EXPRESSING “THE” BEFORE MASCULINE AND FEMININE

NOUNSPáginas 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: amigo amigos

chico chicos

estudiante estudiantes

hombre hombres

helado helados

jugo jugos

refresco refrescos

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: amiga amigas

chica chicas

estudiante estudiantes

mujer mujeres

persona personas

fruta frutas

pizza pizzas

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 amigos estudianteestudiantes

To make a noun plural if it ends in a consonant, you need to add an –es to it.

mujer mujeres