spanish nouns and articles minerva del c. martinez engl 360 prof. e. lugo february 28, 2012
Post on 18-Jan-2016
212 Views
Preview:
TRANSCRIPT
Spanish Nouns and Articles
Minerva del C. MartinezENGL 360
Prof. E. LugoFebruary 28, 2012
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• Articles– The articles are the little words used before a
noun, and there are two types. One type is "definite" and the other is "indefinite".
– In English the definite article is "THE" and the indefinites are "A" or "AN".
• There are four forms for each type of article- based on gender and number. – The definite articles (= THE): el, la ,los, las
– The indefinite articles (= A, AN {singular] or SOME,
A FEW [plural]) un, una, unos, unas
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• Articles– When a plural includes both masculine and
feminine elements, the masculine noun is used with the article "los" (for example: parents are "los padres", children are "los niños" or "los hijos").
– Masculine nouns have the article "el" in singular form and the article "los" in plural.
– Feminine nouns have the article "la" in singular form and the article "las" in plural.
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• Articles• The uses of the indefinite articles
– The indefinite articles is omitted in Spanish frequently when it is used in English. Here are the rules:
– When telling what a person is (profession, nationality, occupation, religion, gender, social status, etc.), unless that noun is modified. Ejemplos: Yo soy profesor. (I am a teacher.) Ella es estudiante. (She is a student.) El es mexicano. (He is a Mexican.) But: Ella es una ingeniera fantástica. (She is a fantastic engineer. It's modified so the article una is used.)
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• Articles–When "tener" is negative, or if it is
used in a question, the indefinite article is often omitted. For example: ¿Tienes bolígrafo? No, no tengo bolígrafo. Do you have a pen? No, I don't have a pen. In fact, after the verb "tener", the article is used only to specify the number. Tengo un bolígrafo. (I have "only one" pen.)
Spanish Nouns and Articles• Articles
– Very importantly, you must remember that the indefinite article is omitted in the following situations: • After expressions starting
with ¡Qué...! For example: ¡Qué día bonito! = What a pretty day!
– Before "otro" or "otra" (These words mean "other" or "another", so using un/una would mean "an another".) Example: Hay otra razón para no salir. There is another reason not to leave.
• Before "cierto/cierta" Example: Hay cierta persona en la clase que no... There is a certain person in the class who doesn't...
• Before "cien" or "mil". Ejemplo: Tengo cien (mil) dólares. I have a hundred (thousand) dollars.
• After "tal" (such) Example: ¡Fue tal idea buena! It was such a good idea!
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• Spanish Nouns– Spanish nouns are either masculine
or feminine. There is no neuter gender noun.
– There are typical rules you can lean on and exceptions you should be aware when they occur.
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• The rules:– Feminine nouns• Generally nouns ending in "-a"
– la fruta, la mesa, la palabra
• Nouns ending in "-dad" / "-tad" / "-tud"– la ciudad, la edad, la universidad – la amistad, la facultad, la libertad – la inquietud, la juventud, la virtud
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• Feminine nouns:– Nouns ending in "-ción" / "-sión" / "-
gión"– la canción, la estación, la lección – la profesión, la televisión, la tensión – la legión, la región, la religión
– Nouns ending in "-ez", as long as they refer to abstract nouns formed with suffixes
– la rigidez -- rigidity– la sensatez -- soberness– la validez -- validity– la vejez -- old age, oldness
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• Feminine nouns:– Nouns ending in "-triz"
• la actriz, la directriz, la emperatriz
– Nouns ending in "-umbre"• la costumbre, la incertidumbre, la legumbre
– Shortened version of originally feminine nouns• la disco -- la discoteca• la foto -- la fotografía• la moto -- la motocicleta• la tele -- la televisión
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• Feminine nouns:–Nouns referring to women• la madre -- mother• la mujer -- woman, wife
– Exceptions• ending in "-d"
– la merced -- mercy– la pared -- wall
Spanish Nouns and Articles• Exceptions– ending in "-e"
• la base -- basis• la calle – street
– ending in "-z"• la cruz -- cross• la faz – face
– other• la filial -- affiliate• la flor -- flower• la imagen -- image• la ley -- law• la mano -- hand• la miel -- honey
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• Masculine nouns:– Nouns of Greek
origin, ending in "-ma" / "-ta" / "-pa"• el clima, el
programa, el tema• el cometa, el planeta
(but to confuse you: la dieta :-))
• el mapa
• Exceptions• el día (el mediodía)
-- day, daytime (noon)
• el gorila -- gorilla• el pijama -- pajamas• el sofá -- sofa• el tranvía -- tram,
streetcar• el yoga -- yoga
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• Words ending in.....–Words ending in "o" are generally
masculine. There are some exceptions, however: • la mano (hand) • la radio (radio); el radio = radius • la moto (motorcycle) short for
motocicleta • la foto (photograph) short for fotografía
Spanish Nouns and Articles– Words ending in "a"
are generally feminine. Again, there are exceptions. • el día (day) hence:
¡Buenos días! • el tranvía (streetcar) • el panda (panda)
– There are a number of other words ending in "a" that are also masculine:
– el mapa (map) – el drama (drama) – el problema (problem) – el sistema (system) – el programa
(program) (also telegrama telegram, crucigrama crossword)
– el planeta (planet)
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• dad, -tad, -tud, -umbre– With no exceptions,
words ending in "dad", "tad", "tud" or "umbre" are feminine.• la ciudad
• la libertad
• la universidad
• la juventud• la cumbre• la muchedumbre
• ión– With only two
notable exceptions, words ending in "ión" are feminine. • la reunión • la televisión • la reacción
– The exceptions: • el avión • el camión
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• ie, -cia, -ez, -eza, -nza, -sis, -itis– Words with these
endings are generally feminine:• la especie (species) • la herencia (heritage) • la niñez (childhood) • la naturaleza (nature) • la enseñanza (teaching) • la crisis (crisis) • la tendonitis (tendonitis)
• -án, -or, ambre, -aje– Words with these
endings are generally masculine. • el alemán (German) • el amor (love) • el calambre (cramp) • el garaje (garage)
– exception: "hambre" is feminine in gender! • la hambre
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• If the word is ......• Sometimes you can determine the gender of
a noun by what it is, too. • For example:
– All days of the week and months are masculine. el lunes, el martes, el enero, el diciembre, etc.
– Languages are always masculine. el español, el inglés, el francés, etc.
– Numbers are masculine. Su cumpleaños es el diez de abril.
– Colors, when used as nouns, are masculine. Mi color favorito es el verde.
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• If the word is ......• The names of rivers, lakes, seas and oceans
are masculine (because the words río, lago, mar and océano are all masculine. The Pacific = El Pacífico, The Amazon = El Amazonas; etc.
– Whereas the fruit is often feminine (la manzana- apple); the fruit tree is masculine (el manzano- apple tree). la naranja > el naranjo; la pera > el peral; la cereza > el cerezo; etc.
– Infinitives used as nouns are always masculine. El fumar es malo para la salud.
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• Compound words– What are they? Some words are made up by combining
two separate words. Often these consist of a verb and a noun. The verb is in the third person singular (él), and the noun is in the plural form [= does something to this object]. These words are always masculine.
– For example: • el tocadiscos (toca + discos = plays records)= record
player • el paraguas (para + aguas = stops water) = umbrella • el parabrisas • el abrelatas • el lavaplatos • el sacacorchos • el limpiacristales
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• Words that are both masculine and feminine...– Some words can
be either masculine or feminine, but the meaning of the word changes with the gender change.
el cura = priest la cura = cure
el capital = money (capital)
la capital = capital [city]
el mañana - tomorrow
la mañana = morning
el frente = front [weather, military]
la frente = forehead
el orden = order [tidiness]
la orden = order [command]
el policía = policeman la policía = police [force], policewoman
el guía = guide [male] la guía = guide [female] or guidebook
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• One more thing- ARTE.– In its singular form, "arte" is
masculine- el arte moderno. However, in its plural form "artes" is feminine - las bellas artes.
Spanish Nouns and Articles• Nouns Designating
People and Some Other Animals
• Obviously, people have gender so this will make more sense than saying if a chair is masculine or feminine.
• If the word ends in ...... in the masculine form..., in the feminine it ends in...
• o• Quite often if a word
referring to a person ends in "o", the corresponding feminine form will end in "a". For example: el hijo > la hija; el hermano > la hermana; el médico > la médica; etc.
• exceptions (These do not change the "o", but do change the article.): el testigo > la testigo; el modelo > la modelo
Spanish Nouns and Articles• or• If a word ends in "or"
on the masculine, add and "a" to form the feminine. el profesor > la profesora; el escultor > la escultora.
• exceptions: el actor > la actriz; el emperador > la emperatriz
• és, án• Words ending in "és"
and "á[í, ó]n" drop the accent and add an "a" to form the feminine. el francés > la francesa; el capitán > la capitana; el ladrón > la ladrona, el bailarín > la bailarina
Spanish Nouns and Articles• a• Some words end in "a"
in the masculine form. Again, these are often from Greek and the gender change is going to be noted merely by a change in article. el artista > la artista; el pianista > la pianista; el dentista > la dentista, el atleta > la atleta
• e• Words ending in "e"
fall into two categories- "e" and "nte". Words ending in "e" first. They change the article only: el intérprete > la intérprete; el tigre > la tigre; el teniente, la teniente
Spanish Nouns and Articles• nte• Many words ending in
"nte" do one of two things. In the past, they kept the "e" at the end- el cliente > la cliente; el dependiente > la dependiente, etc. However, it is becoming common to change the "e" to "a", so you may hear (read, say or write) la clienta, la dependienta,
• consonants (other than "or", "és" and án")
• These words stay the same, but change the article to reflect the gender change: el joven > la joven, el líder > la líder
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• Words that Change with a Gender Change• It's not la padre, is it? It's la madre. There are other
words that change as do these. – el rey > la reina – el actor > la actriz – el emperador > la emperatriz – el varón (masculine) > la hembra (feminine) – el toro > la vaca – el conde > la condesa – el poeta > la poetisa – el marido/ el hombre > la mujer – el príncipe > la princesa – el gallo (rooster) > la gallina (hen) – don > doña
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• Words that don't change at all.• There is a short list of words that do not
change gender- article or word. They just do not change! So regardless of whether they are designating a male or female, they will always be: – el bebé (baby) – el ángel (angel) – la persona (person) – el personaje (character from a book, movie, show,
etc.) – la víctima (victim)
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• http://doncarlos123.tripod.com/sustantivos.html#Definite article translations
• http://www.e-spanyol.hu/en/grammar/gender.php
top related