Plural Nouns and Definite Articles
Nouns that end in a vowel are made plural by adding “s”. With
masculine nouns, make the definite article (el) plural by changing
it to “los”. For feminine nouns, make the definite article (la)
plural by adding “s” to make “las”
el bolígrafo
los bolígrafos
el cuaderno
los cuadernos
la mochila
las mochilas
la pizarra
las pizarras
When a group of people or things includes both masculine and
feminine nouns use the masculine form of the noun:
los chicos
the boys / the boys and girls
los alumnos
the students (all boys OR both)
Nouns that end in a consonant are made plural by adding “es”.
el borrador
los borradores
el papel
los papeles
Sometimes it is necessary to add or remove a written accent to
keep the pronunciation the same when making a noun plural.
el examen
los exámenes
Without the written accent in the plural, since exámenes ends in
“s”, the stress would be on the next-to-last syllable, instead of
on the “a”. The accent is needed to keep the pronunciation the
same.
la nación
las naciones
Here the accent is not needed because naciones ends in “s’ and the
“o” is stressed according to the rules of pronunciation.