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Nouns: el, la, un, una and agreement

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Every Spanish noun is masculine or feminine, and the words around it change to match. Getting this right now makes every GCSE sentence more accurate.

Gender and articles

Plurals

Ending in a vowel: add -s: el libro, los libros; la clase, las clases.
Ending in a consonant: add -es: la ciudad, las ciudades; el color, los colores.
An accent on the last syllable disappears in the plural: el autobús, los autobuses.
-z becomes -ces: la vez, las veces (as in a veces, sometimes).

Agreement and possessives

Adjectives usually go after the noun and agree with it:
un coche rojo, una bicicleta roja, unos libros rojos, unas sillas rojas.
Adjectives ending in -e or a consonant only change in the plural: verde, verdes; azul, azules; gris, grises.
My, your, his / her: mi, tu, su + singular noun; mis, tus, sus + plural noun. Mi hermano, mis hermanos.
Worked example

Translate: My brother has a red car and two white cats.

  1. My brother: mi hermano.
  2. A red car: un coche rojo. The colour goes after the noun.
  3. Two white cats: dos gatos blancos. Plural noun, so blanco adds -s.

Answer: Mi hermano tiene un coche rojo y dos gatos blancos.

Key idea

el / un (masculine), la / una (feminine), los / unos and las / unas (plural). Vowel + s, consonant + es. Adjectives go after the noun and agree; -e and consonant endings only change in the plural. mi / tu / su become mis / tus / sus with plural nouns.

The interactive lesson includes the diagrams for this topic.

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