1. Definite Articles and Plurals
Para Empezar

2. Genders
In Spanish, every NOUN has a gender.
masculine or
feminine

3. How to Determine Gender
Most masculine words end in “o”
ex: el vestido
el libro

4. How to Determine Gender
Feminine Words:
1. Most feminine words end in “a”
ex: la manzana
la hija
2. end in –ión
ex: la estación
3. end in –dad
ex: la universidad
4. End in –tad
ex. actividad
Exception: la mano, el agua

5. Gender For words that don’t end in “o,” “a,” “dad,” or “ión”
you have to memorize the gender
Ex: la nariz
el lápiz

6. Gender
***Gender is not determined by what the noun means or its function, but simply by how the word ENDS. Ex: el vestido = masculine word definition: dress
You can use the silly saying below to help you remember this:
Men are LONERs with probleMAs and women are everything else!

7. *Exceptions are nouns ending ing -ión and –umbre.
Men are LONERs with probleMAs and women are everything else.
If the noun ends in the letters L, O, N, E, R or MA together, it is typically masculine.
*Exceptions are nouns ending ing -ión and –umbre.
If the noun does not end in L, O, N, E, R or MA together, it is typically feminine.

8. Los artículos definidos
There are 4 definite articles in Spanish:
el, la, los, las
masculine feminine
singular EL LA
plural LOS LAS
All four articles translate to “the” in English

9. Articulos definidos: Practice
_______ dibujo el
_______ concha la
_______ angeles
los
_______ Equipos
_______ sillas
las

10. Plurals

11. How to make a word plural:
There are two steps in Spanish:
1. make the article plural
(el  los; la  las)
2. change/add to the noun

12. Step 2: If the noun ends in a vowel, add an “s”
ex: la manzana  las manzanas
If the noun ends in a consonant, add “es”
ex: la universidad  las universidades
If the noun ends in “z,” change the z to “c” and add “es”
ex: la nariz  las narices
If the noun ends in “ión”, add “es” and drop the accent.
ex: la televisión  las televisiones