📖LearnModule 3 · Lesson 12 of 30Basic User · CEFR A2, first halfUnit 3 · Agreement in earnest, and comparing
Trabajador, española — the special pairs
Module 3 of the free Spanish course (CEFR A2, first half), lesson 12 of 30: Two families of consonant-ending adjectives DO take a feminine -a: the -or words (trabajador / trabajadora. On this page: 8 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's QR.
The words
Spanish
English
Say it
trabajador
hard-working (m)
trah-bah-hah-DOHR
trabajadora
hard-working (f)
trah-bah-hah-DOH-rah
mexicano
Mexican (m)
meh-hee-KAH-noh
mexicana
Mexican (f)
meh-hee-KAH-nah
española
Spanish (f)
ehs-pah-NYOH-lah
inglesa
English (f)
een-GLEH-sah
felices
happy (plural)
feh-LEE-sehs
triste
sad
TREES-teh
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
La regla · The rule
Two families of consonant-ending adjectives DO take a feminine -a: the -or words (trabajador / trabajadora, hard-working) and nationalities (español / española, inglés / inglesa). Note the accent drops when the -a arrives: inglés, inglesa.
Y también · And also
Nationalities and languages are written in lowercase in Spanish: soy mexicana, hablo español. Only the country keeps its capital: México, España. Feliz takes -es in the plural: felices, with the z turned to c.
Ojo · Watch out
Nationality adjectives take a feminine -a even after a consonant: español, española. And they lose their accent when the -a is added: inglés, inglesa.
Do it now — on paper
Say all 8 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the Spanish spelling alone — begin with trabajador.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the Spanish.
Write two sentences of your own that get the watch-out line right, then the two practice pages of workbook lesson 12 in Module 3 are the written half of this page.
This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The Spanish Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.
Keep these words
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.