Género, número y artículos Gender, number & articles

I. Género In Spanish, all nouns carry gender, either masculine (M) or feminine (F). In order to tell whether a noun is M or F look at the ending for a clue. Except for some irregular exceptions, the ending will automatically distinguish the noun as M or F.

Masculino Words that end in following letters or letter groups are generally masculino (M). ** Be careful, I think many words do not follow this rule! -o alumno -pa mapa -ta poeta -ma programa -l español -n pelotón (crowd) -r dólar -e ** hombre (man)

Femenina Words that end in following letters or letter groups are generally femenina (F). **Be careful, remember -pa, -ta & -ma! -a ** alumna -dad actividad -tad libertad -ión civilización -z actriz (actress)

** Remember, these are general guidelines. There are some exceptions that do not follow these patterns.

Ejemplos Are the following M or F? universidad F biblioteca F colegio M programa M

II. Número Number refers to whether a noun is singular or plural. You make a noun plural by adding an –s or –es to the end of the noun. In some cases, other orthographic changes may be necessary.

To make nouns plural, do the following: A.if the word ends in a vowel, simply add “-s” to make it plural Ex: alumno  alumno s

To make nouns plural, do the following: B. if the word ends in a consonant, add “-es” Ex: universidad  universidad es

To make nouns plural, do the following: C. if the word ends in “–z”, the plural changes to “-ces” Ex: lápiz  lápi ces

To make nouns plural, do the following: D. if the word ends in “–ión”, add “-es” and remove the written accent mark Ex: nación  naci ones

Examples  colegio colegios  papel papeles  actriz actrices  reunión reuniones

III. Artículos There are 2 types of articles in Spanish & English A.Definite articles B.Indefinite articles

Artículos definidos What is the function of a definite article? A definite article refers to something specific What is a definite article in English? the

Ejemplo Ex: the specific boy rather than any boy. The boy with the red shirt on v. A boy with a red shirt (any boy in general)

Artículos definidos What are they in Spanish? ** concordancia masculinofemenina singular el the la the plural los the las the

Artículos indefinidos What is the function of an indefinite article? An indefinite article refers to something in general What is an indefinite article in English? a, an, some

Ejemplo Ex: any boy rather than a specific boy. A boy with a red shirt (any boy in general) v. The (specific) boy with the red shirt on

Artículos indefinidos What are they in Spanish? ** concordancia masculinofemenina singular un a, an una a, an Plural unos some unas some

Concordancia concordancia = agreement ** The article that accompanies the noun must agree in gender AND number with that noun.

Ejemplos Artículos definidos libro el muchachas las nación la Artículos indefinidos libro un muchachas unas nación una

Adjetivos Like articles, adjectives have to agree in gender AND number with the noun they describe

Ejemplos el alumno altola alumna alta los alumnos altoslas alumnas altas

Número Adjectives follow the same rules as nouns when making them plural 1.if the word ends in a vowel, simply add “-s” to make it plural 2.if the word ends in a consonant, add “-es” 3.if the word ends in “–z”, the plural changes to “-ces” 4.if the word ends in “–ión”, add “-es” and remove the written accent mark **

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