Genders and singular vs. plural

Articles are words that are linked to nouns and that typically have a grammatical function identifying the noun as a noun rather than describing it. In English, the definite article is the and the indefinite article is a(n). The book – “the” indicates a specific book. This is the definite article. A book – “a” refers to a book in general. This is the indefinite article.

In Spanish, it works the same way. However, there are eight articles. First they are divided into definite and indefinite. Then masculine or feminine, and lastly they are singular and plural. Definite articles = “the”Indefinite Articles “a, an, some” “THE”SingularPlural MasculineElLos FeminineLaLas Singular “a, an” Plural “Some” MasculineUnUnos FeminineUnaUnas

In English, nouns can be masculine (boy, father, actor), feminine (girl, mother, actress) or neuter – no gender (car, tree, sky) In Spanish, nouns are only classified as masculine or feminine, not neuter.

Masculino Usually ends in… -l -o -n -e -r -s Femenino Usually ends in… -d -ión -z -a

Adjective – a word that describes a noun or distinguishes it from a group of other nouns. In English, an adjective comes BEFORE the word it is describing and has one form. Example: The red car.The red cars. Before carSame form even though there are more cars. In Spanish, an adjective comes AFTER the noun and must agree with it in GENDER and in NUMBER (singular/plural). Example: El carro rojo.Los carros rojos. After “car.”Different form in the plural.

Each adjective that ends in an “o” has four forms: masculine, feminine, singular and plural. Examples: The tall boy = El muchacho alto The tall girl = La muchacha alta The tall boys = Los muchachos altos The tall girls = Las muchachas altas SingularPlural MasculineAltoAltos FeminineAltaAltas

Adjectives that end in “e” or a consonant have two forms: singular and plural.. Examples: The smart boy = El muchacho inteligente The smart girl = La muchacha inteligente The smart boys = Los muchachos inteligentes The smart girls = Las muchachas inteligentes SingularPlural MasculineInteligenteInteligentes FeminineInteligenteInteligentes SingularPlural MasculineProfesionalProfesionales FeminineProfesionalProfesionales

Me gusta (bailar) = I like (to dance) Me gusta mucho (cantar) = I really like (to sing) Me gusta más (dibujar) = I like (to draw) more No me gusta (correr) = I don’t like (to run) No me gusta nada (trabajar) = I don’t like (to work) at all. Soy = I am Tengo = I have