Spanish I

A noun is a person, place, thing, or idea In Spanish, all nouns are either masculine

or feminine. Masculine Nouns Feminine Nounsel libro la puertael escritorio la camael colegio la tarea

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 on whether they are male or female.

Masculine Feminineboy girlgrandfather grandmother

tiger tigress uncle aunt

Certain nouns that denote living things have both a masculine and feminine form in Spanish.

Masculine Feminineel gato---- male cat la gata---- female catel abuelo--- grandfather la abuela--- grandmotherel padre-- father la madre--- motherel chico--- boy la chica--- girl

El gato El abuelo El cuaderno El libro El carro El armario

What does “el” mean?

La abuela La puerta La calculadora La ventana La tarea La chica

What does “la” mean?

Nouns that end in –o are usually masculine.

Nouns that end in –a are usually feminine.

Notice the term “usually.” -There are exceptions to these two rules!

You can’t predict the gender of a noun, except in the case of living creatures.

The word “Dress” is a masculine word in Spanish--- “el vestido”

“Necktie” is a feminine word in Spanish---

“la corbata”

When you learn a new noun, you MUST memorize its definite article (el or la).

Definite Articles (the)el libro - los libros

la casa - las casas

el hombre- los hombres

la mujer – las mujeres

Indefinite Articles (a, an, some)un perro - unos perros

una pluma – unas plumas

un lápiz - unos lápices

una mesa - unas mesas