Agreement
Nouns and Gender
A noun is a person, place, thing or idea. In English, some nouns have a gender (boy is masculine, lady is feminine, etc), but most do not (chair, airplane, cat, etc). In Spanish, all nouns have a gender. There is little rhyme or reason to whether a noun is masculine or feminine. For example, why is a computer feminine and an oven masculine?
For this reason, it is important for us to learn the article (el or la) that comes before the nouns we learn. When learning new vocabulary, always learn the word with its article so you’ll know its gender. If the word “el” comes before a noun, it is masculine. If the word “la” comes before it, it is feminine. For example, la computadora/computer and el horno/oven. Be careful with this as you begin studying new vocabulary.
Nouns and Number
In addition to having a gender, all nouns have a number too, either singular or plural. This is important because the articles (the, a, an, etc) that we use have to match up with the noun with regard to number and gender.
For example, the word la computadora is feminine. It means computer. It is also singular because we are only talking about 1 computer. Generally speaking, if a noun ends in “a,” it is feminine. If a word ends in “o,” it is masculine. There are some exceptions to this rule and some nouns that don’t end in either letter, but this is a good rule to follow.
Articles
To choose the correct article to go before a noun, we have to determine the noun’s number and gender. From there, we can choose the correct article. If you don’t remember, you can always look up the word in your dictionary. It will either have “el” or “la” in front of it or a (m) or (f) after it to let you know that it is masculine or feminine.
We have two different kinds of articles in Spanish, just like in English.
Definite Articles
The first is the definite article. We use this when we are talking about a specific noun. For instance, I might say, “I need the blue sweater.” I’m talking about a specific sweater, not just any sweater.
Here are the definite articles:
Masculine / FeminineSingular / el / la
Plural / los / las
El muchacho—the boy
Los muchachos—the boys
La muchacha—the girl
Las muchachas—the girls
You try:
The male teacher______
The female teachers______
The female student______
The male students______
The person______
The school______
Indefinite Articles
The other type of article is the indefinite article. This is used when we aren’t talking about any specific noun. For instance, I might say, “I need a sweater.” I’m not being specific about which sweater, just any sweater. This is also used in the plural form to mean “some” or “a few.” Ex.—Singular—I need a bike. Plural—I need some socks.
Here are the indefinite articles:
Masculine / FeminineSingular / un / una
Plural / unos / unas
You try:
A female friend______
Some male friends______
A boy______
Some girls______
Adjectives
In addition to matching articles, nouns also need matching adjectives. An adjective is a word that describes a noun and in Spanish, it has to match in number and gender like the articles do. When you learn your adjectives, most end in “o.” You are learning them in the masculine/singular form. It is easy to use them in the other forms as well. Just remove the “o,” and add the following endings to your adjectives to make them match up with the number and gender of the noun they modify.
Masculine / FeminineSingular / -o / -a
Plural / -os / -as
It is important to put your adjectives AFTER the nouns. In English we say, “The big, scary monster.” Big and scary are adjectives describing the monster. In Spanish, we would say, “the monster big and scary.” It sounds kind of funny, but you’ll get used to it.
Muchacho gracioso—funny boy
Muchachos graciosos—funny boys
Muchacha graciosa—funny girl
Muchachas graciosas—funny girls
You try:
An ugly person______
Some tall male students______
The pretty schools______
A blonde female student______
The fantastic boy______
Some Colombian girls______
The Mexican boys______