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Nouns: gender, plurals and articles
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Every Spanish noun is masculine or feminine. Knowing the patterns helps you choose the right article and make adjectives agree.
Gender
Most nouns ending in -o are masculine (el libro) and most ending in -a are feminine (la casa).
Watch out: el día, el problema, el mapa are masculine; la mano, la foto, la radio are feminine.
Nouns ending in -ción and -dad are feminine: la canción, la ciudad.
People: -o to -a (amigo, amiga), -or to -ora (profesor, profesora); -ista, -ante and -ente usually stay the same (but el dependiente, la dependienta) (el / la artista, el / la estudiante).
Watch out: el día, el problema, el mapa are masculine; la mano, la foto, la radio are feminine.
Nouns ending in -ción and -dad are feminine: la canción, la ciudad.
People: -o to -a (amigo, amiga), -or to -ora (profesor, profesora); -ista, -ante and -ente usually stay the same (but el dependiente, la dependienta) (el / la artista, el / la estudiante).
Plurals
Ending in a vowel: add -s (libro, libros).
Ending in a consonant: add -es (ciudad, ciudades).
-z becomes -ces (voz, voces; vez, veces).
-ión becomes -iones and loses its accent (canción, canciones).
Ending in a consonant: add -es (ciudad, ciudades).
-z becomes -ces (voz, voces; vez, veces).
-ión becomes -iones and loses its accent (canción, canciones).
Articles
the: el, la, los, las. a / some: un, una, unos, unas.
a + el = al (voy al parque), de + el = del (la casa del profesor).
An infinitive can act as a noun: Bailar es divertido. = Dancing is fun.
a + el = al (voy al parque), de + el = del (la casa del profesor).
An infinitive can act as a noun: Bailar es divertido. = Dancing is fun.
Give the plural of "la canción".
- Ends in a consonant: add -es.
- -ión words lose the accent in the plural.
- The article becomes las.
Answer: las canciones
-o usually masculine, -a usually feminine, but el día, el problema, la mano. Plurals: add -s or -es; -z becomes -ces. A + el = al, de + el = del.
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