Nounsand their gender!

Gender

In English, nouns can be masculine, feminine, or neutral (meaning having no gender).

They can also be singular or plural.

Gender

In Spanish, however, every noun must be masculine or feminine.

 

Gender

There is no way to tell for sure what gender the noun is, so you must memorize if it is masculine or feminine. Don’t assume!

Gender

For example, we would assume a woman’s dress to be feminine, but in Spanish it’s not. It’s masculine.

Gender

We might assume a man’s tie to be masculine, but it’s feminine.

Gender

So, how do we know?

Gender

In Spanish we can look at the article

Article = (the little word that means “the” or “a”)

Articles

There are four articles.

El (masculine singular)- the

La (feminine singular)- the

Los (masculine plural)- the

Las (feminine plural)- the

Gender

For example: El colegio = the high school

the word “el” tells us that it is masculine.

And singular!

el =

Gender

La escuela = the school

“la” tells us that it is Feminine.

And singular!

•La =

Gender and Number

For example- Los colegios

the word “los” tells us that it is masculine.

And plural!

los=

Gender and Number

Las escuelas = the schools

“las” tells us that it is Feminine.

And plural!

Las =

Gender

A general rule is “if it ends in “o”, it’s masculine.

If it ends in “a” it’s feminine.”

If it ends in “s” it’s plural!

Gender

As always, there are exceptions to the rule, which you will learn later. So, for now, just memorize the articles with the word.

Practice

________ muchacho

________ muchacha

________ colegio

________ escuela

Practice

________ muchachos

________ muchachas

________ colegios

________ escuelas

Practice

El amig____

La amig____

El sombrer_____

La camis______

Practice

Los amig____

Las amig____

Los sombrer_____

Las camis______