Nota: Copy all nouns that you will find in this lesson to your copybook or electronic device and memorize them. If you hover the cursor over a word or tap it with your finger, a tooltip with translation will pop up.
First of all, let’s clarify what nouns are. Nouns are words that give names to objects or abstract notions. For example: table, dog, weather. Nouns basically give answers to the questions What? or Who?
chico (he) – boy
chica (she) – girl
libro (he) – book
casa (she) – house
Spanish nouns have two genders – feminine and masculine. This means that all nouns, including objects and abstract terms, are divided into two gender groups. Normally, feminine nouns end with a, and masculine nouns end with o.
teléfono (m) – phone
ventana (f) – window
Language genders have historical reasons. It’s impossible to determine why some nouns belong to the masculine group and the others belong to the feminine group. Apparently, it was very important for those who lived many centuries ago. Now genders are part of Spanish grammar and you will be coming across them in almost every sentence.
¡Importante! Learn nouns together with their genders.
perro (m) – dog
armario (m) – cupboard
silla (f) – chair
camisa (f) – shirt
Later you will see that some elements related to nouns, such as articles, adjectives and pronouns, should also be of the right gender that corresponds to the noun.
The noun día is masculine. That’s why we should say buenos días. Not buenas días.
The nouns tarde and noche are feminine. We should say buenas tardes and buenas noches.
Masculine gender
chico – boy
libro – book
cuaderno – copybook
perro – dog
gato – cat
sombrero – hat
teléfono – phone
bolígrafo – pen
armario – cupboard, wardrobe
bolso – bag
Feminine gender
chica – girl
casa – house
mesa – table
silla – chair
ventana – window
puerta – door
lámpara – lamp
camisa – shirt
taza – cup
alfombra – carpet
In most cases Spanish nouns are preceded by articles. In simple terms, articles are auxiliar elements that show if a noun is either a determined object or a category name.
Most of the time you will hear not just chico, but un chico or el chico.
There are two types of articles – indefinite and definite.
Indefinite articles
un
un perro
un libro
un cuaderno
una
una mesa
una silla
una puerta
Indefinite articles show that a noun means a category or an undefined object, not a particular object.
Un and una are equal to the English indefinite article “a”.
When you say “I have a dog”, you mean that you have one pet from the category called “dogs”.
From now on you have to keep genders in mind. So, Spanish articles are also divided into masculine and feminine types.
Try it yourself:
a book
a door
a house
a cat
a copybook
a chair
Check yourself hovering the cursor over or tapping each word.
Definite articles
el
el gato
el teléfono
el bolso
la
la lámpara
la ventana
la camisa
We use definite articles when we talk about a particular and unique object. For example, “The dog is black”. The English “the” article is equal to the Spanish el and la. The difference is that Spanish articles have genders.
Try it yourself:
the hat
the girl
the pen
the cupboard
the window
Many Spanish nouns end with a or o, but not all of them. If the ending is different, sometimes there is no way to know if the word is feminine or masculine. What helps us determine the gender is the article.
Try to guess what gender these nouns belong to:
una flor – (?)
un coche – (?)
un reloj – (?)
una pared – (?)
el lápiz – (?)
la habitación – (?)
una tele – (?)
el día – (?)
Learn nouns together with their articles. This way you get acquainted not only with the meaning, but with the right gender, as well.
There are a few endings that do tell about the gender.
The nouns ending with -ción, -sión, -dad and -tad in most cases are feminine.
la habitación – the room
la revolución – the revolution
una profesión – a profession
la universidad – the university
una facultad – a faculty
una ciudad – a city
The words ending with -or tend to be masculine.
un ordenador – a computer
el profesor – the teacher
el director – the director
As you can see, the same word can be preceded either by the definite or indefinite article. The choice depends on the context. When there is no context, it’s up to you which article to memorize a word with. Just remember, that most often you will see nouns that have articles, rather than they don’t.
There are special rules that establish what article to use in a certain context. Most of them resemble the English articles rules, but some are different. You will find out more about Spanish articles later in this tutorial. In the next couple of lessons we will work with the indefinite articles only.
un chico — a boy
una chica — a girl
una mesa — a table
una silla — a chair
una ventana – a window
una lámpara — a lamp
un teléfono – a phone
un bolígrafo (un boli) — a pen
un lápiz — a pencil
un libro — a book
un cuaderno — a copybook
un bolso — a bag
un ordenador — a computer
un sombrero — a hat
una camisa – a shirt
un armario – a cupboard, a wardrobe
un perro – a dog
un gato – a cat
una habitación – a room
una flor – a flower
un reloj – a clock, a watch
una tele – a TV
una pared – a wall
una ciudad – a city
un coche – a car
Ejercicio 1
What gender do these nouns belong to?
una lámpara, una tele, el papel, la puerta, una ventana, un sombrero, la pared, el sillón.
Ejercicio 2
Put an indefinite article in front of these nouns
… mesa, … lápiz, … libro, … cuaderno, … armario, … bolso, … habitación, … profesión, … profesor, … profesora, … cama.
Ejercicio 3
Put a definite article in front of these nouns
… cuaderno, … bolso, … chico, … chica, … perro, … lámpara, … silla, … gato, … verdad, … lección.
Ejercicio 4
Say these words in Spanish, using the indefinite articles
a boy, a table, a dog, a bag, a girl, a book, a copybook, a chair, a wall, a TV, a shirt, a cupboard, a window.
Ejercicio 5
Say these words in Spanish, using the definite articles
the lamp, the window, the phone, the hat, the teacher, the pen, the pencil, the flower, the computer, the city, the clock.