In another blog post on Spanish nouns that can be masculine or feminine depending on meaning we look at cólera.
You can listen to the pronunciation of cólera in the audio clip below:
As a feminine noun, la cólera means anger or rage:
La cólera se apoderó de ella.
She was overcome with rage.
As a masculine noun, el cólera is cholera, a very serious bacterial disease caught from contaminated drinking water or food:
El cólera se propagó rápidamente en la región.
Cholera spread rapidly in the area.
Uno de los niños contrajo el cólera.
One of the children contracted cholera.
Remember to make any articles and adjectives agree in gender and number with the noun they modify:
Sus ojos brillaron con una cólera helada.
His eyes shone with an icy anger.
El cólera es contagioso.
Cholera is contagious.
IN SUMMARY
When it’s an emotion, la cólera is feminine.
When it’s a disease, el cólera is masculine, despite its -a ending.
Next week we’ll be looking at another Spanish noun whose gender varies according to meaning, so do join us!
