Spanish Nouns, Articles, Demonstratives

Learn about nouns in Spanish

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Spanish Nouns

Nouns are either masculine or feminine in Spanish, as well as singular or plural. Articles (a, an, the, some) and demonstratives (this, that, these, those) must agree in gender and number with the noun.

	Masc. Singular	Fem. Singular		Masc. Plural	Fem. Plural
the	el	la	the	los	las
a, an	un	una	some	unos	unas
this	este	esta	these	estos	estas
that	ese	esa	those	esos	esas
that	aquel	aquella	those	aquellos	aquellas

 

El is also used with feminine nouns beginning with a or ha when the accent is on the first syllable.  Words that end in -o and -or are generally masculine, with a few exceptions: la mano (hand), la foto (photo). Words that end in -a are generally feminine, with a few exceptions: el mapa (map), el problema (problem). Other feminine words end in -ción, -tad, -dad, or -tud.

Use the ese forms to mean that when what you are talking about is near the person you are addressing.  Use the aquel forms when what you are talking about is far from both you and the person you are addressing.  Esto and eso are the neuter forms of this and that.  They can be used in general and abstract ways.

Demonstrative adjectives (listed above) are used before a noun; if you want to use the demonstrative pronouns, which are used before a verb, add an accent on all of the first e's: éste, ésta, éstos, éstas, ése, ésa, ésos, ésas, aquél, aquélla, aquéllos, aquéllas.

 

Formation of Plural Nouns

1. If a singular noun ends in a vowel, just add -s to make it plural: la casa → las casas
2. If a singular noun ends in a consonant, a vowel with an accent, or y, add -es to make it plural: el papel → los papeles
3. Singular nouns that end in -z change the z to c and add -es to form the plural: la luz → las luces
4. A few nouns that have an accent in the singular will lose it in the plural and vice versa: la canción → las canciones, el examen → los exámenes (but notice that there is no change for el lápiz → los lápices)

 

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