Los sustantivos Los artículos definidos y indefinidos Nouns Definite and Indefinite Articles

Los sustantivos Nouns refer to people, animals, places, and things. In Spanish, all nouns have gender. They are either masculine (masculino) or feminine (femenino). los animales

Sustantivos masculinos Usually end in an –o. Used with the definite article “el” (the). el chico, el bolígrafo, el cuaderno el mono

Sustantivos femeninos may end in “- a”, “- ción”, “- sión”, “- dad” used with definite article “la” (the) la chica, la acción, la televisión, la posibilidad la gallina

Excepciones…The gender of some words must be learned because they don’t follow the patterns for masculino or femenino: Ejemplos masculinos: El día El mapa El reloj El lápiz El pupitre El sacapuntas Ejemplos femeninos: La tarde La noche La clase La pared

Excepciones… Some nouns referring to people only have one form Excepciones… Some nouns referring to people only have one form. The gender is determined by the article used: Masculino: El estudiante El dentista El artista Femenino: La estudiante La dentista La artista

Los sustantivos plurales Nouns ending in a vowel = el chico la silla Nouns ending in a consonant = el papel la pared Add “-s” los chicos las sillas add “-es” los papeles las paredes

Los sustantivos plurales Nouns ending in a “-z” = el lápiz change the “z” to “-c”, add “-es” los lápices When referring to males and females as a single group, or to masculine and feminine objects together, always use the masculine plural !

Los artículos definidos Definite articles are the equivalent of “the” in English. There are four in Spanish. “el” is used with masculine, singular nouns. “la” is used with feminine, singular nouns. “los” is used with masculine, plural nouns. “las” is used with feminine, plural nouns. Masculino = el y los, Femenino = la y las

Los articles indefinidos Indefinite articles are the equivalent of “a/an” in English with singular nouns, and “some” with plural nouns. “un” (a/an) with masculine, singular nouns. “una” (a/an) with feminine, singular nouns. “unos” (some) with masculine, plural nouns. “unas” (some) with feminine, plural nouns.

Ejemplos: el conejo = the rabbit un conejo = a rabbit los conejos = the rabbits unos conejos = some rabbits

Ejemplos: la gallina = the hen una gallina = a hen las gallinas = the hens unas gallinas = some hens

Consejos: It’s a good idea to learn a noun with its definite article, “el” or “la”, because that will usually tell you the gender. There are exceptions to almost every rule, so when in doubt, look it up!

EL FIN Ahora, practicamos…