Words
la oficina
lah oh fee seen ah
el teléfono
l tay lay foe no
¿qué?
¿k?
¿cuándo?
¿kwahn doe?
¿dónde?
¿dohn day?
la tienda
lah tee yen dah
la televisión
lah tay lay vee see ohn
la comida
lah co me dah
el restaurante
l race towel rahn tay
el arroz
l ah roce
los frijoles
los free hole ays
la pregunta
lah pray goon tah
el hombre
l ohm bray
la mujer
lah moo hair
la familia
lah fah meal e ah
el padre
l pah dray
el esposo
l s po so
la madre
lah mah dray
la esposa
lah s po sah
el dinero
l dee nair oh
la casa
lah cah sah
la leche
lah lay chay
arreglar
are ray glar
reparar
ray pah rahr
ganar
gah nahr
cocinar
co see nahr
tomar
toe mahr
beber
bay bear
comer
co mair
hallar
ah jar
hablar
ah blahr
preguntar
pray goon tahr
comprar
com prahr
caminar
cah me nahr
en
n
sin
seen
con
cone
a
ah
Structures
Gender Agreement
When God created the world, He created a male and a female. That’s called “gender.” In language, we also have what’s called “gender.”
Gender agreement is when you make a noun (a person, place or thing,) an article (“the,” “a,” “an,”) and an adjective (a word that describes the noun) agree with each other depending on whether the noun is feminine or masculine.
Number
Number tells us if something is singular or plural. In other words, is it one thing or more than one thing? In English, to make a word plural, you simply add the letter “s” most of the time, behind some letters you add “es.”
In Spanish you can see gender and number agreement in all sentences!
The
There are four different ways to say “the” in Spanish. Which one you use depends if the noun you’re using is masculine and singular, masculine and plural, feminine and singular or feminine and plural.
If the word is masculine and singular use “el”
If the word is masculine and plural use “los”
If the word is feminine and singular use “la”
If the word is feminine and plural use “las”
Now, how do you know if a noun is masculine or feminine?
Feminine nouns normally end in the letter “a.”
Masculine nouns normally end in the letter “o.”
If you want to make a word plural in Spanish…
• Add “s” if it ends in a vowel (a,e,i,o,u.)
• Add “es” if it ends in a consonant (any other letter.)
Let’s work with some examples using the words “the telephone,” “the family” and “the woman.” You’ve seen these words already in the first two steps of this lesson.
the telephone > el teléfono | masculine and singular
the telephones > los teléfonos | masculine and plural
the family > la familia | feminine and singular
the families > las familias | feminine and plural
the woman > la mujer | feminine and singular
the women > las mujeres | feminine and plural
A, An, and Some
Remember that “a” and “an” mean the same words in English. You put “an” before any word that begins with a vowel and “a” for words that begin in any other letter than a vowel. For example, “a boy” and “an apple.” “Some” is the plural of “a” and “an.” Here’s how you do this in Spanish…
If the word is masculine and singular use un
If the word is masculine and plural use unos
If the word is feminine and singular use una
If the word is feminine and plural use unas
a telephone > un teléfono | masculine and singular
some telephones > unos teléfonos | masculine and plural
an office > una oficinas | feminine and singular
some office > unas oficinas | feminine and plural
a father > un padre | masculine and singular
some fathers > unos padres | masculine and plural
Adjectives
Before moving on, let’s make sure that you understand the following elements…
• A noun is a person, place, or thing.
• An article is either “the,” “a,” or “an.” The plural for “a” and “an” is “some.”
• An adjective is a word that describes a noun.
In English, the adjective goes before the noun that it describes.
In Spanish, the adjective usually goes after the noun that it describes.
There are three things you need to know about Spanish adjectives.
• The adjective is normally used after the noun that it describes.
• The adjective is used as either feminine or masculine to line up with the noun.
• The adjective is either singular or plural, depending upon the noun that it describes.
In the following examples, the ending of the Spanish adjective is in italics. Let’s use the adjective good. It is bueno in Spanish.
the good husband > el esposo bueno | masculine and singular
the good husbands > los esposos buenos | masculine and plural
the good wife > la esposas buena | feminine and singular
the good wives > las esposas buenas | feminine and plural
You can see how the adjective “good” goes before the noun in English and how “bueno” goes after the noun in Spanish. You can also see how the endings of the adjectives are changed to agree in gender and number with the noun they describe. This is a very simple concept; simply put the adjective in Spanish after the noun and make the adjective agree in gender and number with the noun it describes.
If the adjective ends in a letter other than “o” or “a,” don’t worry about gender agreement, just make sure you put it either the singular or the plural.
For example: joven means young
La mujer joven
El hombre joven
Las mujeres jóvenes
Los hombres jóvenes
As you can tell, the adjective joven doesn’t end in either “o” or “a” and cannot be made to agree in gender. It does, however, have number.
The six adjectives that you will be using in your exercises for this lesson are…
new | nuevo
old | viejo
good | bueno
bad | malo
pretty | bonito
young | joven
Voy a …
Vas a ….
Va a …
Vamos a….
Van a ….