In Spanish, most nouns that end in a are feminine. But there’s a small group of nouns that end in a and are masculine. These usually end in ma and come from Greek.
Luckily, their English counterparts are often very similar, so the main thing is to learn the Spanish forms of words you might already know in English.
Let’s look at some examples. Alejandra, a voice from Costa Rica, will read them aloud for you:
1. THESE WORDS ARE WRITTEN THE SAME WAY IN BOTH LANGUAGES:
| # | ESPAÑOL | ENGLISH |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | AROMA | AROMA |
| 2 | COMA | COMA (MEDICAL) |
| 3 | DRAMA | DRAMA |
| 4 | ENIGMA | ENIGMA |
| 5 | PANORAMA | PANORAMA |
2. THESE WORDS HAVE SLIGHT DIFFERENCES IN BOTH LANGUAGES:
| # | ESPAÑOL | ENGLISH |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | CLIMA | CLIMATE |
| 2 | DILEMA | DILEMMA |
| 3 | ESQUEMA | SCHEME |
| 4 | FANTASMA | PHANTOM (ALSO: GHOST) |
| 5 | POEMA | POEM |
| 5 | PROGRAMA | PROGRAM |
| 7 | PROBLEMA | PROBLEM |
| 8 | SISTEMA | SYSTEM |
| 9 | TEMA | THEME (ALSO: TOPIC, SUBJECT) |
| 10 | TEOREMA | THEOREM |
3. THESE WORDS ARE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT IN BOTH LANGUAGES:
| # | ESPAÑOL | ENGLISH |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | IDIOMA | LANGUAGE |
| 2 | LEMA | MOTTO, SLOGAN |
TIP! A few words ending in “ma” are actually feminine, such as crema (cream) and forma (form, shape).
Now, let’s play this game so we learn these words in a snap!
