Download Spanish Nouns and Articles

Spanish Nouns and
Articles
Minerva del C. Martinez
ENGL 360
Prof. E. Lugo
February 28, 2012
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• Articles
– The articles are the little words used before a
noun, and there are two types. One type is
"definite" and the other is "indefinite".
– In English the definite article is "THE" and the
indefinites are "A" or "AN".
• There are four forms for each type of
article- based on gender and number.
– The definite articles (= THE): el, la ,los, las
– The indefinite articles (= A, AN {singular] or
SOME, A FEW [plural]) un, una, unos, unas
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• Articles
– When a plural includes both masculine and
feminine elements, the masculine noun is
used with the article "los" (for example:
parents are "los padres", children are "los
niños" or "los hijos").
– Masculine nouns have the article "el" in
singular form and the article "los" in
plural.
– Feminine nouns have the article "la" in
singular form and the article "las" in
plural.
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• Articles
• The uses of the indefinite articles
– The indefinite articles is omitted in Spanish
frequently when it is used in English. Here are
the rules:
– When telling what a person is (profession,
nationality, occupation, religion, gender, social
status, etc.), unless that noun is modified.
Ejemplos: Yo soy profesor. (I am a teacher.) Ella
es estudiante. (She is a student.) El es mexicano.
(He is a Mexican.) But: Ella es una ingeniera
fantástica. (She is a fantastic engineer. It's
modified so the article una is used.)
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• Articles
– When "tener" is negative, or if it is
used in a question, the indefinite
article is often omitted. For example:
¿Tienes bolígrafo? No, no tengo
bolígrafo. Do you have a pen? No, I
don't have a pen. In fact, after the
verb "tener", the article is used only to
specify the number. Tengo un
bolígrafo. (I have "only one" pen.)
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• Articles
– Very importantly, you must
remember that the
indefinite article is omitted
in the following situations:
• After expressions
starting with ¡Qué...! For
example: ¡Qué día bonito!
= What a pretty day!
– Before "otro" or "otra"
(These words mean "other"
or "another", so using un/una
would mean "an another".)
Example: Hay otra razón
para no salir. There is
another reason not to leave.
• Before "cierto/cierta"
Example: Hay cierta
persona en la clase que
no... There is a certain
person in the class who
doesn't...
• Before "cien" or "mil".
Ejemplo: Tengo cien (mil)
dólares. I have a
hundred (thousand)
dollars.
• After "tal" (such)
Example: ¡Fue tal idea
buena! It was such a
good idea!
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• Spanish Nouns
– Spanish nouns are either masculine or
feminine. There is no neuter gender
noun.
– There are typical rules you can lean on
and exceptions you should be aware
when they occur.
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• The rules:
– Feminine nouns
• Generally nouns ending in "-a"
– la fruta, la mesa, la palabra
• Nouns ending in "-dad" / "-tad" / "-tud"
– la ciudad, la edad, la universidad
– la amistad, la facultad, la libertad
– la inquietud, la juventud, la virtud
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• Feminine nouns:
– Nouns ending in "-ción" / "-sión" / "gión"
– la canción, la estación, la lección
– la profesión, la televisión, la tensión
– la legión, la región, la religión
– Nouns ending in "-ez", as long as they
refer to abstract nouns formed with
suffixes
–
–
–
–
la rigidez -- rigidity
la sensatez -- soberness
la validez -- validity
la vejez -- old age, oldness
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• Feminine nouns:
– Nouns ending in "-triz"
• la actriz, la directriz, la emperatriz
– Nouns ending in "-umbre"
• la costumbre, la incertidumbre, la legumbre
– Shortened version of originally feminine
nouns
•
•
•
•
la disco -- la discoteca
la foto -- la fotografía
la moto -- la motocicleta
la tele -- la televisión
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• Feminine nouns:
– Nouns referring to women
• la madre -- mother
• la mujer -- woman, wife
– Exceptions
• ending in "-d"
– la merced -- mercy
– la pared -- wall
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• Exceptions
– ending in "-e"
• la base -- basis
• la calle – street
– ending in "-z"
• la cruz -- cross
• la faz – face
– other
•
•
•
•
•
•
la filial -- affiliate
la flor -- flower
la imagen -- image
la ley -- law
la mano -- hand
la miel -- honey
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• Masculine nouns:
– Nouns of Greek
origin, ending in "ma" / "-ta" / "-pa"
• el clima, el programa,
el tema
• el cometa, el planeta
(but to confuse you: la
dieta :-))
• el mapa
• Exceptions
• el día (el mediodía) -day, daytime (noon)
• el gorila -- gorilla
• el pijama -- pajamas
• el sofá -- sofa
• el tranvía -- tram,
streetcar
• el yoga -- yoga
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• Words ending in.....
– Words ending in "o" are generally
masculine. There are some exceptions,
however:
•
•
•
•
la mano (hand)
la radio (radio); el radio = radius
la moto (motorcycle) short for motocicleta
la foto (photograph) short for fotografía
Spanish Nouns and Articles
– Words ending in "a" are
generally feminine.
Again, there are
exceptions.
• el día (day) hence:
¡Buenos días!
• el tranvía (streetcar)
• el panda (panda)
– There are a number of
other words ending in
"a" that are also
masculine:
el mapa (map)
el drama (drama)
el problema (problem)
el sistema (system)
el programa (program)
(also telegrama
telegram, crucigrama
crossword)
– el planeta (planet)
–
–
–
–
–
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• dad, -tad, -tud, umbre
– With no exceptions,
words ending in
"dad", "tad", "tud" or
"umbre" are feminine.
•
•
•
•
•
•
la ciudad
la libertad
la universidad
la juventud
la cumbre
la muchedumbre
• ión
– With only two
notable exceptions,
words ending in "ión"
are feminine.
• la reunión
• la televisión
• la reacción
– The exceptions:
• el avión
• el camión
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• ie, -cia, -ez, -eza, nza, -sis, -itis
– Words with these
endings are generally
feminine:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
la especie (species)
la herencia (heritage)
la niñez (childhood)
la naturaleza (nature)
la enseñanza (teaching)
la crisis (crisis)
la tendonitis
(tendonitis)
• -án, -or, ambre, -aje
– Words with these
endings are generally
masculine.
•
•
•
•
el alemán (German)
el amor (love)
el calambre (cramp)
el garaje (garage)
– exception: "hambre" is
feminine in gender!
• la hambre
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• If the word is ......
• Sometimes you can determine the gender of a
noun by what it is, too.
• For example:
– All days of the week and months are masculine. el
lunes, el martes, el enero, el diciembre, etc.
– Languages are always masculine. el español, el
inglés, el francés, etc.
– Numbers are masculine. Su cumpleaños es el diez
de abril.
– Colors, when used as nouns, are masculine. Mi
color favorito es el verde.
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• If the word is ......
• The names of rivers, lakes, seas and oceans
are masculine (because the words río, lago,
mar and océano are all masculine. The Pacific
= El Pacífico, The Amazon = El Amazonas; etc.
– Whereas the fruit is often feminine (la
manzana- apple); the fruit tree is masculine
(el manzano- apple tree). la naranja > el
naranjo; la pera > el peral; la cereza > el
cerezo; etc.
– Infinitives used as nouns are always
masculine. El fumar es malo para la salud.
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• Compound words
– What are they? Some words are made up by combining
two separate words. Often these consist of a verb and
a noun. The verb is in the third person singular (él),
and the noun is in the plural form [= does something to
this object]. These words are always masculine.
– For example:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
el
el
el
el
el
el
el
tocadiscos (toca + discos = plays records)= record player
paraguas (para + aguas = stops water) = umbrella
parabrisas
abrelatas
lavaplatos
sacacorchos
limpiacristales
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• Words that are
both masculine and
feminine...
– Some words can be
either masculine or
feminine, but the
meaning of the
word changes with
the gender change.
el cura = priest
la cura = cure
el capital = money
(capital)
la capital = capital
[city]
el mañana tomorrow
la mañana = morning
el frente = front
[weather, military]
la frente = forehead
el orden = order
[tidiness]
la orden = order
[command]
el policía = policeman la policía = police
[force], policewoman
el guía = guide [male] la guía = guide
[female] or
guidebook
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• One more thing- ARTE.
– In its singular form, "arte" is
masculine- el arte moderno. However,
in its plural form "artes" is feminine las bellas artes.
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• Nouns Designating
People
and Some Other Animals
• Obviously, people have
gender so this will make
more sense than saying
if a chair is masculine or
feminine.
• If the word ends in ......
in the masculine form...,
in the feminine it ends
in...
• o
• Quite often if a word
referring to a person ends
in "o", the corresponding
feminine form will end in
"a". For example: el hijo >
la hija; el hermano > la
hermana; el médico > la
médica; etc.
• exceptions (These do not
change the "o", but do
change the article.): el
testigo > la testigo; el
modelo > la modelo
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• or
• If a word ends in "or"
on the masculine, add
and "a" to form the
feminine. el profesor >
la profesora; el
escultor > la escultora.
• exceptions: el actor >
la actriz; el emperador
> la emperatriz
• és, án
• Words ending in "és"
and "á[í, ó]n" drop the
accent and add an "a"
to form the feminine.
el francés > la
francesa; el capitán >
la capitana; el ladrón >
la ladrona, el bailarín >
la bailarina
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• a
• Some words end in "a"
in the masculine form.
Again, these are often
from Greek and the
gender change is going
to be noted merely by
a change in article. el
artista > la artista; el
pianista > la pianista;
el dentista > la
dentista, el atleta > la
atleta
• e
• Words ending in "e"
fall into two
categories- "e" and
"nte". Words ending in
"e" first. They change
the article only: el
intérprete > la
intérprete; el tigre >
la tigre; el teniente, la
teniente
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• nte
• Many words ending in
"nte" do one of two
things. In the past, they
kept the "e" at the endel cliente > la cliente; el
dependiente > la
dependiente, etc.
However, it is becoming
common to change the
"e" to "a", so you may
hear (read, say or write)
la clienta, la
dependienta,
• consonants
(other than "or", "és"
and án")
• These words stay the
same, but change the
article to reflect the
gender change: el joven
> la joven, el líder > la
líder
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• Words that Change with a Gender Change
• It's not la padre, is it? It's la madre. There are other
words that change as do these.
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
el rey > la reina
el actor > la actriz
el emperador > la emperatriz
el varón (masculine) > la hembra (feminine)
el toro > la vaca
el conde > la condesa
el poeta > la poetisa
el marido/ el hombre > la mujer
el príncipe > la princesa
el gallo (rooster) > la gallina (hen)
don > doña
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• Words that don't change at all.
• There is a short list of words that do not
change gender- article or word. They just
do not change! So regardless of whether
they are designating a male or female, they
will always be:
el bebé (baby)
el ángel (angel)
la persona (person)
el personaje (character from a book, movie,
show, etc.)
– la víctima (victim)
–
–
–
–
Spanish Nouns and Articles
• http://doncarlos123.tripod.com/sus
tantivos.html#Definite article
translations
• http://www.espanyol.hu/en/grammar/gender.php