A.  Definite articles - "the" 

   1.  all Spanish nouns have either masculine or feminine gender and has nothing to do with boys and girls.

         a.  el chico - the boy   /   el sombrero - the hat

         b.  la chica - the girl   /   la camisa - the shirt

   

  2.  nouns can be singular or plural, as well as masculine and feminine

         a.  los hombres - the men   /   los zapatos - the shoes

         b.  las mujeres - the women   /   las faldas - the skirts

   

  3.  In Spanish, the definate article that accompanies the noun will match

         or agree with its gender and number.

   

  4.  el   -   los   *This chart may help you remember the singular on the left and the plural on the right.

     la  -   las     The masculine first and the feminine second (e,l la, los, las)

 

 

B.  Indefinate articles - "a" or "some"

   1.  It is very common to use indefinite artcles when not referring to a specific thing.

         a.  un chico - a boy   /   un sombrero - a hat

         b.  una chica - a girl   /   una camisa a shirt

  

   2.  When nouns are plural, the indefinite article must agree with the noun it is modifing

         a.  unos chicos - some boys   /   unos zapatos - some shoes

         b.  unas chicas - some girls   /   unas camisas - some shirts

   

   3.   un  -  unos    *This chart may help you remember the singular on the left and the plural on the right

         una  - unas    The masculine first and the feminine second (un, una, unos, unas).

 

C.  Using adjectives to describe gender

   1.  Adjectives describes nouns.  The articles (el, la los, las and un, una, unos and unas)

         match or agree with the nouns they describe. 

 

  

   2.  masculine adjectives often end in -o (cómico, alto, guapo, blanco,  etc)

   

   3.  feminine adjectives often end in -a (cómica, alta, guapa, blanca, etc)

   

   4.  Many adjectives that end in -e agree with both genders

         a.  el chico paciente or la chica paciente

         b.  un sombrero verde or una camiseta verde

   

   5.  Many adjectives that end with a consonant also agree with both genders.

         a. chaqueta marrón and

         b. sombrero marrón