Lección 1 - Nouns and Articles

A noun is a word used to identify people, places, animals, things, or ideas. Unlike English, Spanish nouns have gender. They are either masculine or feminine. As in English, nouns in Spanish also have numbers, meaning they are singular or plural.

Nouns that refer to living things

• Masculine nouns

  • “el hombre” - the man

  • ending in -o

    • “el chico” - the boy

    • “el pasajero” - the (male) passenger

  • ending in -or

    • “el conductor” - the (male) driver

    • “el profesor” - the (male) teacher/professor

  • ending in -ista

    • “el turista” - the (male) tourist

• Feminine nouns

  • “la mujer” - the woman

  • ending in -a

    • “la chica” - the girl

    • “la pasajera” - the (female) passenger

  • ending in -ora

    • “la conductora” - the (female) driver

    • “la profesora” - the (female) teacher/professor

  • ending in -ista

    • “la turista” - the (female) tourist

• “Neutral” nouns (they aren’t neutral)

  • “el joven” - the male youth // “la joven” - the female youth

  • “el estudiante” - the male student // “la estudiante” - the female student

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VOCABULARY

• Masculine nouns

  • ending in -o

    • el cuaderno - the notebook

    • el diario - the diary

    • el diccionario - the dictionary

    • el numero - the number

    • el video - the video

  • ending in -ma

    • el problema - the problem

    • el programa - the program

  • ending in -s

    • el autobús - the bus

    • el país - the country

• Feminine nouns

  • ending in -a

    • la cosa - the thing

    • la escuela - the school

    • la computadora - the computer

    • la maleta - the suitcase

    • la palabra - the word

  • ending in -ción

    • la lección - the lesson

    • la conversación - the conversation

  • ending in -dad

    • la nacionalidad - the nationality

    • la comunidad - the community

• Common exceptions to the rules of gender:

  • el mapa - the map

  • el día - the day

  • la mano - the hand

Plural of Nouns

• To form the plural, add -s to nouns ending with a vowel. For nouns that end in a consonant, add -es. For nouns that end in z, change the z to a c, then add -es.

  • el chico → los chicos

  • la nacionalidad → las nacionalidades

  • el diario → los diarios

  • el país → los países

  • el problema → los problemas

  • el lápiz → los lápices

Lección 1.1 - Nouns & Articles

• When a singular noun has an accent mark on the last syllable, the accent is dropped from the plural form.

la lección (3 syllables) → las lecciones (4 syllables)

el autobús (3 syllables) → los autobuses (4 syllables)

• Masculine > Feminine

  • 1 pasajero + 2 pasajeras = 3 pasajeros

  • 2 chicos + 2 chicas = 4 chicos

• Definite Article and Indefinite Articles

  • English often uses definite articles (the) and indefinite articles (a, an) before nouns. Unlike English, Spanish articles vary in form because they agree in gender and number of the nouns.

    • Definite Articles

      • Masculine

        • Singular

          • el diccionario

        • Plural

          • los diccionarios

      • Feminine

        • Singular

          • la computadora

        • Plural

          • las computadoras

    • Indefinite Articles

      • Masculine

        • Singular

          • un pasajero

        • Plural

          • unos pasajeros

      • Feminine

        • Singular

          • una fotografía

        • Plural

          • unas fotografias