# Guessing gender from the ending

> id: grammar.nouns.gender-endings · category: grammar · depth: standard · levels: A1 · review: internally_reviewed

**Summary.** -o is usually masculine, -a usually feminine; -ción, -sión, -dad, -tad, -umbre are feminine; -ma (Greek origin), -or, -aje lean masculine.

The ending of a noun is a strong (if imperfect) clue to its gender. As a baseline, -o is usually masculine (el libro, el dinero) and -a usually feminine (la casa, la mesa) — but the more reliable signals are certain longer endings.

Dependable feminine endings: -ción/-sión (la nación, la decisión), -dad/-tad (la ciudad, la libertad), -umbre (la costumbre), -ez (la vejez). These are almost exception-free and cover a huge amount of vocabulary.

Dependable masculine endings: -aje (el viaje, el paisaje), -or (el color, el calor), and most -ma words of Greek origin (el problema, el sistema, el idioma, el tema). The handful that break these patterns is short and memorizable — see the gender exceptions rule.

## Examples
- La información llegó tarde. — The information arrived late.
- El idioma oficial es el español. — The official language is Spanish. *(-ma: masculine.)*
- La información sobre el viaje llegó tarde. — The information about the trip arrived late.

Related: grammar.nouns.gender-basic, grammar.nouns.gender-exceptions

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