Agreement,
Spanish Style
Parte Uno
Nouns have gender!
Number, too!
Just like people,
Spanish nouns have gender,
either masculine or feminine.
 Most Spanish nouns
Don’t let this ‘gender
thing’ confuse you!
which end in an –o are
It is a characteristic
masculine. Here are
of the word, not the
some which you might
person, place, or thing
already know:
it represents!
 el amigo - friend
 el libro - book
 el sombrero - hat
 el perro - dog
 el gato - cat
 el teléfono - telephone
In other words, all cats
are not males, but
‘gato’ is a masculine
noun.
Now for the feminine
side of things…
 Most Spanish nouns
which end in an –a are
feminine. Here are
some which you might
already know:
 la lámpara - lamp
 la amiga - girl
 la música - music
 la ensalada - salad
 la clase - class
 la tarea - homework
 la comida - food
 Nouns which end in
-dad, -tad, and –ión
are often feminine.
Here are some examples:






la
la
la
la
la
la
ciudad - city
universidad - university
facultad - faculty
solución – solution
revolución - revolution
nación - nation
You know that nouns have
gender…now for number!
(Just like English - singular/plural)
Making nouns plural is easy!
If they end in a vowel, just
add an –s.







el
el
la
la
el
el
la
amigo – los amigos
gato – los gatos
ensalada – las ensaladas
clase – las clases
teléfono – los teléfonos
libro – los libros
lámpara – las lámparas
If the noun ends in a
consonant, add –es.
 la ciudad – las ciudades
 la universidad –
las universidades
 la solución - las soluciones
 la revolución –
las revoluciones
 la nación – las naciones
 la competición –
las competiciones
If the noun ends in –z, change the -z to a –c and add –es
el lapíz – los lapices
In Spanish, the adjectives must agree
(match) with the nouns they describe
in 2 ways: number and gender.
Here are some masculine,
singular nouns with
adjectives describing
them:
El
El
El
El
chico alto - the tall boy
gato gordo-the fat cat
libro viejo-the old book
perro pequeño - the
small dog
El amigo bueno - the good
friend
Now, we’re going to make
these noun phrases
plural:
Los chicos altos - the tall
boys
Los gatos gordos - the fat
cats
Los libros viejos – the old
books
Los perros pequeños – the
small dogs
Los amigos buenos-the
good friends
Just as masculine nouns and
adjectives must agree (match), so
must feminine nouns and adjectives.
Here are some feminine
nouns and adjectives in
their singular form:
Now let’s look at making
these same noun
phrases plural:
La chica alta –
the tall girl
La lámpara nueva the new lamp
La clase aburrida –
the boring class
La nación unida –
the united nation
La ensalada buena the good salad
Las chicas altas –
the tall girls
Las lámparas nuevas the new lamps
Las clases aburridas –
the boring classes
Las naciones unidas-the
united nations
Las ensaladas buenas the good salads
In summary, noun/adjective
agreement works like this:
By watching the previous slides, you have probably figured out
what this ‘agreement thing’ is all about.
If you haven’t, check out the following two examples:
el muchacho alto the tall boy
los muchachos altos the tall boys
la muchacha alta the tall girl
las muchachas altas the tall girls
THE NOUNS AND THEIR CORRESPONDING ADJECTIVES
MUST AGREE IN NUMBER AND GENDER!!
WHEN THE GENDER OR NUMBER OF A NOUN CHANGES,
THE ADJECTIVE MUST CHANGE, ALSO!
Agreement,
Spanish Style,
Parte Dos
Noun/adjective placement
‘la vida loca’… the life crazy??
Noun/Adjective Word Order
for quantitative adjectives
In English, we place adjectives before the nouns that they
modify when writing and speaking. In Spanish,
adjectives of quantity are USUALLY placed before the
nouns that they describe. Here’s an example:
Los tres amigos son estudiantes.
The three friends are students.
The word for three, tres, is an adjective which tells
quantity. Notice that it comes before amigos in the
example above.
Noun/adjective word order
for qualitative adjectives
In Spanish, qualitative adjectives GENERALLY follow
the nouns which they modify. This can cause
confusion for us, because it’s so very different
from the way in which we do things in English.
Consider the following examples:
la chica alta - the tall girl
las clases aburridas - the boring classes
el gato gordo – the fat cat
las lámparas nuevas – the new lamps
los libros viejos – the old books
la ensalada buena – the good salad
las amigas simpáticas - the nice friends
Un repaso pequeño de todo …
In this lesson, you have learned that:
Nouns have gender: masculine and feminine
Nouns have number: singular and plural
Adjectives must agree (match) with the nouns that
they modify — both in number and gender.
 Quantitative adjectives usually come before the nouns
they modify.
 Qualitative adjectives generally come after the nouns
they modify.




In the words of ‘un cantante popular’, by learning
all of this, you’ll truly be living ‘la vida loca’.