Spanish: An Essential Grammar

In order to use nouns correctly in Spanish, we need to know their gram-

matical gender (which is usually arbitrary and unrelated to biological

gender), and in the vast majority of cases their distinct singular and plural

forms.

Plural forms of nouns

The plural form of most Spanish nouns ends in -s.

The plural of nouns ending in an unstressed vowel

This is obtained by adding -sto the singular form:

la casa the house las casas the houses

la tribu the tribe las tribus the tribes

2.1.1

2.1

1111

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

1011

1

12111

3 4 5 6 7 8 9

20111

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

30111

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

40

41111 13

Chapter 2 Nouns

The three main groups of nouns in Spanish

Most Spanish nouns fall into one of the following categories:

1 Nouns that end in -o(libro‘book’, vino‘wine’).

2 Nouns that end in -a(casa‘house’, patata‘potato’).

3 Nouns that end in -eor a consonant (nube‘cloud’, tacón‘heel’).

Nouns ending in -oare almost always masculine, the majority of

those ending in -aare feminine and those ending in -eor a conso-

nant can be either gender.