Noun gender: -o/-a rule and exceptions
Spanish nouns are masculine or feminine, and the article and adjectives must agree. Default: -o nouns are usually masculine (el libro, el zapato); -a nouns usually feminine (la casa, la mesa). Exceptions to memorise: el problema, el día, el mapa, el idioma, el clima, el programa (masculine despite -a, Greek origin) and la mano, la foto, la moto (feminine despite -o). Keep the accent on el día.
Articles agree; -s/-es/-ces plurals
Four definite articles (el, la, los, las) and four indefinite (un, una, unos, unas), chosen by the noun's gender AND number. A feminine plural noun always takes las or unas, never los/unos. Plural by final letter: vowel -> -s (libro -> libros); consonant -> -es (profesor -> profesores); -z -> z to c, then -es (lápiz -> lápices, voz -> voces).
Drawn from real examiner reports.
Exception nouns given the wrong article
Because el problema, el día and el mapa end in -a, candidates wrongly give them a feminine article (la problema). The reverse happens with la mano and la foto — they end in -o but are feminine (el mano). Gender here is fixed by word origin, not the final letter, so learn these as fixed article + noun pairs.
Article/adjective agreement is a top Writing error every sitting (s23, w23); Reading gender slip "la padre" (s23 P21 Q4a).
Adjective left singular after a plural noun
Every word in the noun phrase agrees in number, not just the article. Wrong: los ojos azul (plural article and noun, singular adjective). Correct: los ojos azules — azul ends in a consonant, so its plural is azules, never azuls. The usual slip is to pluralise the noun and article but leave the adjective singular.
"los ojos azul", "son ojos muy azuls" flagged as agreement failures (w23 P41 Q2 Task 3; s23 P41 Task 1).
Article wrongly added before a job
Spanish and English differ on when an article appears. Use no article before an unmodified profession after ser: Mi madre es profesora (not es una profesora — English needs "a", Spanish does not). The article returns once the job is modified: es una profesora excelente.
Article usage sits on the Writing common-errors list every sitting (s23, w23).
Wrong plural: -es and -z to -ces
Plurals are not always a bare -s. A noun ending in a consonant adds -es: profesor -> profesores, ciudad -> ciudades (not profesors). A noun ending in -z changes z to c, then adds -es: lápiz -> lápices, voz -> voces (not lápizes). Only a vowel ending takes a plain -s: libro -> libros.
(general FL trap)
Dropping the accent on el día
el día carries a written accent — dia without it is a spelling error penalised under Accuracy; store the pair el día as one unit. More seriously, a misspelling that becomes a different real word (pero/perro = but/dog, caro/carro = dear/cart) scores zero for ambiguity — accent and spelling accuracy is not optional.
Minimal-pair spellings (pero/perro, caro/carro) score zero for ambiguity (s23 P41/P42; w23 P41); missing accents penalised under Accuracy.
The ending does not always fix gender
Spanish gender is only a default from the ending, not absolute: "-a means la, -o means el" has exceptions. el problema, el día, el mapa, el idioma, el clima, el programa are masculine despite -a; la mano, la foto, la moto are feminine despite -o. Trusting the ending gives la problema or el mano — confident but wrong. Fix: learn the article with the noun.
Gender/article agreement is flagged as a top recurring Writing and Reading accuracy weakness every sitting (s23, w23).
Gender first, then number, then agree
Work through a noun phrase in one fixed order: decide the gender (default -o masculine, -a feminine — but check the exceptions first), then the number, then pick the matching article, and finally agree every adjective to match.
Learn the article with the noun
Store the exception nouns with their article — el problema (not problema), la mano (not mano). Then gender is recalled with the vocabulary and never guessed from the -o/-a ending, which is exactly where confident candidates slip.
Check the article matches what you wrote
Before submitting, check each article matches the noun you actually wrote, not the one you meant — slips hide when you swap a noun but keep the old article. Then ask whether an article is needed: a profession after ser drops it (es profesora).
Every Spanish noun is masculine or feminine, and its article must agree. Getting the gender right is the foundation for every other agreement in the language — adjectives, articles and some pronouns all depend on it.
Default gender pattern:
| Ending | Usual gender | Example |
|---|---|---|
| -o | masculine | el libro, el chico |
| -a | feminine | la casa, la mesa |
| -ción, -sión, -dad, -tad | feminine | la nación, la ciudad, la libertad |
| -or | masculine | el profesor, el color |
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