Nouns, articles, adjectives and pronouns
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Lesson notes
Noun gender and common plurals
- El libro and la ciudad show grammatical gender; un libro and una ciudad use indefinite articles. Common -o/-a patterns help, but el mapa, el día and la mano show why the article matters.
- Common plurals include libros, ciudades and peces: final z changes to c before -es. Some nouns do not change, as in el lunes / los lunes; do not add -es to every consonant ending mechanically.
- Article and noun change together: un libro → unos libros, una ciudad → unas ciudades. El lápiz → los lápices preserves its written accent.
Article and noun change together
Articles and contractions
- Definite articles are el, la, los and las; indefinite articles are un, una, unos and unas. Match their number and gender to the noun, not to the person who owns it.
- A + el contracts to al and de + el to del when el is the article: voy al parque, vengo del parque. The personal pronoun él has an accent and stays separate in a él or de él.
Articles and contractions
Adjective agreement and shortened forms
- Match gender and number when the adjective has those forms: libro rojo / mochila roja / libros rojos / mochilas rojas. Grande has one singular gender form; trabajador changes to trabajadora, so consonant endings are not all invariable.
- Many descriptive adjectives follow the noun, but this is not compulsory for every adjective and meaning. Before singular nouns, learn un buen amigo, un mal día, el primer día and una gran ciudad; gran can precede feminine as well as masculine nouns.
Agreement and short forms
Comparatives and superlatives
- Use más/menos + adjective + que for greater or lower degree, and tan + adjective + como for equality. Keep any adjective agreement: las mochilas son más caras que los libros.
- El mejor libro and la mejor película use mejor; plural mejores agrees with plural nouns. La película más interesante expresses the most interesting film; the article and adjective fit the noun.
Comparison patterns
Direct objects and pronoun placement
- El libro: lo leo; la película: la veo; los libros: los leo; las películas: las veo. These explicit things keep the gender, number and translation clear; personal referents can give other translations.
- Voy a comprarlo and lo voy a comprar are alternative placements in this construction. Attach the pronoun to the infinitive as one word, or put it before the conjugated verb; do not repeat it in both positions.
Clear direct-object referents
Indirect recipients and personal usage
- Le doy el libro a Pablo uses le for the singular recipient and el libro for the direct object. Les doy el libro a mis amigos uses plural les; le/les do not distinguish a male from a female recipient.
- Spanish personal direct-object usage includes accepted leísmo in some masculine-person contexts. Do not declare every personal le incorrect; this introductory contrast uses things for lo/la/los/las and clear recipients for le/les.
Gustar-type agreement
- Me gusta el libro and me gusta leer use singular gusta; me gustan los libros uses plural gustan. The thing or activity liked is the grammatical subject, while me identifies the experiencer.
- Change the person with me, te, le, nos, os or les as needed: te gustan los libros. Do not simply change gusta to gusto to translate English I like.
The thing liked controls gusta/ gustan
Por and para in context
- Para can mark purpose, recipient, destination or deadline: para estudiar, para ti, para Madrid, para el lunes. These are selected useful patterns, not every use.
- Por can mark a reason, route, exchange or time phrase: gracias por todo, por el parque, diez euros por el libro, por la mañana. English for does not decide the choice by itself.
Choose by meaning in these examples
Possessives and demonstratives
- Mi libro / mis libros, tu mochila / tus mochilas and su amigo / sus amigos change number with the possessed noun. Su can refer to his, her, its, their or formal your; the context identifies the possessor.
- Nuestro libro / nuestra mochila / nuestros libros / nuestras mochilas show both gender and number. Agreement is with the possessed object, not the gender of the owner.
- Este libro / esta mochila / estos libros / estas mochilas form one set. Ese and aquel have corresponding feminine and plural forms: esa, esos, esas; aquella, aquellos, aquellas.
- They can locate or identify things relative to the speakers or discourse. Match the form to its noun and read the context rather than assigning a fixed number of metres to each set.
Possession: agree with the object
Slides
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Practice questions
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1.What is the plural of "un libro"?
Easy- Aunos libros
- Bunos libres
- Cunas libros
- Dun libros
2.What is the plural of "una ciudad"?
Easy- Aunas ciudads
- Bunos ciudades
- Cunas ciudades es
- Dunas ciudades
3.What is the plural of "un pez"?
Easy- Aunas peces
- Bunos pez
- Cunos peces
- Dunos pezes
4.What is the gender of "el mapa"?
Easy- Aplural
- Bmasculine
- Cfeminine
- Dneuter
5.What is the gender of "la mano"?
Easy- Afeminine
- Bmasculine
- Cneuter
- Dplural
6.What is the feminine of "alto"?
Easy- Aalto
- Baltas
- Caltos
- Dalta
7.What is the plural of "grande"?
Easy- Agrandos
- Bgrande
- Cgrandes
- Dgrandas
8.What does "mejor" mean?
Easy- Asmaller
- Bbetter
- Cworse
- Dbigger
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