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Spanish Nouns 
A noun is a
word used to identify people, animals, places, things or ideas.
Unlike
English, all Spanish nouns have gender. Spanish nouns are either
masculine or feminine even nouns that refer to non-living things
(i.e. table). As in English, Spanish nouns are either singular
or plural (i.e. table or tables).
The gender of nouns
Nouns are either masculine or feminine in gender. This is true
for living or non-living nouns.
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Masculine Noun |
Feminine Noun |
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el padre
the father |
la hermana
the sister |
| |
el abrigo
the coat |
la clase
the class |
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Spanish
Nouns that refer to living things |
|
Masculine Noun |
Feminine Noun |
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ending in -o |
ending in -a |
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ending in -or |
ending in -ora |
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ending in -ista |
ending in -ista |
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Nouns ending in -o or
-or are
usually masculine. Many nouns for persons have a masculine
form when ending in -o or -or.
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Nouns ending in -a or
-ora are usually
feminine. Many nouns for persons have a feminine form when
ending in -a or -ora.
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The masculine and feminine forms
of nouns that end in -ista, like turista, are the same, so
gender is indicated by the article el (masculine) or la
(feminine). Some other nouns have identical masculine and
feminine forms.
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Spanish Nouns that refer to non-living things |
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Masculine Noun |
Feminine Noun |
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ending in -o |
ending in -a |
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ending in -ma |
ending in -ción |
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ending in --s |
ending in -dad |
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certain noun endings are
associated with with a specific gender, so you can use them
to determine if a noun is masculine or feminine.
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Because the gender of nouns that
refer to non-living things cannot be determined by certain
rules, you should memorize the gender of each noun you
learn. Memorize each noun with its corresponding
article, el for masculine and la for feminine.
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Another reason to memorize to
gender of every noun is that there are common exceptions to
the rules of gender. For example, la mano (hand) and el día
(day).
Plural nouns
To
form the plural of nouns add -s if the nouns end in a
vowel. Add -es if the nouns end in a consonant. Nouns
that end in -z change the -z to -c, then
add -es.
You use the masculine plural form of the noun to refer to a
group that includes both males and females. If you have a group
of boys and girls you would refer to them as chicos.
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el tren
®
los trenes |
la mesa
®
las mesas |
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el arroz
®
los arroces |
la cosa
®
las cosas |
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el teatro
®
los teatros |
la propina
®
las propinas |
The definite article
Spanish has four forms of the definite article the.
The definite article in Spanish agree in gender and number with
its noun.
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Masculine Noun |
Feminine Noun |
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Singular |
el chico
the boy |
la chica
the girl |
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Plural |
los chicos
the boys |
las chicas
the girls |
The indefinite
articles
Spanish has four forms of the definite article a and
an and in certain context some. An
indefinite article is used to a unspecified person(s) or thing(s).
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Masculine Noun |
Feminine Noun |
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Singular |
un chico
a boy |
una chica
a girl |
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Plural |
unos chicos
some boys |
unas chicas
some girls |
Un a or one,
is used before a masculine noun; una a or one,
before a feminine noun; unos, some, before a
masculine plural noun; unas some, before a
feminine plural noun.
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