Gender, articles, plural forms

Nouns

In English, a noun is the name of something.

It can be a-person – John, Ana, Mr. García-place – Colombia, Chile, school-thing – desk, class, book-idea – love, liberty, nature

It’s the same in Spanish.

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Nouns and gender

In English, nouns can be-masculine – boy, John, Mr. García-feminine– girl, Ana, lady

-neuter – school, class, book

It’s not the same in Spanish

or

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Gender of nouns

In Spanish, nouns are eithermasculine or feminine

But how will we know?There are rules and clues.Let’s look at a few. 3

Masculine nouns

-Refer to malesmuchacho, padre (father), hombre (man)

-Usually end in the letter ocolegio, curso, otoño Note: there are exceptions

-Have the definite article el or losel café, el inglés, los meses

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Feminine nouns

-Refer to femalesmuchacha, madre (mother), mujer (woman)

-Usually end in the letter aescuela, primavera, personaNote: there are exceptions

-Have the definite article la or lasla clase, las nochesNote: there are exceptions

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Oh, dear me!!What do I do if I don’t see an “o”

or an “a”?What do I do?

Ay, mi amigo, you are out of suerte (luck), UNLESS you learned the gender of the noun when you were learning the word in the first place.

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ArticlesThere are two (2) types of articles:

definite and indefinite•definite = the

the book, the appleYou are definite; you know which one•indefinite = a, an

a book, an appleYou are not definite; any one will do

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Articles in Spanish

In Spanish, there are four (4) definite articles :

el lalos las and

four (4) indefinite articles:un unaunos unas

= the

= a, an

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Práctica

_____ carros_____ casa_____ cuaderno_____ mochila_____ bolígrafo_____ plumas_____ libros_____ clases

_____ limonada_____ blusas_____ refresco_____ mesa_____ vestidos_____ camisas_____ zapatos_____ día

Write the definite article

Write the indefinite article

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Nouns have number

There are only two (2) basic rules to form the plural of nouns:1. If the word ends in a vowel,

add –s

2. If the word ends in a consonant, add –es

Except: If the consonant is a “z”,change it to “c” before addingthe –es

The fine print: leave days of the week that end in “s” alone. 10

la escuelael veranoel estudiantela señorael amigola muchachala claseel cursola semana

Basic rule #1

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el profesorel señorel españolla nacionalidadel mesla estación

Basic rule #2

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la actrizla luzla narizla pazel pezla vezla vozle lápiz

Exception to Basic rule #2

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Adjectives

An adjective describes a nounIn Spanish, adjectives agree with the

noun they modify innumber (singular / plural) and ingender (masculine / feminine)

Descriptive adjectives usually follow the noun they modify.

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Adjective Plurals

Adjectives form their plurals like nouns do.

If you know how to form the plural of a noun, you can form the plural of an adjective.

Note: see the two (2) Basic Rules 5 slides back

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Adjective Plurals

Adjectives that end in o have four forms:

alto, alta, altos, altas

rubio, rubia, rubios, rubias

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Adjective Plurals

Adjectives of nationality that do not end in o, add a to form the feminine

These also have four formsespañol españolaespañoles españolas

The same is true for adjectives that end in -dor

hablador habladorahabladores habladoras

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Adjective Plurals

Adjectives (other that those previously noted) ending in a consonant, or in an vowel other than –o, have the same form for the masculine and feminine.

These will agree only in number with the nouns they modify and, therefore, have only two forms

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Adjetivos

Una chica ________________(American)Unos alumnos ______________(serious)Unas muchachas ____________ (pretty)Un día ______________________(good)Unas profesoras _____________(Cuban)Unos cursos ______________(required)Una clase ___________________(small)Un chico ___________________(funny)

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Adjetivos

Laura es _________________(intelligent)Juan y Marcos son ______________ (tall)El chico es ____________________ (fat)Los estudiantes son_____________ (good)La muchacha es _______________ (short)Raúl y Marta son_____________(popular)La clase es____________________(hard)Las profesoras son __________________

(interesting)20

¿Cierto o falso?

Nouns in Spanish are either masculine or feminine.

If a noun ends in a vowel, add –es to form the plural.

If a nouns ends in z, change the z to cbefore adding –es in the plural.

There are four definite and three indefinite articles in Spanish.

All nouns ending in a are feminine.21