1. Gender of Nouns

2. What are nouns?  Nouns denote a person, place, or thing.  In Spanish, nouns have genders!

3. All nouns in Spanish are either  Masculine (el)  Feminine (la)

4. Not literally!  While it may be easy to see how certain nouns (that pertain to living things) have a gender because often we assign these things a name.  It is the inanimate objects with which you may have the most difficulty.  Try this test.

5. Decide whether the following words are masculine or feminine in gender dresstablebookwindow

6. Let’s see how you did! dress – el vestido Table – la mesa book – el libro window – la ventana

7. Maculine nouns  These nouns tend to end in: o o

8. Feminine nouns  These nouns tend to end in a ación ación itad itad sión sión dad dad

9. Take a look at some words you already know  chocolate  pizza  tarea  libro

10. Nouns that don’t follow the rules!  Some nouns don’t follow the rule because of pronunciation. El agua – water If we were to say la agua really fast the two words would lose distinction when pronunced.

11. Another reasons nouns don’t follow the rules!  Some nouns of Greek origin remain masculine even though they have a feminine ending.  Example: el problema

12. Ma-Pa-Ta Ma, Pa, Ta Words that end in –ma, -pa, or –ta are masculine words. El clima El mapa El planeta

13. How do you know which is which?  The best thing you can do is practice using the definite article with your new vocabulary.  What are the definite articles you ask?

14. Definite Articles  It is how we say “the” in Spanish.  The are four ways based upon the gender of the noun and whether or not the noun is singular or plural. Confused?!

15. Feminine nouns  Singular = la  Plural = las

16. Masculine nouns  Singular = el  Plural = los

17. Indefinite Articles  It is how we say “a” or “an” with something singular and “a few” or “some” with something that is plural.  There are four ways based upon the gender of the noun and whether or not the noun is singular or plural. Sound familiar?

18. Singular nouns  feminine = una (a, an)  masculine = un (a, an)

19. Plural nouns  Feminine = unas (some/a few)  Masculine = unos (some/a few)