa, el tema, etc.) Also, words that end in ión are generally feminine (la información, la razón, la discusión)... of course there are exceptions to this rule but it will get you by on many words, and eventually you will develop a sort of instinct for what sounds "right".