A NOUN can be a person, animal, idea or a thing. This are examples of nouns that you might know and if not you can add them to your list of vocabulary:
el profesor la profesora.............teacher,profesor
el morral la mochila................backpack,bookbag
la oficina.............................................office
el amor..............................................love
As you can see above all nouns are either masculine (masculino) or feminine (femenino) in gender.
el secretario la secretaria ............................. secretary
el niño la niña........................................ child
FEMININE NOUNS
The gender of the nouns must be memorized and if you use the article that will help you remember them. Another way to determine whether a noun is masculine or feminine is by looking at their ending. Most nouns ending in -a are feminine:
la oficina
la mochila
la secretaria
All nouns that end in -tad or -dad are feminine
la libertad..........................liberty
la universidad....................university
All nouns that end in -ión are feminine
la nación...................................nation
la comparación........................comparison
la combinación........................combination
the chart below shows you the articles that are placed before the nouns shown above. These are known as DEFINITE ARTICLES
| | Singular | Plural |
| Masculine | el--the | los--the |
| Feminine | la--the | las--the |
The definite articles are used when you are refering to a specific noun.
INDEFINITE ARTICLES
| | Singular | Plural |
| Masculine | un---a,an | unos---some |
| Feminine | una---a,an | unas---some |
Use the indefinite noun when referring to a non-specific noun.
el taco----specific taco .....chicken taco,beef taco
un taco----a taco
la secretaria.......la secretaria del doctor .....specific secretary
una secretaria... a secretary
el edificio....the building
un edificio...a building
MASCULINE NOUNS
Most nouns that end in -o are masculine:
el edificio......................building
el libro..........................book
el bolígrafo...................pen
EXCEPTIONS
el dia and el mapa
Words derive from Greek that end in -ma such as:
el sistema..........................the system
el programa......................the program
el problema.......................the problem
A common exception to this rule regarding masculine nouns ending in -o is
la mano
RULE # 1
If a nound ends in a vowel add a -s to make it plural
la mochila las mochilas
el edificio los edificios
el libro de texto........ los libros de texto
RULE #2
If a noun ends in a consonant add an -es
papel+ es= papeles
universidad+es=universidades
