BY NATE NICHOLS

Nouns and Articles

Los sustantivos y los artículos

A noun is a person, place or thing. Also, a noun is anything we can put a name on. Therefore, even words that refer to abstract concepts such as love, life, anger, and so on, are nouns. In Spanish, one of the words for noun is nombre, which simply means name.

Masculine Nouns

To identify Masculine nouns you look for nouns ending in o, í, ú or a consonant.

Of course, there are exceptions. One is una mano

Examples:Un libroUn relojun rubíun menú

Feminine nouns

Normally, nouns ending in a, ad, ción, or sión are feminine.

One exceptions is un mapa.

Examples:Una mesaUna naciónUna cuidad

Feminine nouns

Also, nouns that can describe female persons generally are feminine or have a feminine form that is similar to the masculine form.

Examples:Una mujerUna muchachaUna profesora Una doctora

Exceptions

Masculineel cometa el cura el día el dilema el diploma 

FeminineLa fotoLa motoLa modeloLa mano

Nouns ending in “e”Nouns ending in “e” can either be masculine or

feminine such as un coche and una noche

Indefinite articles

Plural indefinite articles(unos, unas) can be translated to “some” or “few””.

“Hay unos libros en la sala de clase.”- There are a few books in the classroom.

The indefinite article(un, una) refers to a non-specific item.

“Es un libro”- It’s a book.

Definite articles

The definite article(el, la) refers to a specific item.

“Es el libro que usamos en la clase de español.”-It’s the book we use in the Spanish class.

Plural definite articles(los, las), same as the singular effect, refer to specific things.

“Son los libros para la clase de español.”-They’re the books for the Spanish class.

Pluralization

If a noun ends in a, á, e, é, o, ó, i or u, we simply add s.

Profesora Profesoras

Casa CasasMuchacha

MuchachasMesa Mesas

Libro LibrosCafé CafésCursi CursisTribu Tribus

Pluralization

The rare word that ends in í or ú can be pluralized by adding either s or es.

rubí rubís/rubíes• menú menús/menúes• colibrí colibrís/colibríes• Esquí esquís/esquíes• Iglú iglús/iglúes

Pluralization

If a noun ends in a consonant, we add es.

Borrador borradoresReloj relojesPapel papelesParedparedes

Practice!

http://www.studyspanish.com/tests/genoun1.htm

http://spanishgrammarlessons.com/2-grammar-worksheets/articles/spanish-definite-and-indefinite-articles-worksheet/

http://spanishgrammarlessons.com/2-grammar-worksheets/articles/spanish-articles-quiz/

http://spanishgrammarlessons.com/2-grammar-worksheets/articles/definite-articles-sentences-spanish-worskheet/

http://spanishgrammarlessons.com/2-grammar-worksheets/articles/spanish-articles-fill-in-the-blanks-worksheet/

http://spanishgrammarlessons.com/2-grammar-worksheets/articles/spanish-indefinite-articles-worksheet/