However, because the juxtaposition of a noun and adjective of different genders sounds
odd in Spanish, this rule is sometimes broken:
un antiguo sillón de brazos (m. pl.) y patas (f. pl.) doradas (f. pl.)
an antique armchair with gilded arms and feetIn practice, Spanish speakers tend to avoid such constructions if possible.2.3 General rules for gender
Although a number of rules for the gender of nouns can be given to help learners,
genders of Spanish nouns which refer to inanimate things are essentially arbitrary.
It is best to learn the gender of a noun along with the noun itself, by remembering
the form of the definite article that goes with it: la cárcel (f.) ‘prison’, el avión (m.)
‘aeroplane’. Here are some of the more general rules, but note that they do have
exceptions.- Nouns referring to males are masculine.
- Nouns referring to females are feminine.
- Nouns ending in -o, -or, -aje, -men, -gen are masculine.
But note la mano (f.) ‘hand’. - Nouns ending in -a, -ad, -ed, -ud, -ión, -umbre, -ie are feminine.
But a large number of nouns in-a which refer to males, e.g. el artista (m.) ‘artist’,
el policía (m.) ‘policeman’, and many abstract nouns ending in-ma are masculine,
e.g. el problema (m.) ‘problem’, el tema (m.) ‘topic’, ‘theme’.
2.4 Words which are both masculine and feminine
Quite a large number of nouns may be either masculine or feminine, and vary in
meaning accordingly, e.g.:el guía (m.) ‘guide’ (person) la guía (f.) ‘guide’ (book)
el corte (m.) ‘cut’ la corte (f.) ‘court’, ‘capital’
el orden (m.) ‘order’ la orden (f.) ‘order’
(sequence) (command)
el margen (m.) ‘margin’ (of la margen (f.) ‘river bank’
a page)2.5 Nouns which vary in gender
A relatively small number of nouns vary in gender. Two of the most frequently used
are:- mar‘sea’, which is normally masculine, but is often used as a feminine by those
who work on or by the sea. - radio‘radio’, which is feminine in Spain but masculine in many parts of Latin
America (el radio also means ‘radius’).
GENDER AND GENDER AGREEMENTS 2.3