We have some nouns : libro(book),palabra(word) televisión ( television) ,verdad ( truth), prolema (problem),durazno (peach)
masculine nouns : libro
problema
durazno
feminine nouns: palabra
televisión
verdad
How can we know a noun that is feminine or masculine??? Normally, nouns that end in -o are masculine and -a are feminine. This rules adapt easily to 75% of nouns.
There are other rules that you may need to know :
ENDINGS : -or, -ema , -ista ,-aje,--> masculine
-a ,-ión ,-ad , -ed ,-ud,-ie --> feminine
*We use la (the) before feminine nouns and el ( the ) before masculine nouns:
e.g: el libro , el problema ,el durazno
la palabra ,la televisión , la verdad
* We use una ( a) before feminine nouns and un ( a) before masculine nouns:
e.g: un libro (a book)
una televisión ( a T.V)
*We use las (the) before plural feminine nouns and los ( the ) before plural masculine nouns:
e.g: los libros
las palabras
*We use unas (some, a few) before plural feminine nouns and unos ( some,a few ) before plural masculine nouns:
e.g: unos duraznos (some/a few peaches )
unas palabras ( some/ a few words)
*uno / una also mean "one"
** In standard Spanish, people always write la before feminine words beginning with a vowel: la obra, la uva etc. If the vowel is a stressed a, they generally write and say el: el agua, el arma, el área etc.
When the word after la begins with an unstressed 'a', in normal speech, one of the as is elided in pronunciation. In other words la alfombra is generally pronounced l'alfombra, la antigüedad is generally pronounced l'antigüedad etc.
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**EXCEPTIONS :
el día, el mediodía
the day, (the) midday
la mano
the hand
el mapa
the map
el panda
the panda
la piel
the skin
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INSHORT:
*The 4 forms of the definite article:
el :masculine singular
la: feminine singular
los: masculine plural
las: feminine plural
*The 4 forms of the indefinite article:
un:masculine singular
una: feminine singular
unos: masculine plural
unas: feminine plural
Learning these rules is quite simple but there are still some nouns whose endings don't follow these rules such as : (un) lápiz,.. So the best way is to learn nouns with their artile ( or sexualization maybe) !
II/ PLURAL NOUNS
Simple, if the noun ends in a vowel ,-s is added, if the noun ends in a consonant , -es is added
e.g : bar -> bares
bebe -> bebes
casa -> casas
*Some nouns lose their written accents in the plural for reasons which follow the normal rules of pronunciation:
e.g : acción -> acciones
III/ EXCERCISES :
*Put the right articles on these words: (la/el/los/las)
1.....casa 6....hachas
2.....gato 7.....color
3.....gomas 8....niños
4.....ciudad 9....equipaje
5.....series 10....limas
*Put the right articles on these words: (un/una/unos/unas)
11.....manzana
12....uvas
13...pera
14...foto
15...niña
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KEY
1.la
2.el
3.las
4.la
5.las
6.las
7.el
8.los
9.el
10.las
11.una
12.unas
13.una
14.un
15.una