Nouns

Nouns

NOUNSNouns refer to people, animals, places, and things.

NOUNS In Spanish, nouns have gender. They are either masculine or feminine.

Masculine / FeminineMost nouns that end in -o are masculine.

Masculine / FeminineMost nouns that end in -a are feminine.

Masculine / FeminineFor example: el libro la calculadora An exception: el día

Other Spanish Nouns

Other Spanish nouns end in -e or a consonant.

Other Spanish NounsFor example: el cine el marcador la clase la televisión

Other Spanish NounsSome can be both masculine and feminine: el/la estudiante

Making Nouns Plural To make nouns plural you usually

add -s to words ending in a vowel and -es to words ending in a consonant.

silla sillas teclado teclados cartel carteles

Making Nouns Plural Singular nouns that end in z

change the z to c in the plural. El lápiz los lápices

Definite ArticlesEl , La , Los and Las are called definite articles.

In English they mean “the”

Definite ArticlesWe use El and Los with masculine nouns and La and Las with feminine nouns.

Indefinite ArticlesUn, Una, Unos, and Unas are indefinite articles.

Indefinite ArticlesUn and Una mean “a or an” in English.

Indefinite ArticlesUnos and Unas mean “some” in English.

Indefinite ArticlesUn and Unos are masculine and Una and Unas are feminine.

It’s a good idea to learn a noun with itsdefinite article, el or la, because that will usually tell you the gender.