Noun Gender of Nations

Question

I'm sorry if this is answered elsewhere, but how do you treat nations? I know los Estados Unidos, but other places like Colombia? la Colombia? el Colombia? I mean, you wouldn't say "The Colombia" but, with indirect and basic pronouns, how do Spanish speakers treat nations?

Answer 1

Well, the names may have gender, but that does not mean that you use a definite article with the tiltle. Some countries use the definite article with their nation title and some do not (el Canadá, Australia)

definite article and country names

Answer 2

You do it the same way you do everything else with gender, I believe. Los Estados Unidos is "los" because it is masculine plural. Columbia is La Columbia because Colombia is singular feminine. México would be el México, but if you said, los estados unidos de México, then of course you would use "los" becuase you are refering to the estados unidos. If you see, EUA (estados unidos de américa), which is the same as EEUU (estados unidos), then you would use los EUA, for the same reason you would use the los en estados unidos. I hope this helps!