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The definite article: English has only one definite article: "The" In Spanish the definite articles are: el, la, los, las:
| el carro | (the car) |
| la casa | (the house) |
| los carros | (the cars) |
| las casas | (the houses) |
"El" is used with masculine singular nouns; "la" is used with feminine singular nouns; "los" is used with masculine plural nouns; and "las" is used with feminine plural nouns.
Note:
You can tell the difference between
"el" (article "the") and "él"
(personal pronoun "he") because the second has an accent.
The indefinite article : In English the indefinite article is "a" or "an." Its Spanish counterparts are: "un" (masculine nouns) and "una" (feminine nouns):
| un arbol | (a tree) |
| una mesa | (a table) |
In Spanish - unlike English - each noun
is either masculine or feminine. Almost all nouns that end in
o are masculine and almost all nouns that end in
a are feminine. (But, notice that I said almost).
In order to form the plural of nouns ending in o
or a, an s is added.
Example:
| el niño (the boy) | los niños (the boys) |
| la niña (the girl) | las niñas (the girls) |
Nouns ending in dad, tad,
tud, umbre, ción, sión are feminine. The plural is formed by adding "es"
to nouns ending in a consonant, and "s" to those
ending in a vowel.
Example:
| la ciudad (the city) | las ciudades (the cities) |
| la facultad (the faculty) | las facultades (the faculties) |
| la actitud (the attitude) | las actitudes (the attitudes) |
| la legumbre (the vegetable) | las legumbres (the vegetables) |
| la nación (the nation) | las naciones (the nations) |
| la televisión (the television) | las televisiones (the televisions) |
There are some nouns that are masculine but end in "a."
To form the plural we have to add "s" (Don't forget
that the article "el" goes with masculine singular nouns and the
article "los" goes with masculine plural nouns, so the
plural of el mapa is los mapas.)
Example:
| el mapa (the map) | el día (the day) |
| el clima (the climate) | el tema (the theme) |
| el sistema (the system) | el programa (the program) |
| el telegrama (the telegram) | el drama (the drama) |
| el poema (the poem) | el planeta (the planet) |
Nouns ending in "e" tend to be
masculine. To form the plural of nouns ending in "e"
an "s" is added. (Don't forget that the article:
"el" goes with masculine singular nouns and the
article "los" goes with masculine plural nouns, so the
plural of el parque is los parques.)
| el parque (the park) | el cine (the movie theater) |
| el carro (the car) | el café (the cafe) |
| el viaje (the trip) | el bosque (the forest) |
| el aire (the air) | el puente (the bridge) |
| el arte (the art) | el nombre (the name) |
Here is a list of very common nouns that end in e but happen to be feminine:
| la calle (the street) | la clase (the class) |
| la leche (the milk) | la llave (the key) |
| la noche (the night) | la gente (the people) |
| la tarde (the afternoon) | la nube (the cloud) |
First of all, Spanish adjectives have a different placement in the sentence than English adjectives: In English, it's The pretty house , whereas in Spanish, it's The house pretty = La casa bonita. In Spanish the noun comes before the adjective.
The Spanish adjectives must agree in gender
and number with the nouns that they modify. This means that if
the noun is feminine and singular the adjective has to be feminine
and singular too. If the noun is feminine and plural the adjective
has to be feminine and plural.
Example:
La mesa vieja (the old table)
Las mesas viejas (the old tables)
The same is true of masculine nouns. If
the noun is masculine and singular the adjective has to be masculine
and singular too. If the noun is masculine and plural the adjective
has to be masculine and plural.
Example:
El carro sucio (the dirty car)
Los carros sucios (the dirty cars)
Most frequently used Spanish adjectives
end in o (masculine) or a (feminine), according
to the noun they modify.
Example:
alto, alta (tall)
ancho, ancha (wide)
amarillo, amarilla (yellow)
barato, barata (cheap)
blanco, blanca (white)
bonito, bonita (pretty)
bueno, buena (good)
caro, cara (expensive)
cómodo, cómoda (comfortable)
corto, corta (short)
delgado, delgada (thin)
duro, dura (hard)
estrecho, estrecha (narrow)
extranjero, extranjera (foreign)
feo, fea (ugly)
frío, fría (cold)
gordo, gorda (fat)
hermoso, hermosa (beautiful)
largo, larga (long)
limpio, limpia (clean)
loco, loca (crazy)
malo, mala (bad)
negro, negra (black)
rico, rica (rich)
sucio, sucia (dirty)
viejo, vieja (old)
However, there are many adjectives that
end in e and some that end in consonants. These
are called neutral adjectives, because they don't change form
with masculine or feminine nouns. To form their plurals you need
to add an s to the ones ending in e and es
to the ones ending in a consonant.
Examples:
elegante (elegant)
excelente (excellent)
fuerte (strong)
grande (big)
humilde (humble)
importante (important)
inteligente (intelligent)
interesante (interesting)
pobre (poor)
triste (sad)
verde (green)
Spanish adjectives ending with consonants:
popular (popular)
azul (blue)
fácil (easy)
feliz (happy)
gris (gray)
Note: There are many rules about adjectives and many exceptions to those rules. The above is the most general and easiest aproach to Spanish adjectives. You can learn more in the future, but if you learn the lesson here well, you'll rarely have problems.