The commons:  Words with the same ending for both genders. Estudiante (student), dentista (dentist), paciente (patient), periodista (journalist), gerente (manager), cliente (client), joven (teen), conserje (janitor), guía (guide), etc.

Ambiguous:  Words that do not have a gender, and can thus be written with both feminine and masculine articles, without changing the definition of the noun. Lente (lens), mar (sea), arte (art), dote (dowry), azúcar (sugar), etc. The use of articles will be explained in Chapter 3.

Epicenes:  Words that need the words Macho (male) or Hembra (female) to identify the gender. Tiburón (shark) Macho Tiburón (shark) Hembra Mosca (fly) Macho Mosca (fly) Hembra Pulga (flea) Macho Pulga (flea) Hembra Culebra (snake) Macho Culebra (snake) Hembra Hormiga (ant) Macho Hormiga (ant) Hembra Abeja (bee) Macho Abeja (bee) Hembra Ballena (whale) Macho Ballena […]

General rules for femenine words:  The majority of words that end with –a. Casa (house), puerta (door), cabeza (head), hija (daughter), ropa (clothes), palma (palm), tienda (store), pluma (feather), etc. All words that end with -ción, -sión, -dad, -tud, -red. Canción (song), tensión (tensión), ciudad (city), actitud (attitude), pared (wall), etc. Many words ending in […]

General rules for masculine words: Words that end with –o. Camino (path), año (year), hijo (son/child), hermano (brother), etc. The majority of words that end with –s. Paréntesis (Parenthesis), análisis (analysis), país (country), mes (month), interés (interest), etc. The majority of words that end with –n. Almacén (store), botón (button), camión (truck), volcán (volcano), corazón […]