NOUNS

In this hand-out you will find:

• What is a noun
• Masculine Nouns
• Feminine Nouns
• Plural

NOUN

• A noun is a word naming a person, place, thing, action, or quality.

• While English nouns have no grammatical gender, all Spanish nouns are either masculine or feminine.

• The ending of the noun usually indicates the  gender. Most nouns ending in -o are masculine, and most nouns ending in -a are feminine.
• 
   

   
   
   

  (Please note: It is very helpful to learn the nouns with their respective article; la for feminine and el for masculine)

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• Nouns are usually masculine when:

          A)  They end in -o
 

•     Exception to this rule:

  la mano

  la moto

• B) They end in -l

  el papel	el corral	el baúl
  el hotel	el corral	el chacal

   

   

  Exception to this rule:

   

  La catedral

• C) They end in -r

  el favor

  el mar

  el amor

   

   

  Exception to this rule:

  la flor

  la mujer

•  
  D) They end in -ma, which refers to non-concrete things
   
   

  el clima	el drama	el idioma
  el problema	el programa	el tema

• Days and rivers are masculine

• Mountains, oceans, seas, and names of ships are usually masculine

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• Nouns are usually feminine when:

             A) When they end in -a
 
 

            Exception to this rule:
 
 

         B) They end in -ad, -ud, -ión, -umbre, -ie
 
 

       C) Letters of the alphabet are feminine
 
 

       D) Some nouns are feminine even if they refer to a male
 
 

• Some nouns are feminine or masculine depending on the meaning

• Others depend on person referred to:

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PLURAL
 

        A) If the noun ends in a vowel: add -s
 
 

        B) If the noun ends in a consonant or -y add -es
 
 

      C) If the noun ends in -z, change Z to C, then add -es
 
 

        D) Nouns ending in -s vary:

            - When final syllable is stressed they change
 
 

            - When unstressed, do not change
 
 

       E) Nouns ending in -n or -s with last syllable having an accent mark drop the mark in the plural
 
 

            But,
 
 

        F) Nouns ending in -n with last syllable unaccented add an accent mark in the plural to reserve stress,
 
 

        E) Family names do not change in plural
 
 

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Created by Silvana Mendez
Foreign Language Lab / University of Houston