Determining gender of words ending in "e"?

Question

When learning Spanish, there are basic rules taught about word gender: words ending in *o* are usually masculine, words ending in *a* are usually feminine. What about words ending in *e*? Are there any guidelines or rules of thumb for determining the gender of these words? Are the majority of words ending in *e* masculine or feminine?

Answer 1

This is a great question! Spanish Dict offers great information on masculine/feminine noun endings that you can find here: https://www.spanishdict.com/guide/masculine-and-feminine-nouns.

Generally, nouns ending in "e" are masculine, but as you can see from their list, there are a number of exceptions to that rule. With practice, you'll get better and better at identifying those exceptions as you speak.

The gender of words ending in "e" is really interesting because Spanish speakers have actually used the ending "e" to create more gender inclusive language. For example, in Spanish, if there is a room full of girls with one boy, you would refer to that group as masculine "chicos." Instead, you could say "chiques" to be more inclusive (chiques is neither masculine nor feminine). This is similar to the word "Latinx" in we use in the United States. The problem is, Latinx doesn't use sounds or language conventions that are native to Spanish. Latine is much more natural. Anyway, you can learn more about it here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2019/12/05/teens-argentina-are-leading-charge-gender-neutral-language/.

Answer 2

Good question!!

I would narrow that down to “nouns” ending in “e”. Some words ending in “e”, such as “inteligente” are adjectives, so no gender is attached to them per se.

Now, think of a noun such as “estudiante”. It can be both masculine and feminine. “Un estudiante”, “una estudiante”. Or “cantante”, “un cantante” or “una cantante”.

For other nouns, such as “la fuente”, “el horizonte”, “la gente”, “la mente”, etc. I am not aware of any rule. You must memorize them, or better yet, you will acquire them after enough exposure to the language.