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Gender and Articles in Spanish

Description: Learn how to know if nouns are masculine or feminine in Spanish and how to say the articles "the" and "a".

 

How to know if nouns are masculine or feminine in Spanish

Generally Masculine:

  • Nouns that refer to men or males (el hombre)
  • Nouns that end in the letter O (el libro)
  • Nouns that end in -ma, -pa or -ta (el clima, el mapa, el planeta)

Generally Feminine:

  • Nouns that refer to women or females (la mujer)
  • Nouns that end in the letter A (la casa)
  • Nouns that end in –ción and –sión (la lección, la conclusión)
  • Nouns that end in -tad, -dad and -tud (la libertad, la ciudad, la multitud)

 

How to say "the" in Spanish

With masculine nouns:
el = the (with singular nouns)
los = the (with plural nouns)

  • Examples:
  • el libro = the book
  • los libros = the books

With feminine nouns:
la = the (with singular nouns)
las = the (with plural nouns)

  • Examples:
  • la casa = the house
  • las casas = the houses

 

How to say "a" in Spanish

With masculine nouns:
un = a (used with singular nouns)
unos = some (with plural nouns)

  • Examples:
  • un libro = a book
  • unos libros = some books

With feminine nouns:
una = a (used with singular nouns)
unas = some (with plural nouns)

  • Examples:
  • una casa = a house
  • unas casas = some houses

 

Practice

Select the correct article.

1) _____ cuaderno

     el

     la

     los

     las
    

2) _____ silla

     el

     la

     los

     las
    

3) _____ tijeras

     el

     la

     los

     las
    

4) _____ reglas

     el

     la

     los

     las
    

5) _____ engrapadora

     un

     una

     unos

     unas
    

6) _____ bolígrafo

     un

     una

     unos

     unas
    

7) _____ problema
Be careful! Remember that most words that end in -ma, -pa and -ta are irregular.

     el

     la

     los

     las
    

8) _____ verdad
Be careful! Remember the rule for words that end in -tad, -dad and -tud.

     el

     la

     los

     las
    

9) _____ explosión
Be careful! Remember the rule for words that end in -ción and sión.

     un

     una

     unos

     unas
    

10) _____ actitud
Be careful! Remember the rule for words that end in -tad, -dad and -tud.

     un

     una

     unos

     unas
    

 

Writing Practice

Write five nouns together with articles. Write the "Writing Practice" in the comments section below.

If you want to type a special character (like an accented letter) in the comments section, you could do one of the following . . .



  Don't forget to paste your text into the comments section below!

If you see an error in someone else's sentence, please respond with the correction. Comments that are not from "Janet Castrejon" (the author of this page) do not represent The Spanish Minute. If someone is writing inappropriate comments on this webpage, please send a message to castrejonmedia@gmail.com and include the page that you saw the comment on.

 

Do you want more practice with Gender and Articles in Spanish?
Simplified Spanish - Gender and Articles lesson

 

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