It is common to hear the words gender and number used together when contemplating a noun. The gender of the noun indicates whether the noun is masculine or feminine. The number of the noun indicates whether the noun is singular or plural. You will learn to identify the word
libro as a singular, masculine noun, and how to make the plural version of this and all other nouns.
Before you learn how to make a noun plural, it's necessary to learn how to pluralize the definite and indefinite articles. A plural noun will have a plural version of the article in front of it. Comparatively, the definite article in English is the same regardless of whether the noun that follows in singular or plural.
Plural forms of definite articles
The Spanish definite article (
el and
la, the) has a plural version of both its feminine and masculine forms. Therefore, the definite article has four forms in Spanish. The plural of
el is
los and the plural of
la is
las.
|
Singular, masculine
|
Plural, masculine
|
|
el (the)
|
los (the)
|
|
Singular, feminine
|
Plural, feminine
|
|
la (the)
|
las (the)
|
|
Plural forms of indefinite articles
The indefinite articles in Spanish are
un (a) and
una (an). These are only used in front of a singular noun. When a plural noun requires an indefinite article, the word
some is used as the plural of
a or
an. In Spanish, there is a feminine and masculine version of the singular indefinite article, and also a feminine and masculine version of the plural indefinite article.
|
Singular, masculine
|
Plural, masculine
|
|
un (a, an)
|
unos (some)
|
|
Singular, feminine
|
Plural, feminine
|
|
una (a, an)
|
unas (some)
|
|
Plural forms of nouns
There are very simple rules to follow when creating the plural version of a noun. If a noun ends in any vowel, simply add -
s to create the plural form.
|
Singular
|
|
Plural
|
|
|
el café
|
the café
|
los cafés
|
the cafés
|
|
la hermana
|
the sister
|
las hermanas
|
the sisters
|
|
el pupitre
|
the desk
|
los pupitres
|
the desks
|
|
la mesa
|
the table
|
las mesas
|
the tables
|
|
If a noun ends in any consonant (including
y), add -
es to create the plural form.
|
Singular
|
|
Plural
|
|
|
la ciudad
|
the city
|
las ciudades
|
the cities
|
|
la ley
|
the law
|
las leyes
|
the laws
|
|
el mes
|
the month
|
los meses
|
the months
|
|
el rey
|
the king
|
los reyes
|
the kings
|
|
When
z is followed by
e, change the
z to
c when forming the plural. This means that any word ending in
z will become -
ces in its plural form.
|
Singular
|
|
Plural
|
|
|
el pez
|
the fish
|
los peces
|
the fish (plural)
|
|
el lápiz
|
the pencil
|
los lápices
|
the pencils
|
|
la voz
|
the voice
|
las voces
|
the voices
|
|
The Spanish will use the plural version of the masculine noun to represent a couple of mixed gender. For example:
|
el tío
|
the uncle
|
los tíos
|
the aunt and uncle (or the uncles)
|
|
el padre
|
the father
|
los padres
|
the parents (or the fathers)
|
|
el rey
|
the king
|
los reyes
|
the king and queen (or the kings)
|
|
Plural forms and accent marks
A word that ends in any consonant other than
n or
s will be stressed on the last syllable. A word that ends in a vowel,
n, or
s will be stressed on the next to the last syllable. Since the Spanish want the plural form of a word to be stressed on the same syllable as the singular form, it is sometimes necessary to add or remove an accent mark when the plural version adds an entire syllable such as -
es.
If you add -
es to a word that had an accent mark on the last syllable, the accent mark is eliminated when -
es is added.
|
Singular
|
|
Plural
|
|
|
el autobús
|
the bus
|
los autobuses
|
the busses
|
|
el inglés
|
the Englishman
|
los ingleses
|
the Englishmen
|
|
la lección
|
the lesson
|
las lecciones
|
the lessons
|
|
el limón
|
the lemon
|
los limones
|
the lemons
|
|
Other words that didn't have an accent before the -
es was added, will have an accent in their plural form.
|
Singular
|
|
Plural
|
|
|
el examen
|
the exam
|
los exámenes
|
the exams
|
|
el origen
|
the origin
|
los orígenes
|
the origins
|
|
A noun that end in -
s will remain the same in its plural form (only the article will change) unless there is an accented vowel in front of the -
s. If there is an accented vowel in front of the -
s, you will add -
es and drop the accent to create the plural form. This rule is important to remember with compound nouns because they usually end in -
s and usually have the same form for singular and plural.
|
Singular
|
|
Plural
|
|
|
el lavaplatos
|
the dishwasher
|
los lavaplatos
|
the dishwashers
|
|
el martes
|
the Tuesday
|
los martes
|
the Tuesdays
|
|
el paréntesis
|
the parenthesis
|
los paréntesis
|
the parentheses
|
|
la tesis
|
the thesis
|
los tesis
|
the theses
|
|
el rascacielos
|
the skyscraper
|
los rascacielos
|
the skyscrapers
|
|
el francés
|
the Frenchman
|
los franceses
|
the Frenchmen
|
|
el diós
|
the god
|
los dioses
|
the gods
|
|
Thematic Vocabulary
Gender: Nouns and Articles
