spanish nouns and articles minerva del c. martinez engl 360 prof. e. lugo february 28, 2012

Spanish Nouns and Articles

Minerva del C. MartinezENGL 360

Prof. E. LugoFebruary 28, 2012


• 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


• 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.


• 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.)


• 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– 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.


• 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


• 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


• 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


• 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


• 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


• 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)


• 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


• 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


• 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.


• 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.


• 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


• 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


• 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


• 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


• 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)


• http://doncarlos123.tripod.com/sustantivos.html#Definite article translations

• http://www.e-spanyol.hu/en/grammar/gender.php

http://www.e-spanyol.hu/en/grammar/gender.php

http://www.e-spanyol.hu/en/grammar/gender.php

spanish nouns and articles minerva del c. martinez engl 360 prof. e. lugo february 28, 2012

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