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*A noun is a person, place, thing, or idea
*In Spanish, all nouns are either masculine or feminine.
*Most nouns that end in -o are usually masculine
*el libro
*el escritorio
*el colegio
*Most nouns that end in -a are usually feminine.
*la puerta
*la ventana
* la tarea
Exceptions: el dia = the day el problema = the problem
*Other Spanish nouns end in -e or a consonant.
For example:el ajedrez - chess el marcador - markerla clase - classla televisión = TV
*Some can be both masculine and feminine: el/la estudiante - the student
*The idea that nouns have gender seems perfectly natural when the noun stands for a living creature. This is because in English, living creatures often have different names depending on whether they are male or female.
Masculine Feminine
boy girl
father mother
lion lioness
uncle aunt
*Certain nouns that denote living things have both a masculine and feminine form in Spanish.
Masculine Feminine
el gato = male cat la gata = female cat
el abuelo = grandfather la abuela = grandmother
El chico = boy la chica = girl
You can’t predict the gender of a noun, except in the case of living creatures.
Do not try to analyze the nature of an object to look for masculine or feminine qualities!
IT WON’T WORK! Dress is a masculine word in Spanish--- el vestido Necktie is a feminine word in Spanish---
la corbata
REMEMBER!
*When you learn a new noun, you MUST memorize its definite article (el or la).
* El / la is a definite article
that means “the” as in:
the head – la cabeza
the arm – el brazo
Plural in English is simple: generally one add an “s” at the end
ex: the cat the cats
Exceptions:
Irreg. plural child children, foot feet
spy spies , knife knives
Singular PluralMasc.
EL LOS
Fem. LA LAS
Example: el chico los chicos the boy the boys
la chica las chicas the girl the girls
*To make nouns plural you usually add -s to words ending in a vowel and -es to words ending in a consonant.
*estudiante estudiantes
*animal animales
*Take out your dictionary.
*Look up a Spanish noun that you know for sure is masculine. Do you notice any symbols or abbreviations that tell you the noun’s gender?
*Now, look up a Spanish noun that you know is feminine. Are there any symbols or abbreviations that tell you the noun’s gender?
You cannot predict the gender of most nouns.
Not every noun that ends in an –o is masculine, and not every noun that ends in an –a is feminine.
Many nouns end in letters other than –a and –o.
The definite article is your CLUE as to whether a noun is masculine or feminine.