Gender, agreement and word order

Why "la problema" and "un rojo coche" mark you out, and how to stop saying them.

English nouns have no gender and English adjectives never change shape, so all of this is new machinery rather than a different setting on machinery you already own. It is also the most visible thing about a learner's Spanish: gender and agreement errors do not stop you being understood, which is exactly why they go uncorrected for years.

The rules are mechanical and they hold. The exceptions worth knowing are few enough to list, and they are listed here.

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Every noun has a gendera1

and the article and adjectives have to match it

Why English speakers get this wrong. English nouns have no gender, so there is nothing to remember and nothing to get wrong. In Spanish, getting it wrong is audible in every sentence.

The rule: Learn the article with the word. Not "casa" — "la casa".

The -o/-a pattern is only a guide. la mano, el día, el problema, el mapa, la foto all break it. Words in -ción, -dad, -tad, -tud are feminine without exception, which is thousands of words for one rule.

Check yourself

1. ___ ciudad es grande. — la-dad is always feminine.
2. ___ problema es difícil. — elGreek -ma nouns are masculine.
3. ___ mano derecha. — lamano is feminine despite the -o.
4. ___ agua está fría. — elel before a stressed a-, but the adjective stays feminine.
5. ___ canción es bonita. — la-ción is always feminine.
6. ___ mapa de España. — elmapa is masculine.

Adjectives copy their nouna1

gender and number, every time

Why English speakers get this wrong. English adjectives never change. Spanish ones agree, and an adjective that does not agree sounds like a missing tooth.

The rule: la casa blanca, los libros rojos, unas chicas altas.

Adjectives ending in -e or a consonant only change for number: grande → grandes, azul → azules. Only the -o family changes for gender.

Check yourself

1. Las flores son ___. — bonitasFeminine plural.
2. Los zapatos están ___. — suciosMasculine plural.
3. La comida está ___. — fríaFeminine singular.
4. Mis amigos son muy ___. — amables-e adjectives only add -s.

The describing word comes seconda1

casa roja, not roja casa

Why English speakers get this wrong. English puts the adjective in front and it never moves. Spanish puts it after the noun by default, and moving it in front changes the meaning.

The rule: noun + adjective. un coche rápido, una idea buena.

In front, an adjective becomes subjective rather than descriptive: "un viejo amigo" is a long-standing friend; "un amigo viejo" is an elderly one. Numbers, and words like mucho, otro, cada, always go in front.

Check yourself

1. Quiero un ___. — café soloDescribing word after.
2. Es una ___. — película largaDescribing word after.
3. Tengo ___ trabajo. — muchoQuantity goes in front.

del and ala1

two contractions that are not optional

Why English speakers get this wrong. English contractions are casual. These two are compulsory — "de el" is simply not written or said.

The rule: de + el = del. a + el = al. Nothing else contracts.

Not before a name: "Vengo de El Salvador". And not with "ella", "ellos", "la": de la casa stays as it is.

Check yourself

1. Vengo ___ mercado. — delde + el = del.
2. Vamos ___ parque. — ala + el = al.
3. Es la casa ___ vecina. — de laOnly el contracts.

Keep going

Reading a rule is not the same as producing it under time pressure, which is the only thing that makes it stick. Lunosia drills every point on this page, corrects what you say out loud, and brings your own mistakes back days later until you can fix them from memory.

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