Nouns Nouns refer to people animals places and

Nouns

• Nouns refer to people, animals, places, and things.

• In Spanish, nouns have gender. They are either masculine or feminine.

Masculine • Most nouns that end in -o are masculine.

Feminine • Most nouns that end in -a are feminine.

Por ejemplo… • el libro • la calculadora • Some exceptions: el día, la mano, el problema, el agua, el mapa

Other Spanish Nouns that end in -e or a consonant.

Por ejemplo… el cine la clase televisión el marcador la

Other Spanish Nouns • Some can be both masculine and feminine: • el / la estudiante

Making Nouns Plural • To make nouns plural you usually add -s to words ending in a vowel and -es to words ending in a consonant. • silla • teclado • cartel sillas teclados carteles

Making Nouns Plural • Singular nouns that end in z change the z to c in the plural. • El lápiz los lápices

¿Sacapuntas? • The word sacapuntas ends in -s, however it does not change from singular to plural. Only the article does. el sacapuntas los

Definite Articles • El , La , Los and Las are called definite articles. • In English they mean “the”

Definite Articles • We use El and Los with masculine nouns and Las with feminine nouns.

Indefinite Articles • Un, Una, Unos, and Unas are indefinite articles.

Indefinite Articles • Un and Una mean “a or an” in English.

Indefinite Articles • Unos and Unas mean “some” in English.

Indefinite Articles • Un and Unos are masculine and Unas are feminine.

It’s a good idea to learn a noun with its definite article, el or la, because that will usually tell you the gender.