DEFINITE ARTICLES “the”

DEFINITE ARTICLES All Spanish nouns are classified as Masculine or Feminine This is called gender. English nouns don’t have gender, so there is only 1 word for “the”.

Definite Articles (singular) Masculine el Feminine la

DEFINITE ARTICLES GENERAL RULES: Most feminine words end in “a” Most masculine words end in “o” La silla la pizarra la mochila El cuaderno el libro el bolígrafo --Words that end in –ción, sión, tad, dad, and umbre are almost always feminine la libertad la televisión la personalidad

DEFINITE ARTICLES Exceptions to the rules: Words that end in “a” but come from Greek bases, are MASCULINE el poema el mapa el problema El día la mano (hand)

DEFINITE ARTICLES (plural) Unlike English, there are 2 words for “the” when a noun is plural “los” for a masculine noun los compañeros los cuadernos “las” for a feminine noun las compañeras las sillas

MAKING NOUNS PLURAL el papel ---- los papeles Here are the rules: 1. If the noun ends with a vowel, add s el cuaderno --- los cuadernos la silla ------ las sillas 2. If the noun ends in a consonant, add es el papel ---- los papeles

MAKING NOUNS PLURAL More rules: 3. If the noun ends in a “z”, change it to a “c”, and add es. el lápiz ---- los lápices 4. If the noun ends with “es” or “is”, it does not change in the plural. el lunes --- los lunes