Nouns and their gender!
Jan 16, 2016
Nounsand their gender!
Gender
In English, nouns can be masculine, feminine, or neutral (meaning having no gender).
They can also be singular or plural.
Gender
In Spanish, however, every noun must be masculine or feminine.
Gender
There is no way to tell for sure what gender the noun is, so you must memorize if it is masculine or feminine. Don’t assume!
Gender
For example, we would assume a woman’s dress to be feminine, but in Spanish it’s not. It’s masculine.
Gender
We might assume a man’s tie to be masculine, but it’s feminine.
Gender
So, how do we know?
Gender
In Spanish we can look at the article
Article = (the little word that means “the” or “a”)
Articles
There are four articles.
El (masculine singular)- the
La (feminine singular)- the
Los (masculine plural)- the
Las (feminine plural)- the
Gender
For example: El colegio = the high school
the word “el” tells us that it is masculine.
And singular!
el =
Gender
La escuela = the school
“la” tells us that it is Feminine.
And singular!
•La =
Gender and Number
For example- Los colegios
the word “los” tells us that it is masculine.
And plural!
los=
Gender and Number
Las escuelas = the schools
“las” tells us that it is Feminine.
And plural!
Las =
Gender
A general rule is “if it ends in “o”, it’s masculine.
If it ends in “a” it’s feminine.”
If it ends in “s” it’s plural!
Gender
As always, there are exceptions to the rule, which you will learn later. So, for now, just memorize the articles with the word.
Practice
________ muchacho
________ muchacha
________ colegio
________ escuela
Practice
________ muchachos
________ muchachas
________ colegios
________ escuelas
Practice
El amig____
La amig____
El sombrer_____
La camis______
Practice
Los amig____
Las amig____
Los sombrer_____
Las camis______