Lesson 5 - El Articulo II (indefinite article)

The indefinite article in spanish is equivalent to "a,an, some" in english. it has 4 forms depending on whether the noun is masculine, femenine, singular or plural

un (masculine singular)
una (femine singular)
unos (masculine plural)
unas (femine plural)

a) "Un, una" are the singular form, and are used to express just one object:
un gato (one cat, a cat)
un libro (one book, a book)
un lapicero (one pen, a pen)

una camisa (one shirt, a shirt)
una mesa (one table, a table)
una silla (one chair, a chair)


b) "unos, unas" are the plural forms, the are equivalent to "some" in english, they give an idea about few objects.

unos gatos (some male cats)
unos libros (some books)
unos hombres (some men)

unas personas (some persons)
unas carpetas (some desks)
unas medias (some socks)

*remeber when you talk about a group of objects, and into the object there's at less one "male", at this case you should use the masculine plural form. For example:

if you have 10 cats, nine of them are female cats, and the other one is a male cat, you would say:
diez gatos/ los gatos/unos gatos.... always in masculine.





here's is a table with the resumen of articles in spanish:



















For remember the rules and using of plurals please go to the lesson of Plural rules:
http://mau-spanish.blogspot.com/2009/07/lesson-3-los-plurales.html

Lesson 4 - El Articulo (definite article)

In this lesson we wil learn the definite article, wich equivalent in english is "the":
The article in spanish could be masculine or femenine, and also singular and plural

---------- Singular ------ Plural
Masculine.. el ..... .. los
Femenine .. la .................. las


Singular: the singular form is el for masculine nouns and la for femenine nouns:
el perro (the dog)
el profesor (the teacher )
el lapicero (the pen)
el avión (the airplane)


la mesa (the table)
la canción (the song)
la profesora (the lady teacher)
la ciudad (the city)

*remember that words with -ción, -sión, -dad, -tad, -umbre. are feminine words.


Plural: for plural nouns the articles are los for masculine nouns and las for feminine:
los perros (the dogs)
los profesores (the teachers)
los lapiceros (the pens)
los aviones (the airplanes)

las mesas (the tables)
las canciones (the songs)
las mujeres (the women)
las ciudades (the cities)

Some rules about masculine and femenine words:

- when the noun refers to persons, sometimes the noun do not change, but the article wil change depending of the person's gender you are talking about:
El estudiante --- la estudiante
El pianista ---- la pianista
el cantante ---- la cantante


- the nouns which end in -sión, -ción, -dad, -tad, -tud, -umbre, are femine words:

• la televisión
• la decisión
• la conversación
• la habitación
• la ciudad
• la universidad

- some words that end in –a, or -ma are masculine:
el sistema

el poema

el día

el tema

el clima

el idioma
el planeta

el sofá

- some words which end in –o, are femenine:

La mano
La radio

Lesson 3 - Los Plurales

the plural is used for name two or more nouns of the same specie. Plurals in spanish are formed adding an "s" or "es" to the singular noun. here are the rules:

a) When the noun ends in a,e,o it's added an "s" at the end of the word for the plural.
Perro ---> Perros (dogs)
Gata ---> Gatas (cats)
mesa ---> mesas (tables)
Señora -----> señoras (ladies)
amigo -----> amigos (friends)

b) when a noun ends in i , it's added "es":
jabalí ---> jabalíes (wild boars)
israelí ---> israelíes (israelis)

c) when a noun ends in u, the plural could be with "s" or "es"
hindú ---> hindús, hindúes (hindis)
tabú ---> tabús, tabúes (taboos)

d) when the noun end in a consonant that is not it's added an "es"
Profesor ---> Profesores (teachers)
Señor ---> Señores (misters)
Televisión ---> televisiones (televisions)
Acción ---> acciones (actions)
compás ----> compases (dividers)

* note there's an accent in the last syllab, but the word ends in vowel, the accent is not written in the plural form.


e) when the noun ends in -z. the "z" is changed by an "c" and it's added "es" for the plural:
Lápiz ---> lápices (pencils)
Voz ----> voces (voices)

f) there are some nounes that end in -s or -x, that has no change to the plural:
tórax ----> tórax (torax)
tesis ----> tesis (thesis)


g) there's some special words which are singular words but give us an idea about a group of objects:
la gente (people, group of persons)
la jauría (group of dogs)
manada (group of animals)

*it's incorrect to say las gentes. You should say la gente.

Lesson 2 - Los sustantivos

The nouns in spanish could be masculine or femenine:

Masculine nouns: All nouns in masculine have a -o, -e, -i ending, the nouns which end in a consonante are also masculines:
libro (book)
perro (dog)
gato (cat)
elefante (el)
cuaderno (notebook)
piso (floor)

Femenine Nouns: femenine nouns have an -a ending:
- camisa (shirt)
- mesa (table)
- silla (chair)
- madera (wood)

Nouns refered to persons can change from masculine to femenine depending of the person you are talking about:

Comparison:
MASCULINO FEMENINO
profesor profesora
niño niña
señor señora


*it could be used with animals wich masculine noun end with -o like:
perro ---¨perra
gato ---- gata
elefante (it's the same for both genders)

there some special nouns that are different between their masculine and femenine form:
hombre -- mujer (man - woman)
caballero -- dama (gentleman - lady)
macho --- hembra (male - female)

Note:
words wich end in -ista. could be masculine or femine depending of the context, but içthey will never change:
periodista (journalist ) could be a man or a woman depending of the context.

Lesson 1 - The alphabet

El Abecedario



Here is the spanish alphabet (el alfabeto) or normally named as "el abecedario", remember that spanish vowels never change their pronuntiation.

a
b (be)
c (ce) remember that the syllabs ca,co,cu have a k sound (ka,ko,ku) and ce,ci have a
s souns
d (de)
e
f (efe)
g (ge) ga,go,gu, gue,gui are pronounce like the english g as gate. ge and gi are
pronounced as a j(jota =equivalent to the english h)
h (hache) spanish "h" has no sound.
i
j (jota) sound like the english h (hit)
k (ka)
l (ele)
m (eme)
n (ene)
ñ (eñe) has a nh sound
o
p (pe)
q (qu) it could combined just as que (ke) and qui (ki)
r (erre)
s (ese)
t (te)
u
v (ve/ ve labial)
w (be doble/ doble be)
x (equis)
y (ye/ i griega)
z (zeta) it has a "s" sound but with the tongue between the teeth, in latin america speaking there's no difference in the pronountiation of z,s, ce,ci.. all are pronounced with a "s" sound.

For more information about the spanish fonethic, please check the categorie "Fonética"