Why do Spanish words have genders?

Answer 1

Because Latin had three genders, from which Spanish only kept two: feminine and masculine and less frequent neuter, which is reduced to adjectives plus the use of "lo, ello, esto, eso or aquello."

Hay que ver lo valiente que es --- you have to see how brave he is.

Eso no es de lo que te hablé ---- that is not what I talked you about.

Masculine gender is mostly preferred in collective groups, but it can include both genders:

Los niños son traviesos (masculine, collective)--- boys are mischievous; children are mischievous. Only the context avoids confusion.

Las ratas son asquerosas (feminine, collective) --- rats are naughty.

The better question would be Why does English not have genders? considering that nearly every other Indo-European language has at least two genders if not three.

Answer 2

All Spanish nouns are either masculine or feminine. The former are usually recognizable because ending in 'o' or a consonant, while the latter mostly end in 'a'. There are many exceptions to this rule.

The related definite and indefinite articles are:

el, uno (masculine); la, una (feminine)

Related adjectives have to agree in gender (and number - whether singular or plural) with the noun they qualify. As do related verbs.

Answer 3

usually a masculine spanish noun will end in o and a feminine spanish noun will end in a. ones that end in e are usually neutral

Answer 4

(feminine) la casa - house, chica - girl, senora - lady, senorita - miss, young lady

(masculine) el hombre - man, pais - country, brazo - arm, jefe - boss

Answer 5

I don't think there are specific rules; in many cases you just have to memorize the gender of many words.