Articles in Spanish



Articles in Spanish

A noun is a word used to denote a person, place, thing, or idea. Write 3 exam

Person: John, girl, dentist

Place: garden, university, Venezuela

Thing: book, car, tomato

Idea: liberty, despair, intelligence

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In Spanish, all nouns are either masculine or feminine.

|Masculine |Feminine |

|el chico |la chica |

|boy |girl |

|el jardín |la universidad |

|garden |university |

|el libro |la revista |

|book |magazine |

|el miedo |la libertad |

|fear |liberty |

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The idea that nouns have gender seems perfectly natural when the noun stands for a living creature. This is because in English, living creatures often have different names, depending upon whether they are male or female.

|Masculine |Feminine |

|  |  |

|man |woman |

|tiger |tigress |

|aviator |aviatrix |

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The following Spanish nouns all denote living creatures.

|el gato |la gata |

|male cat |female cat |

|el perro |la perra |

|male dog |female dog |

|el chico |la chica |

|boy |girl |

|el abuelo |la abuela |

|grandfather |grandmother |

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How are all of these masculine nouns alike?

el gato

el perro

el chico

el abuelo

Hint: look at both the beginning and the ending of each line.

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How are all of these feminine nouns alike?

la gata

la perra

la chica

la abuela

Hint: look at both the beginning and the ending of each line.

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"El" and "la" both mean "the."

el chico (the boy)

la chica (the girl)

el perro (the male dog)

la gata (the female cat)

Note: These two words (el, la) are called "definite articles." You will learn more about them in a later lesson.

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What do you notice about the last letter of these nouns?

Masculine

gato

perro

chico

abuelo

Feminine

gata

perra

chica

abuela

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Nouns that end in -o are usually masculine. Nouns that end in -a are usually feminine.

Notice the word "usually!" There are exceptions to these two rules and you will soon be learning them.

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One cannot predict the gender of a noun that stands for a non-living thing. Try to predict whether the Spanish words for the following things are masculine or feminine:

Masculine or feminine?

book

house

money

window

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One cannot predict the gender of a noun, except in the case of living creatures. Do not try to analyze the nature of the object, looking for some inherent masculinity or femininity. It won't work!

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Take a guess. Do you think the Spanish word for "dress" is masculine or feminine? You might expect it to be feminine, since a dress is an article of clothing worn by females. Actually, the word for "dress" is a masculine word:

el vestido

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Take another guess. Do you think the Spanish word for "necktie" is masculine or feminine? You might expect it to be masculine, since a necktie is an article of clothing worn by males. Actually, the word for "necktie" is a feminine word:

la corbata

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When you learn a new noun, you should also learn its definite article (el, la). There are several reasons for this:

• Because you cannot predict the gender of most nouns.

• Because not every noun that ends in -o is masculine, and not every noun that ends in -a is feminine.

• Because many nouns end in letters other than o or a.

• Because the definite article (el, la) is your clue as to whether a noun is masculine or feminine.

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Why do you care whether a noun is masculine or feminine? Good question! As you shall see in upcoming lessons, Spanish places a great deal more emphasis on gender than does English.

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Spanish is rapidly becoming a necessity!

There are lots of good reasons to learn Spanish. Some of them relate to business, while others are much more personal. You undoubtedly have your own reasons for wanting to be able to speak and understand Spanish. Click for some compelling reasons you may not have even considered.

Masculine nouns that end in a consonant often have a corresponding feminine form that ends in -a.

el profesor

la profesora

el doctor

la doctora

el señor

la señora

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Some nouns that refer to people use the same form for both masculine and feminine. These nouns indicate gender by the article (el or la).

el estudiante

la estudiante

el pianista

la pianista

el artista

la artista

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Nouns that end in -sión, -ción, -dad, -tad, -tud, -umbre are feminine.

la televisión

la decisión

la conversación

la habitación

la ciudad

la universidad

la dificultad

la libertad

la actitud

la gratitud

la certidumbre

la muchedumbre

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Some nouns that end in -a are masculine.

el problema

el telegrama

el programa

el mapa

el sistema

el poema

el día

el tema

el clima

el idioma

el sofá

el planeta

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Many nouns that end in -ma are masculine. Notice that eight of the twelve nouns listed above end in -ma.

el telegrama

el programa

el problema

el sistema

el poema

el idioma

el clima

el tema

Note: A few nouns that end in -ma are feminine, such as la cama and la pluma.

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Four of the nouns that end in -a are simply exceptions and must be memorized.

el día

el mapa

el planeta

el sofá

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A few nouns that end in -o are feminine.

la mano

la radio

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Review of the rules learned in lesson 1 and lesson 2.

• Many nouns that denote living things have both a masculine and a feminine form.

• Most nouns that end in -o are masculine.

• Most nouns that end in -a are feminine.

• Masculine nouns that end in a consonant often have a corresponding feminine form that ends in -a.

• Some nouns that refer to people use the same form for both masculine and feminine. These nouns indicate gender by the article (el or la).

• Nouns that end in -sión, -ción, -dad, -tad, -tud, -umbre are feminine.

• Many nouns that end in -ma are masculine.

• A few nouns that end in -o are feminine

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You now know most of the rules for determining the gender of a noun. There are just a few more things to know, but they won't be covered until later. Remember, whenever you learn a new noun, learn it complete with its definite article (el, la). Definite articles are the subject of an upcoming lesson.

In Spanish, not just people, but everything in creation has gender!

When you refer to people and animals, understanding gender use in Spanish is easy because gender is a part of their essence — just as with flowers; everyone knows that flowers are pollinated, needing both genders to produce fruit and seeds.

So why not refer to all things that grow with names that are marked by gender? And if things that grow have gender, why not give everything (and every word) that privilege? Many languages spread this gender thing into their universe. English isn't the only exception — it simply belongs to those languages that don't.

A noun's gender conditions everything around it, just as your own gender conditions your lifestyle. For example, in English, the word "piano" has no gender. But in Spanish, the word piano (pee-ah-noh) ends in an o, and can therefore only be male. Consequently, piano has a male definite article before it el piano, (ehl pee-ah-noh) (the piano) or the male indefinite article un piano (oon pee-ah-noh) (a piano).

Lots about articles

In English, you use the articles the and a or an without knowing the subject's gender, or even caring whether a plural or singular word comes after it — very comfortable, but also very vague. However, with Spanish articles, you can point out when you're referring to one or several specific beings or things, and in the same breath, you can specify their gender.

In Spanish, your reward for this precision is variety. It's a "more is better" kind of policy — you have four different ways to say the: "The" can precede "the girl," "the girls," "the boy," "the boys," or any other subject you want to stick in!

• el (ehl) (the male the, singular)

• la (lah) (the female the, singular)

• los (lohs) (the male the, plural)

• las (lahs) (the female the, plural)

And, four ways to say a or an:

• un (oon) (the male a or an)

• una (oo-nah) (the female a or an)

• unos (oo-nohs) (the plural of un)

• unas (oo-nahs) (the plural of una)

So how do you know when to use which article? It's easy. When the noun ends in o — it's male. If a word ends in a, it's female. (Some exceptions to this rule exist, but they're pretty easy to figure out because they follow another rule — the ma, pa, ta rule — which holds that words ending in ma, pa, and ta are likely to be masculine even though a is the last letter.) If the word ends in another letter, you may have a bit of trouble figuring out which gender it is. The easy part to remember is that when you see an "s" at the end of the word, you know the word is plural. Here are some examples:

• el niño (ehl nee-nyoh) (the boy)

los niños (lohs nee-nyohs) (the boys [or the children])

un niño (oon nee-nyoh) (a boy)

unos niños (oo-nohs nee-nyohs) (some boys [or children])

• la niña (lah nee-nyah) (the girl)

las niñas (lahs nee-nyahs) (the girls)

una niña (oo-nah nee-nyah) (a girl)

unas niñas (oo-nahs nee-nyahs) (some girls)

| |Look at the los niños entry in the preceding list and notice that the translation is plural for both "the boys" |

| |and "the children." When you have mixed company (both the male and females genders are present), you use the male |

| |plural article. So los niños can mean "boys" or "boys and girls." You follow the same pattern with unos. |

Okay, okay, so Spanish and English are both vague in places, you say. And Spanish speakers say, sorry, that's the way it is. Languages, like people, all reserve the right to be vague at times.

Spanish is a melodious language. It doesn't like to have two consonants at the end of a word, so it inserts a vowel between them — as in mujer, mujeres. So when a noun ends in a consonant, before adding the s to turn it into a plural, Spanish inserts an e. Following are some examples:

• la mujer (lah moo-Hehr) (the woman)

una mujer (oo-nah moo-Hehr) (a woman)

unas mujeres (oo-nahs moo-Heh-rehs) (some women)

• el pan (ehl pahn) (the bread)

los panes (lohs pah-nehs) (the breads)

un pan (oon pahn) (a bread)

unos panes (oo-nohs pah-nehs) (some breads)

• el canal (ehl kah-nahl) (the channel)

los canales (lohs kah-nah-lehs) (the channels)

un canal (oon kah-nahl) (a channel)

unos canales (oo-nohs kah-nah-lehs) (some channels)

• el doctor (ehl dohk-tohr) (the doctor)

los doctores (lohs dohk-toh-rehs) (the doctors)

un doctor (oon dohk-tohr) (a doctor)

unos doctores (oo-nohs dohk-toh-rehs) (some doctors)

Adjectives

A noun tells you what you're talking about, and a pronoun tells whom you're talking about. But, adjectives are more fun. They tell you what these things and people are like. Adjectives are the essence of gossip!

When you talk or gossip in Spanish, you're very specific about gender and number. In fact, even adjectives get to show their gender and number.

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