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BASICSPANISHLANGUAGE:GENDER,
NUMBERANDDEFINITEANDINDEFINITE
ARTICLES
GENDEROFNOUNSINSPANISH
Nouns are either masculine of femenine in Spanish. Sometimes to identify the
gender in these nouns is not that obvious and the ending is an indication of
grammatical gender. Most nouns ending in –a are femenine and most ending in –o
are masculine.
Besides, the masculine article el and the femenine article la are placed before the
nouns to indicate the gender. El and la are equivalent in English to the definite
article the.
MASCULINENOUNSANDTHEIRENDINGS
Thefollowingendingsgenerallyindicatethemasculine:
- Malebeingsending–o:
Elcartero
mailman
elgeneral
general
Elhombre
man elprofesor teacher/professor
- Referringtoanimals,thingsorideasendingin–o:
Elaño year elqueso
cheese
Elcaballo
horse elzapato
shoe
- Somenounsthatendin–aaremasculinewithendings–ía,-ma,-ama,
-emaand–oma:
Eldía day eldilema
dilemma
Elanagrama anagram
elidioma
language
Elaroma
fragance
elpoema
poem
Elclima
climate
elproblema problem
- Nounswothendings–ambreand–aje:
Elcalambre cramp elalambre wire
Elequipaje luggage
elpaisaje
landscape
Elmontaje setting
elpersonaje character
- Nounswithendings–orand–án:
Elamor
Elcalor
love heat http://www.blanbla.com/spanish
elrefrán
elrencor
proverb
hate FEMININENOUNSANDTHEIRENDINGSINSPANISH
The following endings generally identify feminine nouns:
-
-
-
Female beings end in –a:
La enfermera nurse
La hija
daughter
la profesora professor
la yegua
mare
All other nouns ending –a:
La cocina
kitchen
La guitarra guitar
la pelota
la piscina
pool
Nouns with endings –ción and –sión:
La canción song
la dirección
La división division
la estación
direction, address
station, season
-
Nouns with endings -dad and –tad (in English ending –ty):
La dificultad difficulty
la dignidad dignity
La ciudad
city
la libertad
liberty
-
Nouns with endings –ie, -eza, -sis and –itis:
La crisis
crisis
la serie
La dermatitis dermatitis
la tesis
La especie species
la tristeza
-
ball
serie
thesis
sadness
Most abstract ideas that end in –tud and –umbre:
La costumbre tradition
la esclavitud slavery
La cumbre
summit, mountaintop
la virtud
virtue
OTHERENDINGSTHATMAYBEEITHERMASCULINEOFFEMENINE
Somenounsdonotfitintoanyofthepreviousgroups:
- Nounsendingin–eorinconsonantthatmaybeeitherfeminineor
masculine:
Elcine movies
laclase
class
Elexamen
exam lacruz cross
- Nounsofprofessionsending–a,-ante,-eor–istathatmaybeeither
feminineormasculine:
El/laatleta athlete
el/laperiodista
journalist
El/lacantantesinger el/lapoeta poet
- Nounsofprofessions,peopleorsomeanimalsthatendin–és,-n,-ónand–
oraremasculine.Theyadd–atocreatefemenineform:
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Elcampeón/lacampeona champion
Eldirector/ladirectora
principal
Elleón/laleona
lion
- Somenounsarespelledthesameforthemasculineandfemenineandonly
thearticlechanges:
Eljoven/lajoven
youngman/woman
Elmodelo/lamodelo
male/femalemodel
- Nounsreferringtopeoplechangeboththeendingandthearticle:
Elmuchacho/lamuchacha boy/girl
Elniño/laniña
boy/girlchild
- Femininenounsthatbeginwithastresseda-orha-takeamasculinearticle
forpurposesofpronunciation:
Elaguawater elaulaclassroom
Elalma
soul elhambre
hunger
OTHERMASCULINENOUNS
- Daysoftheweekandmonthsoftheyear
- Colors
- Infinitiveusedasnouns
- Rivers,seasandoceans(exceptislandswhicharefemenine)
- Manytrees
- Languages
Somenounsreferringtopeopleoranimalsmayhavedifferentformsforthe
masculineandfemenine:
Elactor/laactriz
actor/actress
Elcaballo/layegua horse/mare
Elconde/lacondesa count/countess
Elheroe/laheroína heroe/heroine
Somenounshavedifferentmeaningifusedwiththemasculineorthefemenine
article:
Elcapital/lacapital capital(money)/capital(city)
Elcometa/lacometa comet/kite
Elcorte/lacorte
cut/court
Elcura/lacura
priest/cure
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PLURALOFNOUNS
Thepluralofnounsisformedbyaddingthepluralendings–sor–es.Adefinite
article,losbeforemasculinenounsandlasbeforefemininenounsindicatesthe
plural.
- Nounsthatendinavoweladd–s:
Elcafé/loscafés
coffe
Elvino/losvinos
wine
Lacasa/lascasas
house
Laniña/lasniñas
girl
- Nounsthatendinaconsonant,add–es:
Elpapel/lospapeles paper
Elreloj/losrelojes clock
Somespellingchanges:
- Singularnounsendingin–zchangeto–cesintheplural
Ellápiz/loslápices pencil
Lamatriz/lasmatrices
matrix
- Nounsendingin–íand–úadd–sor–esandkeeptheaccentmarkinthe
plural:
Elrubí/losrubís/losrubíes ruby
Eltabú/lostabús/lostabúes
taboo
- Nounswithaccentmarksonthelastsyllablelosetheaccentmarkinthe
plural:
Elcamión/loscamiones
truck
Elleón/losleones lion
EXCEPTIONSTOTHERULESINPLURALFORMS
-
Nouns that end in –s do not change if the final syllable is not stressed:
El miércoles/los miércoles
Wednesday
La tesis/las tesis
thesis
-
For compound words add the plural ending to the firs element only:
El coche cama/los coches cama sleeping car
-
Some nouns are always plural in Spanish:
Las gafas
eyeglasses
las vacaciones
Las tijeras
scissors
los gemelos
vacation
twins/cuff links
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DEFINITEARTICLES
Thedefinitearticleintroducesthenounitprecedesanditagreeswithitingender
andnumber.TheEnglishequivalentisthe:
La,Las–singularandpluralfemenineforms
El,los-singularandpluralmasculineforms
WHENAREDEFINITEARTICLESUSEDINSPANISH?
WecannotethatdefinitearticleisusedinSpanishinquitefewsituationsbutnotin
English.
Lasmujerescantan Womensing
UsedefinitearticlesinSpanish:
- Withnounsusedingeneralsense:
Lacomidaespañolaesbuena
Spanishcuisineisgood
- Withdaysoftheweek:
Elmartestenemosunexamen
OnTuesday,wehaveanexam
- Withnamesoflanguages,exceptafterhablar:
Elalémannoeslenguaromance GermanisnotRomancelanguage
Nohabloalemás
IdonotspeakGerman
-
With parts of the body, items of personal hygiene and clothing:
Me duele la muela
my tooth hurts
-
To tell time:
Es la una
-
-
It is one o´clock
With names and titles:
El director cerrará la sesión
The director will close the session
With weights and measurements:
Dame una docena de huevos
Nouns of specific people and things:
Vi el programa que me recomendaste
recommended
Nouns that refer to geographic places:
Give me a dozen eggs
I saw the program you
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El Amazonas está en Suramérica The Amazon River is in South
America
-
With an infinitive working as a noun (-ing ending in English):
Dormir mucho no es bueno
Sleeping a lot is not good
LO,THENEUTERARTICLE
Spanish has a third “gender”: the neuter. This form is invariable. It is used:
-
Use lo + an adejective yo communicatea quality or an abstract idea
Siempre ves lo malo de las cosas You always see the bad side of things
-
Use lo + adjective or adverb + que to underscore the quality expressed
Veo lo rápido que trabajas
I see how quickly you work
INDEFINITEARTICLES
Theindefinitearticlereferstooneindividualoutofageneralgroup.Englishhastwo
forms:aandan.InSpanishhavetwogenders:
Feminineforms:
Una a,an Unas afew,some
Unaperaesunafruta
Apearisafruit
Masculineforms:
Un a,an Unos afew,some
Tengounabrigonuevo
Ihaveanewovercoat
WHENAREINDEFINITEARTICLESUSEDINSPANISH?
EnglishandSpanishareequivalent.Usetheindefinitearticles:
- Torefertooneindividualinageneralgroup:
Unasinfoníaesunaobradearte Asymphonyisaworkofart
- Toidentifyapersonwithanounindicatingpersonalqualities:
Eresunángel Youareanangel
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- Toindicateanapproximateamountwithnumbersandquantities;
Labolsacuestaunoscincuentaeuros
Thebagcostaboutfiftyeuros
WHENAREINDEFINITEARTICLESNOTUSEDINSPANISH?
Remembernottouseindefinitearticles:
- Withnounsdesignatinganonspecificamount:
¿Ponestomateenlapaella?Doyouputsometomateinthepaella?
- Withnounsofprofessions,nationalityorreligionafterser:
Somoselectricistas Weareelectricians
- Whenthenounisprecededbythewords:cierto,medio,mil,otro,qué,or
tal:
CiertapersonatevisitaamenudoAcertainpersonvisitsyouoften