Spanish word of the week: orden

In another in our series of blog posts on Spanish nouns that can be either masculine or feminine depending on meaning, we look at the commonest senses of orden.

You can listen to the pronunciation of orden in the audio clip below:

Orden (like order in English) is used in many different senses, and its gender varies accordingly.

When it is an order of the instruction kind, orden (like instrucción) is feminine:

¿Es una orden? ‒ Es una amable invitación, señor.

Is that an order? ‒ It’s a polite invitation, sir.

No hubo diálogo. Solo una orden seca y terminante.

There was no discussion. Just an abrupt order leaving no room for argument.

No se sabía quién había dado la orden de evacuar la ciudad.

No one knew who had given the order to evacuate the town.

Orden is also feminine when it refers to order in the sense of a religious or military institution:

Ha dejado el mundanal ruido para ingresar en una orden religiosa.

She has left behind the hustle and bustle of the world to enter a religious order.

En esta pintura, Velázquez luce la cruz de la orden de Santiago.

In this painting, Velázquez wears the cross of the Order of Saint James.

In other meanings (covering order in the sense of arrangement, harmony, hierarchy, established system) orden is usually masculine in modern Spanish:

Los créditos se dan por orden alfabético.

The credits are given in alphabetical order.

Ya está todo tranquilo, y reinan el orden y la disciplina.

All is calm now, and order and discipline reign.

Busco el orden en todo lo que me rodea.

I seek order in everything that surrounds me.

Hay que mantener el orden público.

We need to maintain public order.

Estaban decididos a cambiar el orden de las cosas.

They were determined to change the order of things.

Note that the emphasis falls on the first syllable of orden. To retain the same emphasis in the plural, a written accent is required regardless of gender:

un campesino que espera las órdenes del amo

a peasant awaiting the orders of his master

las muchísimas órdenes religiosas que existen en España

the many religious orders to be found in Spain

especies de otros órdenes

species of other orders

To find out about another noun that can be either masculine or feminine in Spanish depending on the sense, come back next week.