In another of our blog posts on Spanish nouns that can be either masculine or feminine depending on meaning we look at mañana.
You can listen to the pronunciation of mañana in the audio clip below:
You’ll probably already be familiar with mañana as a feminine noun meaning morning (the time of day between dawn and noon):
Son las cinco de la mañana.
It’s five o’clock in the morning.
Me levanto a las cuatro de la mañana.
I get up at four o’clock in the morning.
Cuando desperté en la mañana, Diego ya había salido.
When I woke up in the morning, Diego had already gone out.
Escribía los sábados por la mañana.
She would write on Saturday mornings.
Llegaron a primeras horas de la mañana.
They arrived early in the morning.
La mañana fue muy fría.
It was a very cold morning.
You’ll also doubtless have come across mañana as an adverb meaning tomorrow:
Mañana no puedo ir.
I can’t come tomorrow.
Hoy no; mañana.
Not today; tomorrow.
¡Hasta mañana!
See you tomorrow!
You may well have come across both these senses in the same sentence:
Puedo buscarlo mañana por la mañana.
I can pick it up tomorrow morning.
However, did you know that mañana can also be used as a masculine noun meaning the future, that time that hasn’t been and is yet to come?
El mañana es incierto.
The future is uncertain.
Nadie sabe lo que el mañana nos depara.
No one knows what the future has in store for us.
To read about other nouns whose gender varies according to sense, come back next week.
