In order to achieve these objectives, we’re going to:
In this lesson you will target all of your literacy skills to learn about gender and number agreement between the Subject/Object or Nouns with the adjective.
Learn strategies that will help us to remember the gender of the words in Spanish.
NUESTRO (OUR) OBJETIVO ES APRENDER “MASCULINO Y
FEMENINO”
Objetivos2
Personas, animales, lugares y cosas.3
UN SUSTANTIVO (NOUN) ES UNA PALABRA QUE IDENTIFICA:
A noun is a word used to denote a person, place, thing, or idea.Una persona: soldado, maestra,
amigoUna Cosa: tortillas, parque, cocheUn Lugar: restaurante, biblioteca,
casaUna idea: Inteligencia, libertad, amor
Masculino y femenino.4
In Spanish, all nouns are either masculine or feminine The idea that nouns have gender seems perfectly
natural when the noun stands for a living creature. This is because in English, living creatures often have diff erent names, depending upon whether they are male or female.
MASCULINE OR FEMININE
Masculine Feminine
man woman
tiger tigress
aviator aviatrix
Masculino y femenino.5
The following Spanish nouns all denote living creatures.
el gato male cat la gata female catel perro male dog la perra female dogel chico boy la chica girl el abuelo grandfather la abuela grandmother
MASCULINE OR FEMININE
Masculine.6
How are all of these masculine nouns alike?
Hint: look at both the beginning and the ending of each line.Come up with the rule.
MASCULINE OR FEMININE
el gatoel perroel chicoel abuelo
El rifle m4
Feminine.7
How are all of these feminine nouns alike?
Hint: look at both the beginning and the ending of each line.Come up with the rule.
MASCULINE OR FEMININE
la gatala perrala chicala abuelaLa pistola
Masculine and Feminine.8
"El" and "la" both mean "the.“
el chico (the boy)la chica (the girl)
el perro (the male dog)la gata (the female cat)
Note: These two words (el, la) are called "definite articles." You will learn more about them in a later lesson.
EXPRESSING “THE”
Masculine and Feminine.9
What do you notice about the last letter of these nouns?
Nouns that end in -o are usually masculine. Nouns that end in -a are usually feminine. Notice the word usually! There are exceptions to these two rules and you will soon be learning them.
THE RULE
Masculine Feminine
gato gata
perro perra
chico chica
abuelo abuela
Masculine or Feminine?10
One cannot predict the gender of a noun that stands for a non-living thing. Try to predict whether the Spanish words for the following things are masculine or feminine:
MASCULINE OR FEMININE?
bookhousemoneywindow
One cannot predict the gender of a noun, except in the case of living creatures. Do not try to analyze the nature of the object, looking for some inherent masculinity or femininity. It won't work!
Take a guess. Do you think the Spanish word for "dress" is masculine or feminine? You might expect it to be feminine, since a dress is an article of clothing worn by females.Actually, the word for "dress" is a
masculine word: EL VESTIDO
Masculine or Feminine?11
Take another guess. Do you think the Spanish word for "necktie" is masculine or feminine? You might expect it to be masculine, since a necktie is an article of clothing worn by males.
MASCULINE OR FEMININE?
Actually, the word for "necktie" is a feminine word: la corbata.
Masculine and feminine.12
Some nouns that refer to people use the same form for both masculine and feminine. These nouns indicate gender by the article (el or la).
MASCULINE OR FEMININE.
el estudiante la estudiante el pianista la pianistael artista la artista
Nouns that end in -sión, -ción, -dad, -tad, -tud, -umbre are feminine.
ALWAYS FEMININE
13 Para recordar…
la televisión la decisiónla conversación la habitaciónla ciudad la universidadla dificultad la libertadla actitud la gratitudla certidumbre la muchedumbre
Some nouns that end in -a are masculine.
SOMETIMES MASCULINE
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el problemael telegramael programael mapael sistemael poemael díael temael climael idiomael sofáel planeta
Many nouns that end in -ma are masculine. Notice that eight of the twelve nouns listed above end in -ma.
Note: A few nouns that end in -ma are feminine, such as la cama and la pluma .
ALWAYS MASCULINE
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el telegramael programael problemael sistemael poemael idiomael climael tema
Five of the nouns that end in -a are simply exceptions and must be memorized.
ALWAYS MASCULINE
16 Para recordar…
el díael mapael planetael sofáEl clima
Five of the nouns that end in -a are simply exceptions Las palabras terminadas en –ista pueden ser femeninas y masculinas:
El/la periodista
el/la protagonista
and must be memorized.
ANOTHER CASE
17 Para recordar…
Los nombres de los dias, colores, idiomas y puntos cardinales son masculinos….
ANOTHER CASE
18 Para recordar…
El lunes, el martes, el miercoles….
El azul, el amarillo, el verde….
El frances, el ingles, el ruso….
El norte, el sur, el este, el oeste.
Add an “s” to the nouns that end in vowels without accent.
Add “es” to the nouns that end in consonants and vowels with
accents.
If the noun ends in “z”, change it to “c”.
MAKING PLURALS
20 Para recordar…