Spanish 101

The Basics of Spanish

Gender of Nouns

The general rule

If a word ends in "o" it is usually masculine. If a word ends in "a" it is usually feminine.

"the" = "el" for masculine, "la" for feminine.

"a" = "un" in masculine, "una" is feminine

el mundo = world
el chico = boy
el colegio = school
el coche = car
el miedo = fear

la chica = girl
la piscina = swimming pool
la mesa = table
la libertad = liberty

Masculine to Feminine

No general rule.

el gato => la gata (cat)
el perro => la perra (dog)
el chico (boy) => la chica (girl)
el hermano (brother) => la hermana (sister)

Note. Words that have feminine meanings or connotations tend to be a feminine word. Exceptions:

el vestido (dress)
la corbata (tie)

More examples:

el doctor => la doctora (doctor)
el profesor => la profesora (teacher)

Exceptional Examples. In some cases, the actual noun does not change, but the article does in accordance to whom it is referring to.

el estudiante => la estudiante (student)
el artista => la artista (artist)

Exceptional masculine nouns ending in "a"

el problema (problem)
el mapa (map)
el tema (issue)
el sistema (system)

Exceptional feminine nouns ending in "o"

la mano (hand)
la radio (radio)

More Feminine Noun rules

Nouns ending in -sión, -ción, -dad, -tad, -tud, -umbre are feminine.

la televisión (TV)
la decisión (decision)
la conversación (conversation)
la ciudad (city)
la actitud (attitude)
la libertad (liberty)
la certidumbre (certainty)

Plural Forms of Nouns

Definite Articles in the Plural Form

"el" becomes "los"
"la" becomes "las"

Vowel Ending

If a noun ends in a vowel, then it becomes plural by adding the letter "s".

casa (house) => casas
el libro (book) => los libros
la pluma (pen) => las plumas
el chico (boy) => los chicos
la señora (women referred to older women) => las señoras

Consonant Ending

If a noun ends in a consonant, it becomes plural by adding "es".

país (country) => países
el borrador (draft) => los borradores
la universidad (university) => las universidades
el profesor (teacher) => los profesores
la ciudad (city) => las ciudades

"-ión" Ending

If a noun ends in "-ión", add "-es" and drop the written accent.

el avión (aeroplane) => los aviones (Note. this is masculine, exception of the above rule.)
la conversación (conversation) => las conversaciones
la sección (section) => las secciones
la televisión (TV) => las televisiones

"-z" Ending

Noun ends in "-z", add "-es" and change the "z" to "c".

el lápiz => los lápices
la voz (voice) => las voces
el tapiz (wallpaper) => los tapices
la actriz (actress) => la actrices

Maschuline and Feminine Plural Nouns Combined

When the plural refers to two or more nouns of different genders, the masculine plural is used.

1 camello (camel) + 4 camellas = 5 camellos

Compound Nouns

Compound nouns are always masculine, therefor in the plural form the definite article changes from "el" to "los".

abre (open) + latas (cans) = abrelatas (can opener)
- el abrelatas => los abrelatas