Tiscali: Spanish Phrase Finder - Nouns

Unlike English, Spanish nouns have a gender: they are either masculine ( el ) or feminine ( la ). Therefore words for the and a(n) must agree with the noun they accompany - whether masculine, feminine or plural:

The ending of the noun will usually indicate whether it is masculine or feminine:

-o or -or are generally masculine

-a, -dad, -ión, -tud, -umbre are generally feminine

note: feminine nouns beginning with a stressed a- or ha- take the masculine article el, though the noun is still feminine.

plurals

The articles el and la become los and las. Nouns ending with a vowel become plural by adding s:

el gato * los gatos
la plaza * las plazas
la calle * las calles

Where the noun ends in a consonant, then -es is added:

el color * los colores
la ciudad * las ciudades

Nouns ending in -z change their ending to -ces in the plural.

el lápiz * los lápices
la voz * las voces