Some appear to be irregular but aren’t really – we’re just using an abbreviation of the noun. One example
is la moto. Moto is short for motocicleta, & another is la foto, which is really la fotografía.
Many irregular nouns came from other languages than latin-based. For example el mapa comes from
Greek, as does el tema.
Some are irregular because they start with the letter ‘a’, such as el agua . Try saying la agua!. It’s still
actually feminine though, because the plural is las aguas & adjectives remain feminine, as in el agua
fría. Others in this category are el águila & el avión.
Here are some more common irregular nouns, but it’s by no means an exhaustive list!
el aroma — aroma
el clima — climate
el idioma language
el planeta — planet
el mañana —
near future (but la
mañana, tomorrow
or morning)
el guardia —
policeman or
male guard (but la
guardia, vigilance,
policewoman or
female guard)
el dilema dilemma
el drama — drama
el idiota - male
idiot
el poema — poem
el sofá — sofa
el tanga — G-string
el cura — priest
el sistema system
el papa — the pope el policía —
(but la papa, potato policeman (but la
/ crisp)
policía, police force
or policewoman)
el diploma diploma
el plasma - plasma
el drama — drama
el enigma —
enigma
la modelo - female
model
el síntoma —
la soprano —
el programa
symptom, sign
female soprano
-programme
el tequila — tequila la testigo — female el cometa — comet
el dilema witness
dilemma