Nouns in Spanish like in English have articles, but unlike the English language, nouns in Spanish have gender.
Definite articles
En inglés the definite article is 'the', en español the definite articles are 'el, la, los, las'.
El
'El' is used when speaking about a masculine singular noun.
Por ejemplo:
El chico - the boy
El abuelo - the grandfather
La
'La' is used when speaking about a feminine singular noun.
Por ejemplo:
La chica - the girl
La abuela - the grandmother
Los
'Los' is used when speaking about masculine plural nouns.
Por ejemplo:
Los chicos - the boys
Los abuelos - the grandfathers
Las
'Las' is used when speaking about feminine plural nouns.
Por ejemplo:
Las chicas - the girls
Las abuelas - the grandmothers
Indefinite articles
En inglés the indefinite articles are 'a' and 'some', the indefinite articles en espanol are 'un, una, unos, unas'.
Un
'Un' is used when speaking about a singular masculine noun.
Por ejemplo:
Un mercado - a market
Un libro - a book
Una
'Una' is used when speaking about a feminine singular verb.
Por ejemplo:
Una escuela - a school
Una playa - a beach
Unos
' Unos' is used when speaking about masculine plural verbs.
Por ejemplo:
Unos mercados - some (a few) markets
Unos libros - some ( a few) books
Unas
'Unas' is used when speakimg about feminine plural nouns.
Por ejemplo:
Unas escuelas - some (a few) schools
Unas playas - some (a few) beaches
Noun endings
En español, most of the time you can tell what gender a noun is from its endings.
'-o' and '-a'
Nouns ending in '-o' are generally masculine nouns.
Por ejemplo:
El muchacho (the boy)
El pueblo (the town)
El chico (the boy)
Un abuelo (a grandfather)
Un mercado (a market)
Un libro (a book)
As we have seen, these masculine singular nouns have '-o' endings.
Nouns ending in '-a' are generally feminine.
Por ejemplo:
La muchacha (the girl)
La cocina (the kitchen)
La chica (the girl)
Una abuela (a grandmother)
Una escuela (a school)
Una playa(a beach)
'-os' and '-as'
Generally when you come across '-os' and '-as' at the end of nouns they are plural.
'-os'
Los muchachos (the boys)
Los pueblos (the towns)
Los chicos (the boys)
Unos abuelos (some grandfathers)
Unos mercados (some markets)
Unos libros (some books)
More feminine noun endings
Nouns ending in '-dad', '-tad', '-tud', '-umbre', '-ción' and '-sión' are femimine.
Por ejemplo:
La ciudad (city)
La dificultad (difficulty)
La actitud (attitude)
La nación (nation)
La inversión (investment)
La muchedumbre (crowd)
Plural endings (to the above)
To make the above noun endings plural simply add '-es'.
Por ejemplo:
Las ciudades (cities)
Las dificultades (dificulties)
Las actitudes (attitudes)
Las naciones (nations)
Las inversiones (investments)
N.B, if we look at the nouns ending in '-ción' and '-sión', we realise that in their plural forms they no longer have accents.
La nación ---> las naciones
La inversión ---> las inversiones
A.N
Remember that there are exceptions to most rules, so there will a few masculine nouns ending with '-a', and a few feminine nouns will end with '-o'.
