GENDER OF NOUNS

In Spanish, all nouns are either masculine or feminine in gender. This is merely a grammatical concept; it does not mean that Spanish speakers perceive things as having male or female attributes. Nouns that refer to male people or animals, and most nouns that end in "-o" are masculine in gender. (One common exception is "la mano," ‘the hand’). Most nouns that refer to female people or animals, and most nouns that end in "-a," "-ción," "-dad" or "-tad" are feminine in gender. (Some exceptions are "el día," "el problema," "el drama," and "el programa"). Nouns that have other endings, or nouns that are exceptions to the rules, must be memorized: "el billete," "el dólar," "el valor," etc.

PLURAL OF NOUNS

Spanish nouns that end in a vowel form plurals by adding the letter "-s." Nouns that end in a consonant add "-es." Nouns that end in the consonant "-z" change the "-z" to "-c" before adding "-es":  "el lápiz" (‘pencil’), pl. "los lápices."  Nouns that have the last syllable accented in the singular form will lose the accent mark when the noun is plural:  "la conversación," "las conversaciones";  "la razón" (‘reason’), "las razones," etc.

As well when the noun is plural the definite and indefinite articles must be used in the plural form:  "un hombre">"unos hombres";  "la conversación">"las conversaciones." "Unos" and "unas" mean some, several or a few.

In Spanish, the masculine plural form of a noun is used when referring to a group made up of males and females:  "los amigos" (includes both male and female friends). 


DEFINITE AND INDEFINITE ARTICLES

In English, the definite article is ‘the,’ and the indefinite article is ‘a,’ or ‘an.’  In Spanish, the articles have four forms, and they must agree with the noun in number (singular or plural) and gender (masculine or feminine):

Masculine         Feminine
Definite  el      la  (singular)
Articles  los    las  (plural)

Indefinite  un  una  (singular)
Articles  unos  unas  (plural)

Examples:  "el aeropuerto," "los billetes," "la empleada," "las oficinas," "un hombre," "unos dólares," "una señora," "unas conversaciones."