Unit 2: Basics
2.1 Gender of Nouns and Definite and Indefinite Articles
All nouns in Spanish are masculine or feminine in gender. * (A very small number can be both.) Masculine nouns are generally preceded by the masculine definite article corresponding to English “the” or indefinite article corresponding to English “a” or “an” in the singular, “some” or “a few” in the plural. Feminine nouns follow the same pattern.
| Masculine | Feminine | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| definite article | el libro – the book | la clase – the class | |
| indefinite article | un libro – a book | una clase – a class | |
| Plural | |||
| definite article | los libros – the books | las clases – the classes | |
| indefinite article | unos libros – some (a few) books | unas clases – some (a few) classes |
Most nouns ending in -o are masculine, and most ending in -a are feminine, though exceptions exist. Gender of nouns, in any case, does not present comprehension problems or translation difficulties.
*Some nouns and pronouns are neuter in gender. You will see these later in the text.
