does el, la mean the same

Question

when do you use el in front of a word and when do you use la in front of a word?

Answer 1

El is masculine and la is feminine, but good luck finding out when to use which. Generally feminine words end in a and masculine words end in o, but there are a ton of exceptions.. Like la mano, el poema, etc. The dictionary will tell you if it is feminine or masculine if all else fails.