Singular vs. Plural

Basic Grammar Definitions

Singular

Plural

= one of something/someone = more than one of something/someone

Noun = person, place, thing (or idea)

Definite Articles

• A definite article is simply the word “the”.

• In Spanish, there are four definite articles. They all mean “the”.

• They are:

SINGULAR PLURALEL LOSLA LAS

Making Nouns Plural

• If a noun ends in a vowel (a,e,i,o,u), you add an “s” to make it plural.

• If a noun ends in a consonant, you add an “es” to make it plural.

• El Los

• La Las

SINGULAR PLURALEl muchacho Los muchachos

El colegio Los colegios

La alumna Las alumnas

La televisión Las televisiones

El papel Los papeles

La canción Las canciones

SINGULAR PLURALLa amiga

El avión

La universidad

La clase

El jardín

El garaje

Now You Try:

Gender of Nouns

• In Spanish, each noun has a gender (masculine or feminine).

• Masculine nouns use the definite articles “el” (singular) and “los” (plural).• Feminine nouns use the definite articles “la” (singular) and “las” (plural)

Make 4 column nouns

MASCULINE FEMININEEl muchacho Las muchachas

El colegio La amiga

Los alumnos Las papas

Los colegios Las televisiones

El papel La tía

• If a noun ends in “o” it is usually masculine.

• If a noun ends in “a”, it is usually feminine.

Adjectives

•Adjectives must match the noun they are describing in gender (masculine or feminine) and plurality (singular or plural).

•Therefore, each adjective has four forms.

El amigo es alto. Los amigos son altos.La amiga es atla. Las amigas son altas.

SINGULAR PLURAL

MASCULINE alto altos

FEMININE alta altas

NOTE: es -----> son

Handout 4 column adjs