Gender • In this presentation, we will look at two very important concepts in Spanish: gender and agreement.
Gender • Look at these English words and guess whether they refer to male or female: • Bull • Hen • Husband • Niece • Cousin • Calculator • Love
Gender • Some are obvious: • Bull (m.) • Hen (f.) • Husband (m.) • Niece (f.) • Others are unknown: • Cousin (m. or f.) • While others are neither (“neuter”): • Calculator, love
Gender • In English, nouns and pronouns fall into three grammatical groups: • Masculine: man, husband, rooster, he • Feminine: woman, wife, hen, she • Neuter: child, bird, it
Gender • In Spanish, all nouns fall into just two categories: • Masculine (“masculino”) • Feminine (“feminino”) • There is no “neuter” class in which to place nouns such as “table” and “chair.”
So what does this mean? • You should start thinking about Spanish nouns as being either masculine or feminine.
Let’s take a look! • Here are some nouns with their corresponding definite article (“the”): • el niño (the boy) • la niña (the girl) • el profesor(the professor) • la profesora(the professor) • el amigo(the friend) • la amiga (the friend)
Let’s reorganize these words. • Put all of the “el” words together: • el niño • el profesor • el amigo • And all the “la” words together: • la niña • la profesora • la amiga
That’s easy! • Masculine nouns use the definite article “el” while feminine nouns use “la.” • Let’s look at a few more: • La mesa (the table) • El libro (the book) • La pluma (the pen) • El teléfono (the phone)
Just a minute!! • Words that are neuter in English are either masculine or feminine in Spanish. • This does not mean that these words have masculine or feminine characteristics! It is just a purely grammatical classification.
Let’s practice! • Do you think these nouns are masculine (“el”) or feminine (“la”)? Don’t worry about the meanings for now. • ___ hermano • ___ mamá • ___ trabajo • ___ historia • ___ planta • ___ taco
How did you do? • el hermano • la mamá • el trabajo • la historia • la planta • el taco • Generally speaking, nouns that end in –o are masculine, while those that end in –a are feminine. There are exceptions, but we will worry about them on a case-by-case basis.
Here are some different ones: • la ciudad • la universidad • la religión • la división • el actor • el doctor • el español • el túnel
Do you see the pattern? • Not all Spanish nouns end in –o and –a, but they still must be either masculine or feminine. • Nouns that end in –ión are usually feminine. • Nouns that end in –dad are always feminine. • Nouns that end in –l and –r are usually masculine.
What about…? • Nouns that end in –e can be either masculine or feminine: • la clase; el presidente • Some nouns can be both, depending on the meaning: • el presidente (a man) • la presidente (a woman)
What’s the bottom line? • Learn every Spanish noun with its article. It will pay off soon, because you will be able to classify new nouns as you see the patterns develop.
Agreement • Look at these sentences (alto = tall; guapo = good-looking): • El niño es alto y guapo. • La niña es alta y guapa. • Words that describe “niño” also end in –o: alto, guapo • Words that describe “niña” also end in –a: alta, guapa
What’s going on here? • Other words in the sentence also change to “agree” (match the form of the noun they describe). Here’s another one: • El profesor es bajo, anciano, y gordo. • How would you change this sentence to talk about a woman professor?
Agreement • La profesora es baja, anciana, y gorda. • What if there is more than one male teacher?
Agreement • Los profesoresson bajos, ancianos, y gordos. • What is happening?? • Los > “the” plural • Profesores > plural • Son > “are” • Bajos, ancianos, gordos > adjectives match the ending of the nouns, too. • This doesn’t happen in English (except for “this/these” and “that/those”). But it’s an important feature in Spanish!
Let’s try one! • Put the correct ending on each word. • La chica es bonit__ y delgad__. • Mi auto es antigu__ y fe__.
The envelope, please! • La chica es bonita y delgada. • Mi auto es antiguo y feo. • Now make these sentences plural!
Your final answer… • Las chicas son bonitas y delgadas. • Mis autos son antiguos y feos. • How about this sentence in the plural? • El estudiante es inteligente y trabajador.
How did you do? • Los estudiantesson inteligentes y trabajadores. • Adjectives that end in –e can be used with either masculine or feminine nouns. To make them plural, just add –s. • Adjectives that end in –r add –es for plural.
That’s enough for now! • This is a very tricky concept for learners of Spanish, mainly because it is so different from English. • However, it is extremely important and requires a lot of concentration on your part! Keep your eyes and ears open for gender and agreement, and soon the patterns will become clearer.
