Gender and Number Nouns and Articles v Nouns

Gender and Number

Nouns and Articles v Nouns • • • are words that refer to: People Places Things v In Spanish, all nouns are considered either masculine or feminine. el diccionario MASCULINE la mochila FEMININE v Typically, nouns that refer to males are masculine and nouns that refer to females are feminine. el profesor (male teacher) la profesora (female teacher)

Nouns and Articles v So what about all the nouns that refer to things and not people? The GENDER (masculine/feminine) of nouns that refer to inanimate objects is arbitrary! v Then how do you know whether a noun is masculine or feminine? Typically nouns that end in –o are masculine and nouns that end in – a are feminine. Masculine Feminine diccionario calculadora libro mochila cuaderno carpeta

Nouns and Articles v HOWEVER… There are many nouns that do NOT end in –o or -a: papel lápiz marcador There also many exceptions to the guideline: el mapa la mano v So what do you do with these words? MEMORIZE THEM!

Nouns and Definite Articles v Nouns in Spanish are typically accompanied by an article. o One kind of article is a DEFINITE ARTICLE What is the definite article we use in English? THE o In Spanish, there are four different ways to say “the”: EL LA LOS LAS Because it has to match the Why are there so noun it accompanies in two many different ways: to say “the”? 1. Masculine / Feminine 2. Singular / Plural

Nouns and Definite Articles For example: COMPUTADORA Is the noun “computadora” a masculine word or a feminine word? FEMININE! Is it singular or plural? SINGULAR! So the article we use to say “the computer” in Spanish is… LA COMPUTADORA

Nouns and Definite Articles For example: CUADERNOS Is the noun “cuadernos” a masculine word or a feminine word? MASCULNE! Is it singular or plural? PLURAL! So the article we use to say “the notebooks” in Spanish is… LOS CUADERNOS

Complete each sentence with the correct definite article (EL / LA / LOS / LAS). Then identify the picture that corresponds with the statement. B A C D EL Yo necesito _____ libro de matemáticas. E F G H

Complete each sentence with the correct definite article (EL / LA / LOS / LAS). Then identify the picture that corresponds with the statement. B A C D LOS papeles. Yo no tengo_____ E F G H

Complete each sentence with the correct definite article (EL / LA / LOS / LAS). Then identify the picture that corresponds with the statement. B A C D LAS Yo necesito ______ tijeras para la clase de arte. E F G H

Complete each sentence with the correct definite article (EL / LA / LOS / LAS). Then identify the picture that corresponds with the statement. B A C D LA ¿De quién es ______ pluma? E F G H

Nouns and Indefinite Articles v In addition to using definite articles to say “the”, we also use INDEFINITE ARTICLES What are the indefinite articles we use in English? A & AN o Just like there are four ways to say “the” in Spanish, there also four ways to say “a / an” depending on if the noun is masculine/feminine and singular/plural: UN UNA FEMININE UNOS UNAS MASCULINE The plural forms UNOS & UNAS are often used to say “some, any or few” Ex: unos papeles some papers

Complete each sentence with the correct indefinite article (UN / UNA / UNOS / UNAS). Then identify the picture that corresponds with the statement. B A C D UNAS gomas están en mi mochila. ______ E F G H

Complete each sentence with the correct definite article (UN / UNA / UNOS / UNAS). Then identify the picture that corresponds with the statement. B A C D UN ¿Dónde está ______ cuaderno de ciencias? E F G H

Complete each sentence with the correct definite article (UN / UNA / UNOS / UNAS). Then identify the picture that corresponds with the statement. B A C D UNA Yo necesito ______ regla. E F G H

Complete each sentence with the correct definite article (UN / UNA / UNOS / UNAS). Then identify the picture that corresponds with the statement. B A C D UNOS lápices. Yo prefiero ______ E F G H

Making Nouns Plural los cuadernos el cuaderno If a noun ends in a vowel (A, E, I, O, U), then you add… …to make it plural -S The ARTICLE! What else has to change when you make a noun plural?

Write the plural form of each noun. Make sure to include the apropriate definite article (el, la , los, las). el libro la regla la pluma Los libros Las reglas Las plumas

Making Nouns Plural los papeles el papel If a noun ends in a consonant, then you add… -ES …to make it plural Don’t forget to change make the article plural as well!!!

For example… el marcador Los marcadores

Making Nouns Plural el lápiz los lápices If a noun ends in a -Z, then you… 1) Change the –Z to –C 2) Add -ES

NEED SOME REVIEW? CHECK OUT THE FOLLOWING LINK: *ARTICLES REVIEW *GENDER REVIEW *PLURALS REVIEW