Los artículos definidos

What is a definite article?

• “The” in English

• In Spanish, the word “the” changes according to plurality (if the noun is singular or plural) and gender

• What's a noun?

A noun is:

• a person

• a place

• a thing

• an idea

Masculine vs. Feminine words

• In Spanish, all nouns have a gender. In English, they do not. This does not mean the noun is inherently a female or male, just that the word itself has an assigned gender.

• Feminine noun words typically end with -d, -ion, -z, -a

• Masculine noun words typically end with -l, -o, -n, -e, -r, -s

• There are many exceptions! But these are the general rules.

Examples of feminine nouns in Spanish:

• casa (house)

• bufanda (scarf)

• situación (situation)

• personalidad (personality)

Examples of masculine nouns in Spanish:

• zapato (shoe)

• cinturón (belt)

• suetér (sweater)

• muchacho (boy)

When it comes to talking about people...

• People can choose how they identify (male, female, nonbinary)

• Their identity determines which adjective endings they use

• If a person is non-binary, the standard is to use -e as the gender-neutral ending on adjectives

• We will get more into this later - just wanted to mention it now while I'm introducing the concept of gender in Spanish

Singular vs Plural

• Singular is when a noun is just one of that item

• Plural is when there are more than one of that item

• For example: the singular of "house" is "house"

• The plural of "house" is "houses"

How to make words plural in Spanish

• In English, we just add an -s to the end of the word

• In Spanish, if a word ends with a vowel (a, e, i, o, u), then you add -s at the end (casa > casas)

• If a word ends with a consonant (any letter that is not a vowel), then you add -es at the end (tacón > tacones)

The next slide is of me explaining this concept

La casa = The house

El vestido = The dress

Notice how dresses are typically associated with females, but the word of the noun itself is masculine.

El suetér = The sweater

las faldas = the skirts

los pantalones = the pants

NOW: let's learn about indefinite articles

What is an indefinite article?

• “A”, "an", "some", or "many" in English

• In Spanish, indefinite articles also change according to plurality (if the noun is singular or plural) and gender

Examples of indefinite articles in English

• A chair

• Some kids

• an apple

• a shirt

Indefinite Articles

Just like definite articles, they change according to the noun. If it's a feminine noun, use the feminine indirect article. If it's plural, use the plural version.

You're done! Now, go back to Google Classroom and complete the Google Form for today.

This was a lot. I promise we will use these more and practice more so it will come naturally. :)