EXPRESSING “THE” BEFORE MASCULINE AND FEMININE NOUNS Páginas 66-69

DEFINITE ARTICLES “THE” In Spanish we use the words “el” “la”“los”“las” to mean “the” Why are there 4 words to mean the one word “the” in Spanish?

WHY THERE ARE 4 SPANISH WORDS TO MEAN “THE”: IMPORTANT TO KNOW: All nouns in Spanish have a gender. They are either masculine or feminine. IT IS NOT THE ACTUAL THING, IT IS THE WORD ITSELF THAT IS MASCULINE OR FEMININE. When you learn nouns you will see small words before them that will tell you if the noun(word) is a masculine nouns or a feminine noun. YOU HAVE TO MEMORIZE THESE WORDS WITH THE ACTUAL NOUN. That is the only way you will remember. SO…. “el” is used before masculine singular nouns. “los” is before masculine plural nouns. “la” is used before feminine singular nouns. “las” is before feminine plural nouns.

EXAMPLES OF MASCULINE NOUNS: amigoamigos chicochicos estudianteestudiantes hombrehombres heladohelados jugojugos refrescorefrescos  Which column ( right or left ) is singular or plural nouns?  LEFT column______________________________ RIGHT column______________________________

GO BACK TO PAGE 3 IN THIS PACKET… Fill in either “el” or “los” next to each noun to express “the” before each noun: ____amigo____amigos ____chico____chicos ____estudiante____estudiantes ____hombre____hombres ____helado____helados ____jugo____jugos ____refresco____refrescos

EXAMPLES OF FEMININE NOUNS: amigaamigas chicachicas estudianteestudiantes mujermujeres personapersonas frutafrutas pizzapizzas

GO BACK TO PAGE 5 IN THIS PACKET… Fill in either “la” or “las” next to each noun to express “the” before each noun: ____amiga____amigas ____chica____chicas ____estudiante____estudiantes ____mujer____mujeres ____persona____personas ____fruta____frutas ____pizza____pizzas

REVIEW: What does “el” “la” “los” and “las” mean?_______________ Which of the 4 definite articles listed above are placed before masculine singular nouns? _______ Which of the 4 definite articles listed above are placed before feminine singular nouns? _______ Which of the 4 definite articles listed above are placed before masculine plural nouns? _______ Which of the 4 definite articles listed above are placed before feminine plural nouns? _______

WHEN YOU LOOK BACK AT ALL OF THE NOUNS: How can you tell is a noun is masculine? ________________________ How can you tell if a nouns is feminine?_________________________ What letter at the end of a word helps you to determine if a noun is masculine?___________ What letter at the end of a word helps you to determine if a noun is feminine?___________ What about if a nouns is plural?_____________

IMPORTANT: Simply enough: To make a noun plural if it ends in a vowel, you need to add an –s to it. amigo  amigosestudiante  estudiantes To make a noun plural if it ends in a consonant, you need to add an –es to it. mujer  mujeres