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Gender
In this presentation,
we will look at two
very importantconcepts in Spanish:
gender and agreement.
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Gender
Look at these English
words and guess whether
they refer to male or
female:
Bull
Hen
Husband
Niece
Cousin
Calculator
Love
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Gender
Some are obvious:
Bull (m.)
Hen (f.)
Husband (m.)
Niece (f.)
Others are unknown:
Cousin (m. or f.)
While others are neither
(neuter):
Calculator, love
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Gender
In English, nouns and
pronouns fall into
three grammaticalgroups:
Masculine: man,
husband, rooster, he
Feminine: woman,wife, hen, she
Neuter: child, bird, it
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Gender
In Spanish, all nouns fall
into just two categories:
Masculine (masculino) Feminine (feminino)
There is no neuter class
in which to place nouns
such as table and
chair.
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So what does this mean?
You should start
thinking about Spanish
nouns as being eithermasculineor
feminine.
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Lets take a look!
Here are some nouns with
their corresponding
definite article (the): el nio (the boy)
la nia (the girl)
el profesor (the professor)
la profesora (the professor)
el amigo (the friend)
la amiga (the friend)
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Lets reorganize these words.
Put all of the el words
together:
el nio
el profesor
el amigo
And all the la words
together:
la nia
la profesora
la amiga
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Thats easy!
Masculine nouns usethe definite article el
while feminine nounsuse la.
Lets look at a fewmore:
La mesa (the table) El libro (the book)
La pluma (the pen)
El telfono (the phone)
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Just a minute!!
Words that are neuter in
English are either
masculine or feminine in
Spanish.
This does not mean that
these words have
masculine or feminine
characteristics! It is just a
purely grammatical
classification.
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Lets practice!
Do you think these nouns aremasculine (el) or feminine
(la)? Dont worry aboutthe meanings for now.
___ hermano
___ mam
___ trabajo ___ historia
___ planta
___ taco
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How did you do?
elhermano
lamam
eltrabajo la historia
laplanta
eltaco
Generally speaking,nouns that end inoaremasculine, while those
that end inaare
feminine. There are exceptions, but we will
worry about them on a case-by-case basis.
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What about?
Nouns that end ine can
be either masculine or
feminine: la clase; el presidente
Some nouns can be both,
depending on the
meaning:
el presidente (a man)
la presidente (a woman)
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Whats the bottom line?
Learn everySpanish
noun with its article.
It will pay off soon,because you will be
able to classify new
nouns as you see the
patterns develop.
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Agreement
Look at these sentences(alto = tall; guapo = good-
looking): El nio es alto y guapo.
La nia es alta y guapa.
Words that describe nio
also end ino: alto, guapo Words that describe nia
also end ina: alta, guapa
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Whats going on here?
Other words in the
sentence also change to
agree (match the form
of the noun they describe).
Heres another one:
El profesor es bajo,
anciano, y gordo.
How would you change
this sentence to talk about
a woman professor?
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Agreement
La profesora es baja,
anciana, y gorda.
What if there is morethan one male teacher?
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Agreement
Los profesores son bajos,ancianos, y gordos.
What is happening??
Los > the plural
Profesores > plural
Son > are
Bajos, ancianos, gordos > adjectivesmatch the ending of the
nouns, too.
This doesnt happen in English(except for this/these
andthat/those). But its animportant feature in Spanish!
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Lets try one!
Put the correct ending
on each word.
La chica es bonit__ ydelgad__.
Mi auto es antigu__ y
fe__.
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The envelope, please!
La chica es bonita y
delgada.
Mi auto es antiguo yfeo.
Now make these
sentences plural!
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Your final answer
Las chicas son bonitas
y delgadas.
Mis autos son antiguosy feos.
How about this
sentence in the plural?
El estudiante es
inteligente y
trabajador.
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How did you do?
Los estudiantes son
inteligentes y trabajadores.
Adjectives that end inecan be used with either
masculine or feminine
nouns. To make them
plural, just adds.
Adjectives that end inr
addes for plural.
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Thats enough for now!
This is a very tricky concept forlearners of Spanish, mainly
because it is so different from
English. However, it is extremely
important and requires a lot ofconcentration on your part!Keep
your eyes and ears openfor gender and agreement, andsoon the
patterns will becomeclearer.
