Un or Una - Masculine or Feminine

Question

Hi,

I am trying to figure out when you need to use “Un” or “Una”. OK, I already know that “Un” is used when the next word is masculine and “Una” is used when the next word is feminine. How do you determine what is masculine and what is feminine I guess would be the better question?

Let me clarify my question even more specifically. I found the below link and it does a good job in helping to determine what is masculine and what is feminine. It does however leave a few things out.

http://www.spanishdict.com/answers/100009/nouns-gender

I know that masculine and feminine words are figured out based on what letter the word ends in, at least the rule holds true in most cases, but like any rules to grammar there are always a few exceptions.

What the article doesn’t cover is the remaining vowels. I still don’t know Spanish that well, but have learned a ton in the few days that I have been trying to learn it. What about the words that ends in “e”, “i”, or “u”? The article doesn’t mention them. It just says if the vowel is accented then it is masculine. What if it is one of the vowels that I just listed but it is not accented, is it considered masculine or feminine? I could be wrong in general, maybe Spanish doesn’t have words that end in those letters and that is why it wasn’t mentioned. I know that “a” is feminine and “o” is masculine, that is why I only asked about those specific letters.

Also, does Spanish consider the letter “y” a vowel or consonant? If it is a consonant I guess that would make it masculine. Otherwise if it is a vowel, or if it depends on the word like in English to determine if it is a vowel or a consonant, how do you know if it is masculine or feminine? There again, I could be wrong in assuming that Spanish has words that end in a “y”. I know that “y” is their word for and.

Thanks for any help someone can provide.

Answer 1

In Spanish all nouns are either masculine or feminine. Nouns that end in o are usually masculine and those that end in a are usually feminine. Some exceptions: la mano, el planeta, el patriota.

Nouns that end in d, z or ión are usually feminine. Nouns that end in other letters are generally masculine.

Taken from: An Invitation To Spanish by Margarita Madrigal and Ezequías Madrigal

Hope that helps.

Also, there are only five vowels in spanish a e i o u.

When you learn a noun, learn the gender as already stated, la or una flor, el or un elefante, etc. - Maria-Russell, Jan 15, 2012

Answer 2

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for those who responded. I am curious though about one of the other questions I asked. Is the letter “Y” in Spanish considered a vowel or a consonant, else does it depend on the word like it does in English?

Thanks

Answer 3

As a general rule masculine words end in o and feminine end in a but there are many that break that rule. Therefore it is best to learn the gender as you learn the word, so don't learn perro=dog learn el perro = dog.

I second that! Gender seems like a really hard thing to remember(I often make mistakes) but it isn't as hard as you think it would, if you learn a new word with it's gender. - Ada-S, Jan 15, 2012

Answer 4

Hi:

In every country where the 'things' are either masculine or feminine, this gender was imposed (through years) by usage.

In languages derived from latin you could suppose that the gender was determined by comparing the "things" one to the other. That MAY explain why a chair is feminine (una silla) while the armchair (un sillón) is masculine (An armchair is bigger and heavier than a chair).

So usage prevails; and this also explain why some words have two genders; el mar (the sea for every body) is la mar (the sea for the fisherman).

El café, un jabalí, una ley... You see, in Spanish you have words ending with other vowels than a and o.

All the letters are feminine (without exception) la a, la b, la c, la d, etc. (La equis, la y griega, la zeta).