El vs. La: The Most Common Spanish Gender Mistakes (and a Quiz to Practice)

Are these 15 nouns masculine or feminine?

The masculine or feminine gender of nouns in Spanish is not easy to learn.
Generally, words ending in “o” are masculine, and words ending in “a” are feminine. For example:

• el libro, el perro, el gato, el dinero → masculine gender
• la casa, la cabeza, la ventana, la puerta → female gender

Unfortunately, there are many exceptions, and this confuses many students:

• ¿el problema o la problema? (the problem)
• ¿el coche o la coche? (the car)
• ¿el mapa o la mapa? (the map)
• ¿el sal o la sal? (salt)

There are many nouns ending in “e.” There are also many that end in a consonant. Some nouns end in “a” and are masculine, while others end in “o” and are feminine. That’s why the gender of words in Spanish is a big problem for many Spanish learners.

The gender of nouns in Spanish confuses many Spanish learners.

Why do we say “el agua” and not “la agua”?

Feminine words beginning with a strong “a” (stressed “a”) use the masculine article “el” in the singular.
Why? Because it sounds better. The combination of the article and the noun is more harmonious.
If we said “la agua,” it would sound bad (cacophony).

• ✅ Correct: el agua
• ❌ Incorrect: la agua

But the word remains feminine: el agua fría (Cold water)

Here are some other examples:

• el hada (the fairy)
• el alma (the soul)
• el aula (the classroom)

How can you learn the gender of words in Spanish?

Aprender el género de las palabras en español es solo cuestión de práctica y de paciencia. Poco a poco, practicando y haciendo ejercicios podrás memorizar si una palabra es masculina o femenina.

Exercise to practice masculine and feminine forms of difficult nouns

In the following exercise, you will practice 15 frequently used nouns that confuse many Spanish learners. You must choose the correct article: el when the word is masculine (or begins with a stressed /a/), and la when the word is feminine.

✏️ You can also practice…
La familia: ejercicio de vocabulario

Do you have any questions or comments?

I love hearing your opinion ❤︎