1.3: Los sustantivos y los artículos

Nouns and Articles

Nouns

Nouns identify people, animals, places, and things. In Spanish, all nouns have gender (masculine or feminine), and number (singular or plural).

Nouns referring to people who are males or females are easy to categorize by gender:

Masculine and Feminine Nouns

Masculine	English	Feminine	English
el hombre	man	la mujer	woman
el chico	boy	la chica	girl
el muchacho	boy	la muchacha	girl
el profesor	professor	la profesora	professor
el señor	Mr.; sir	la señora	Mrs.; Madam

Some nouns referring to people have identical masculine and feminine forms. The article indicates the gender of these words:

Examples of Identical Masculine and Feminine Nouns

Masculine	English	Feminine	English
el joven	young man	la joven	young woman
el estudiante	student (male)	la estudiante	student (female)
el turista	tourist (male)	la turista	tourist (female)

Some nouns referring to animals by default will use either the masculine or feminine definite article ("el" or "la") to refer to both genders. In the examples below, the article and the noun never change gender. To specify whether we are referring to a male or female animal, we need to use the words "macho" (male), and "hembra" (female) right after we say the name:

Nouns With Fixed Gender Forms

Default	English	Default	English
el chimpancé	chimpanzee	la abeja	bee
el canguro	kangaroo	la araña	spider
el gusano	worm	la ardilla	squirrel
el gorila	gorilla	la ballena	whale
el pez	fish	la mariposa	butterfly
el rinoceronte	rhinoceros	la serpiente	serpent
el sapo	toad	la jirafa	giraffe
el tiburón	shark	la rana	frog

Examples of Nouns With Fixed Gender Forms:

el canguro macho; el canguro hembra; los canguros machos; los canguros hembras
la ballena macho; la ballena hembra; las ballenas machos; las ballenas hembras

It is harder to understand the gender of nouns that refer to places and things. Here are some guidelines that may help, but they do not apply to all nouns; they all have exceptions. Because of this, it is best always to learn the noun with its corresponding article to remember whether it is masculine or feminine.

General Guidelines for Nouns Referring to Places and Things

In the following list of examples, the endings of nouns are in bold.

1. Most nouns that end in -o, -ema, -pa, -ta, -l, -n, -r and -s, are masculine.
2. Most nouns that end in -a, -ción, -sión, -dad, -ad, -sis, -itis, and -z are feminine.
3. Nouns that end in -e can be either masculine or feminine.

Examples of Spanish Nouns and Their Gender-Determining Endings

Masculine	English	Feminine	English	Exceptions	English
el libro	book	la escuela	school	la mano	hand
el problema	problem	la lección	lesson	la foto	photo
el mapa	map	la televisión	television	el arroz	rice
el planeta	planet	la comunidad	community	el lápiz	pencil
el papel	paper	la clase	class	la chaqueta	jacket
el examen	exam	la libertad	liberty	el día	day
el color	color	la dosis	dose	la noche	night
el autobús	bus	la artritis	arthritis	la imagen	image
		la luz	light

Some Spanish nouns change meaning depending on whether they are used with a masculine or feminine article:

Nouns that Change in Meaning Based on the Article

Masculine	English	Feminine	English
el capital	capital (money)	la capital	capital (city)
el cólera	cholera	la cólera	anger
el coma	coma	la coma	comma
el cometa	comet	la cometa	kite
el corte	cut (fabric)	la corte	court (judicial; king's/queen's)
el cura	priest	la cura	cure
el frente	front	la frente	forehead
el mañana	future (tomorrow)	la mañana	morning
el orden	order (arrangement)	la orden	order (command)
el Papa	Pope	la papa	potato
el parte	message, report	la parte	part, portion
el pendiente	earring; errand	la pendiente	hill or slope
el radio	radius, the radium	la radio (short for 'la radiodifusora')	the radio (broadcaster)

Articles

In Spanish, there are four forms of the definite article equivalent to "the" in English. The same applies to the indefinite articles, which correspond to "a," "an," or "some." They all vary according to the gender and number of the noun.

Definite Articles: (The) Indefinite Articles: (a, an, some)

Definite and Indefinite Articles

Number	Masculine	Feminine	Number	Masculine	Feminine
singular	el papel	la clase	singular	un papel	una clase
plural	los papeles	las clases	plural	unos papeles	unas clases

Plural of Nouns

• To form the plural of a noun that ends in a vowel, simply add "-s"
• For nouns ending in a consonant, add "-es"
• If the consonant is the letter "z", change the "z" to "ces".

Forming Plural Nouns in Spanish

Singular	→	Plural
la clase	→	las clases
el papel	→	los papeles
la luz	→	las luces

In general, the accent mark of a singular noun must also be used when forming into a plural noun unless the accent mark is on the last syllable of the singular noun.

Rules for Adding a Written Accent to Plural Nouns

Singular	→	Plural
el lápiz	→	los lápices
el autobús	→	los autobuses
la lección	→	las lecciones

The masculine plural form is also used when in a mixed-gender group there is a masculine noun:

1 muchacho + 2 muchachas = 3 muchachos OR los muchachos; unos muchachos