Género, número y artículosGender, number & articles

I. Género

• In Spanish, all nouns carry gender, either masculine (M) or feminine (F).

• In order to tell whether a noun is M or F look at the ending for a clue.

• Except for some irregular exceptions, the ending will automatically distinguish the noun as M or F.

Masculino• Words that end in following letters or letter groups are

generally masculino (M).

** Be careful, many words do not follow this rule!

-o

alumno

-pa

mapa

-ta

poeta

-ma

programa

-l

español

-n

pelotón

(crowd)

-r

dólar

-e **

hombre

(man)

Femenina• Words that end in following letters or

letter groups are generally femenina (F).

**Be careful, remember -pa, -ta & -ma!

-a **

alumna

-dad

actividad

-tad

libertad

-ión

civilización

** Remember, these are general guidelines. There

are some exceptions that do not follow these patterns.

Ejemplos

Are the following M or F?

universidad

F

biblioteca

F

colegio

M

programa

M

II. Número

• Number refers to whether a noun is singular or plural.

• You make a noun plural by adding an –s or –es to the end of the noun.

• In some cases, other orthographic changes may be necessary.

To make nouns plural, do the following:

A. if the word ends in a vowel, simply add

“-s” to make it plural

Ex: alumno alumnos

To make nouns plural, do the following:

B. if the word ends in a consonant, add “-es”

Ex: universidad universidades

To make nouns plural, do the following:

C. if the word ends in “–z”, the plural changes to “-ces”

Ex: lápiz lápices

To make nouns plural, do the following:

D. if the word ends in “–ión”, add “-es” and remove the written accent mark

Ex: nación naciones

Examples

colegio

colegios

papel

papeles

actriz

actrices

reunión

reuniones

III. Artículos

• There are 2 types of articles in Spanish & English

A. Definite articles

B. Indefinite articles

Artículos definidos

• What is the function of a definite article?

A definite article refers to something specific

• What is a definite article in English?

the

Ejemplo

Ex: the specific boy rather than any boy.

The boy with the red shirt on

v.

A boy with a red shirt (any boy in general)

Artículos definidos

• What are they in Spanish? ** concordancia

masculino femenina

singular elthe

lathe

plural losthe

lasthe

Artículos indefinidos

• What is the function of an indefinite article?

An indefinite article refers to something in general

• What is an indefinite article in English?

a, an, some

Ejemplo

Ex: any boy rather than a specific boy.

A boy with a red shirt (any boy in general)

v.

The (specific) boy with the red shirt on

Artículos indefinidos

• What are they in Spanish? ** concordancia

masculino femenina

singular una, an

unaa, an

Plural unossome

unassome

Concordancia

concordancia = agreement

** The article that accompanies the noun must agree in gender AND number with

that noun.

Ejemplos

Artículos definidos

libro

elmuchachas

lasnación

la

Artículos indefinidos

libro

unmuchachas

unasnación

una

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