1. Nouns
In English, a noun is the name of
something.
It can be a
-person – John, Ana, Mr. García
-place – Colombia, Chile, school
-thing – desk, class, book
-idea – love, liberty, nature
It’s the same in Spanish.
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2. Nouns and gender
In English, nouns can be
-masculine – boy, John, Mr. García
-feminine– girl, Ana, lady
or
-neuter – school, class, book
It’s not the same in Spanish 2

3. Gender of nouns
In Spanish, nouns are either
masculine or feminine
But how will we know?
There are rules and clues.
Let’s look at a few. 3

4. Masculine nouns
-Refer to males
muchacho, padre (father), hombre (man)
-Usually end in the letter o
colegio, curso, otoño
Note: there are exceptions
-Have the definite article el or los
el café, el inglés, los meses
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5. Feminine nouns
-Refer to females
muchacha, madre (mother), mujer (woman)
-Usually end in the letter a
escuela, primavera, persona
Note: there are exceptions
-Have the definite article la or las
la clase, las noches
Note: there are exceptions
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6. Oh, dear me!!
What do I do if I don’t see an “o”
or an “a”?
What do I do?
Ay, mi amigo, you are out of
suerte (luck), UNLESS you
learned the gender of the noun
when you were learning the word
in the first place.
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7. Articles
There are two (2) types of articles:
definite and indefinite
•definite = the
the book, the apple
You are definite; you know which one
•indefinite = a, an
a book, an apple
You are not definite; any one will do
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8. Articles in Spanish
In Spanish, there are
four (4) definite articles :
el la = the
los las and
four (4) indefinite articles:
un una
= a, an
unos unas
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9. Práctica
Write the Write the
definite article indefinite article
_____ carros _____ limonada
_____ casa _____ blusas
_____ cuaderno _____ refresco
_____ mochila _____ mesa
_____ bolígrafo _____ vestidos
_____ plumas _____ camisas
_____ libros _____ zapatos
_____ clases _____ día
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10. Nouns have number
There are only two (2) basic rules
to form the plural of nouns:
1. If the word ends in a vowel,
add –s
2. If the word ends in a consonant,
add –es
Except: If the consonant is a “z”,
change it to “c” before adding
the –es
The fine print: leave days of the week that end in “s” alone. 10

11. Basic rule #1
la escuela
el verano
el estudiante
la señora
el amigo
la muchacha
la clase
el curso
la semana 11

12. Basic rule #2
el profesor
el señor
el español
la nacionalidad
el mes
la estación
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13. Exception to Basic rule #2
la actriz
la luz
la nariz
la paz
el pez
la vez
la voz
le lápiz
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14. Adjectives
An adjective describes a noun
In Spanish, adjectives agree with the
noun they modify in
number (singular / plural) and in
gender (masculine / feminine)
Descriptive adjectives usually follow
the noun they modify.
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15. Adjective Plurals
Adjectives form their plurals like
nouns do.
If you know how to form the plural
of a noun, you can form the plural
of an adjective.
Note: see the two (2) Basic Rules 5
slides back
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16. Adjective Plurals
Adjectives that end in o have four
forms:
alto, alta, altos, altas
rubio, rubia, rubios, rubias
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17. Adjective Plurals
Adjectives of nationality that do not
end in o, add a to form the feminine
These also have four forms
español española
españoles españolas
The same is true for adjectives that
end in -dor
hablador habladora
habladores habladoras
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18. Adjective Plurals
Adjectives (other that those
previously noted) ending in a
consonant, or in an vowel other
than –o, have the same form for
the masculine and feminine.
These will agree only in number
with the nouns they modify and,
therefore, have only two forms
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19. Adjetivos
Una chica ________________(American)
Unos alumnos ______________(serious)
Unas muchachas ____________ (pretty)
Un día ______________________(good)
Unas profesoras _____________(Cuban)
Unos cursos ______________(required)
Una clase ___________________(small)
Un chico ___________________(funny)
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20. Adjetivos
Laura es _________________(intelligent)
Juan y Marcos son ______________ (tall)
El chico es ____________________ (fat)
Los estudiantes son_____________ (good)
La muchacha es _______________ (short)
Raúl y Marta son_____________(popular)
La clase es____________________(hard)
Las profesoras son __________________
(interesting)
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21. ¿Cierto o falso?
Nouns in Spanish are either masculine
or feminine.
If a noun ends in a vowel, add –es to
form the plural.
If a nouns ends in z, change the z to c
before adding –es in the plural.
There are four definite and three
indefinite articles in Spanish.
All nouns ending in a are feminine.
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