1. Gender and Number

2. Nouns and Articles Nouns are words that refer to: People Places Things
In Spanish, all nouns are considered either masculine or feminine.
el diccionario
la mochila
MASCULINE
FEMININE
Typically, nouns that refer to males are masculine and nouns
that refer to females are feminine.
el profesor (male teacher) la profesora (female teacher)

3. Nouns and Articles
So what about all the nouns that refer to things and not people?
The GENDER (masculine/feminine) of nouns that refer to
inanimate objects is arbitrary!
Then how do you know whether a noun is masculine or feminine?
Typically nouns that end in –o are masculine and nouns that
end in – a are feminine.
Masculine
Feminine
diccionario
libro
cuaderno
calculadora
mochila
carpeta

4. Nouns and Articles HOWEVER…
There are many nouns that do NOT end in –o or -a:
papel lápiz marcador
There are also many exceptions to the guideline:
el mapa la mano
So what do you do with these words?
MEMORIZE THEM!

5. Why are there so many different ways to say “the”?
Nouns and Definite Articles
Nouns in Spanish are typically accompanied by an article.
One kind of article is a DEFINITE ARTICLE
What is the definite article we use in English?
THE
In Spanish, there are four different ways to say “the”:
Because it has to match the noun it accompanies in two ways:
Masculine / Feminine
Singular / Plural
Why are there so many different ways to say “the”? EL LA
LOS
LAS

6. Nouns and Definite Articles
For example:
COMPUTADORA
Is the noun “computadora”
a masculine word or a feminine word?
FEMININE!
Is it singular or plural?
SINGULAR!
So the article we use to say “the computer” in Spanish is…
LA COMPUTADORA

7. Nouns and Definite Articles
For example:
CUADERNOS
Is the noun “cuadernos”
a masculine word or a feminine word?
MASCULNE!
Is it singular or plural?
PLURAL!
So the article we use to say “the notebooks” in Spanish is…
LOS CUADERNOS

8. Yo necesito __________ libro de matemáticas.
Complete each sentence with the correct definite article
(EL / LA / LOS / LAS). Then identify the picture that
corresponds with the statement. A B C D
Yo necesito __________ libro de matemáticas. EL E G F H

9. Yo no tengo__________ papeles.
Complete each sentence with the correct definite article
(EL / LA / LOS / LAS). Then identify the picture that
corresponds with the statement. A B C D
Yo no tengo__________ papeles.
LOS E G F H

10. Yo necesito ___________ tijeras para la clase de arte.
Complete each sentence with the correct definite article
(EL / LA / LOS / LAS). Then identify the picture that
corresponds with the statement. A B C D
Yo necesito ___________ tijeras para la clase de arte.
LAS E G F H

11. ¿De quién es ___________ pluma?
Complete each sentence with the correct definite article
(EL / LA / LOS / LAS). Then identify the picture that
corresponds with the statement. A B C D
¿De quién es ___________ pluma? LA E G F H

12. The plural forms UNOS & UNAS are often used to say “some, any or few”
Nouns and Indefinite Articles
In addition to using definite articles to say “the”, we also use
INDEFINITE ARTICLES
What are the indefinite articles we use in English?
A & AN
Just like there are four ways to say “the” in Spanish,
there are also four ways to say “a / an” depending on
if the noun is masculine/feminine and singular/plural: UN
UNA
UNOS
UNAS
The plural forms UNOS & UNAS are often used to say “some, any or few”
Ex: unos papeles
some papers
MASCULINE
FEMININE

13. ___________ gomas están en mi mochila.
Complete each sentence with the correct indefinite article
(UN / UNA / UNOS / UNAS). Then identify the picture that
corresponds with the statement. A B C D
___________ gomas están en mi mochila.
UNAS E G F H

14. ¿Dónde está ___________ cuaderno de ciencias?
Complete each sentence with the correct definite article
(UN / UNA / UNOS / UNAS). Then identify the picture that
corresponds with the statement. A B C D
¿Dónde está ___________ cuaderno de ciencias? UN E G F H

15. Yo necesito ___________ regla.
Complete each sentence with the correct definite article
(UN / UNA / UNOS / UNAS). Then identify the picture that
corresponds with the statement. A B C D
Yo necesito ___________ regla.
UNA E G F H

16. Yo prefiero ___________ lápices.
Complete each sentence with the correct definite article
(UN / UNA / UNOS / UNAS). Then identify the picture that
corresponds with the statement. A B C D
Yo prefiero ___________ lápices.
UNOS E G F H

17. -S The ARTICLE! Making Nouns Plural los cuadernos el cuaderno
If a noun ends in a vowel (A, E, I, O, U), then you add…
The ARTICLE! -S
…to make it plural
What else has to change when you make a noun plural?

18. Write the plural form of each noun. Make sure to include the
apropriate definite article (el, la , los, las).
el libro 
Los libros
la regla 
Las reglas
la pluma 
Las plumas

19. -ES Making Nouns Plural los papeles el papel
If a noun ends in a consonant, then you add…
-ES
…to make it plural
Don’t forget to change make the article plural as well!!!

20. For example…
el marcador 
Los marcadores

21. Change the –Z to –C Add -ES Making Nouns Plural los lápices el lápiz
If a noun ends in a -Z, then you…
Change the –Z to –C
Add -ES

22. Need some Review? Check out the following link: *Articles Review
*Gender Review
*Plurals Review