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La Vida Estudiantil
La Vida Estudiantil
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EL GÉNERO Y NÚMERO
(Identifying Gender and Number)
Gender (género)
All nouns in Spanish have two important grammatical features: gender (masculine
and feminine) and number (singular and plural). Note that, although gender may
reflect a biological distinction in some nouns referring to persons and animals, it is
merely a grammatical detail in nouns that refer to nonliving things. The articles that
accompany nouns must agree with respect to gender and number. Therefore,
articles have masculine and feminine forms as well as singular and plural forms.
Masculino Femenino
Most nouns referring to a male Most nouns referring to a female
El estudiante, el professor, el señor, gato, La estudiante, la profesora, la señora, gata,
perro perra
Most nouns that end in-o Most nouns that end in-a
Escritorio, libro, diccionario Mesa, silla, calculadora, ventana, puerta
Most nouns that end in-r or l Almost nouns ending in –ión and –ad
El televisor, el borrador, el papel La información, la oración, la televisión
la amistad, la verdad.
Exceptions: some nouns that end in-a are Exceptions: some nouns that end in-o are
masculine feminine
El mapa, el día, el problema, el tema etc. La mano, la radio, la moto
Some nouns ending in-e & -ista can be either masculine or feminine
El estudiante el turista
La estudiante la turista
Other Notes:
If you memorize the article when you learn a new noun, you will remember
its gender. For example, la clase (feminine), el pupitre (masculine) etc.
Exceptions; the gender of some words must be learn because they don’t
follow the patterns for maculine y feminine. For example:
Masculine- el aula, el mapa, el día, el planeta, el sofá …
Feminine – la moto, la radio, la foto, la mano etc…
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NUMBER (Número)
Plural formation
Las formas Ejemplos
Other notes
Aula is feminine even though it uses the article el. The plural form is las aulas.
LOS ARTICULOS
The definite article or indefinite article that accompanies a noun must agree with
the noun in gender and number. Therefore, articles have masculine, feminine,
singular, and plural forms.
Notes:
When talking about a group that includes both masculine and feminine nouns, we use the masculine plural.
Ej: un alumno + una alumna = los alumnos.
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LOS SUSTANTIVOS: El género y el número
Masculino Femenino
1. el trabajo escritor 1. la impresora
2. 2.
3. 3.
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Talking about actions in present tense:
LOS VERBOS REGULARES
regular - ar, er, ir verbs
Verbs are actions in the sentence. When you look up a Spanish verb in the
dictionary, you will find the infinitive form, which in Spanish always ends in either
-ar, -er, or -ir. It is important to notice which of these endings the infinitive has,
because each type is conjugated in a different way.
In this section you will learn about regular –ar, er and ir verbs. Look at the chart
to see how to conjugate verbs in the present tense.
Ejemplo:
Ejemplo:
Hacer
The verbs hacer (to do, make) is irregular only in the yo form.
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verbs with –ir
(drop the –ir and add the appropriate ending for each pronoun)
Ejemplo:
Salir
The verbs salir (to leave, to go out) is irregular only in the yo form.
a. Ellos salen muy temprano todos los días. They leave early every day.
b. ¿A qué hora sales de la oficina? At what time do you leave the office?
– Yo salgo a las 5pm. - I leave at 5pm.
c. Pablo y yo salimos de la casa. Pablo y yo leave the house.
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Asking for specific information: Interrogative words
You have used some interrogative words to ask questions: ¿Cómo te llamas? ¿Cómo
estás, ¿De dónde eres?, ¿Qué estudias? etc. Following are the most commonly used
interrogative words in Spanish:
Invert the Sí, Laura habla español./ No, Laura no habla español.
subject and Yes, Laura speaks Spanish./ No. Laura doesn’t speak Spanish
verb
¿María está aquí? – Sí, está aquí
Is María here? - Yes she is here
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Spanish has a two-part question mark: an upside-down question
mark ¿ at the beginning of the question and ? at the end.
Lectura