Lesson 2 - Los sustantivos

The nouns in spanish could be masculine or femenine:

Masculine nouns: All nouns in masculine have a -o, -e, -i ending, the nouns which end in a consonante are also masculines:
libro (book)
perro (dog)
gato (cat)
elefante (el)
cuaderno (notebook)
piso (floor)

Femenine Nouns: femenine nouns have an -a ending:
- camisa (shirt)
- mesa (table)
- silla (chair)
- madera (wood)

Nouns refered to persons can change from masculine to femenine depending of the person you are talking about:

Comparison:
MASCULINO FEMENINO
profesor profesora
niño niña
señor señora


*it could be used with animals wich masculine noun end with -o like:
perro ---¨perra
gato ---- gata
elefante (it's the same for both genders)

there some special nouns that are different between their masculine and femenine form:
hombre -- mujer (man - woman)
caballero -- dama (gentleman - lady)
macho --- hembra (male - female)

Note:
words wich end in -ista. could be masculine or femine depending of the context, but içthey will never change:
periodista (journalist ) could be a man or a woman depending of the context.