Gender Differences From Spanish

Level 2

Galician and Spanish share many nouns, but some have a different gender. A dor, a cor, a orixe, a ponte, a árbore and nouns in -axe are feminine; o leite, o sangue, o nariz, o mel and o sal are masculine.

How It Works

Feminine in Galician, masculine in Spanish

  • a dor (pain), a cor (colour), a calor (heat), a suor (sweat)
  • a orixe (origin), a ponte (bridge), a árbore (tree), a marxe (margin)
  • a arte (art), a síndrome (syndrome)

Nouns in -axe are feminine

a viaxe (trip), a paisaxe (landscape), a mensaxe (message), a linguaxe (language), a aprendizaxe (learning), a reportaxe (report). The common exceptions are masculine: o traxe (suit), o paxe (page boy), o garaxe (garage) and o personaxe (character), which can be feminine when it refers to a woman or girl: unha personaxe secundaria.

Masculine in Galician, feminine in Spanish

  • o leite (milk), o sangue (blood), o mel (honey), o sal (salt)
  • o nariz (nose), o sorriso (smile), o costume (custom, habit), o sinal (sign)
  • o cárcere (prison), o labor (work, task)

Agreement follows the Galician gender. Articles, adjectives, demonstratives and possessives all change: esta paisaxe tan bonita, o leite está frío, a miña cor favorita. Contractions show the gender too: do leite, da ponte, polo nariz.

How to learn them: always note a new noun with its article, especially nouns that end in -e or a consonant, since their ending does not show the gender.

Examples (6)

  1. Teño unha dor de cabeza moi forte.

    I have a very bad headache.

    Word by Word: I-have a pain of head very strong.

    Dor is feminine, so it takes unha.

  2. Cal é a túa cor favorita?

    What is your favourite colour?

    Cor is feminine: a túa cor.

  3. Cruzamos a ponte a pé.

    We crossed the bridge on foot.

    Ponte is feminine in Galician.

  4. A viaxe foi longa, pero a paisaxe era preciosa.

    The trip was long, but the landscape was beautiful.

    Viaxe and paisaxe end in -axe, so they are feminine, and the adjectives longa and preciosa agree.

  5. O leite está frío.

    The milk is cold.

    Leite is masculine: o leite, frío.

  6. Pásame o sal, por favor.

    Pass me the salt, please.

    Sal is masculine in Galician.

Common Mistakes

  • Treating dor as masculine, as in Spanish el dolor.

    Teño un dor moi forte nas costas.
    Teño unha dor moi forte nas costas.

    Dor is feminine in Galician, so it takes unha and a feminine adjective.

  • Treating leite as feminine, as in Spanish la leche.

    A leite está fría.
    O leite está frío.

    Leite is masculine, and the adjective must agree: frío, not fría.

  • Treating a noun in -axe as masculine, as in Spanish el viaje.

    O viaxe foi moi longo.
    A viaxe foi moi longa.

    Nouns in -axe are feminine. The exceptions are o traxe, o paxe, o garaxe and o personaxe.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Gender Differences From SpanishLevel 2

Learn This First

Some Galician nouns have a different gender from their Spanish equivalents.

Words in This Pattern

-axe