READING SPANISH > > LESSON 1 > GRAMMAR 8

Grammar 8 - Reflecting on Nouns

What is a noun?

A noun is a word that refers to:

  • a person (actor, Sandra): actor, Sandra
  • an animal (tigre, Fido): tigre, Fido
  • a thing (computer, guitar): computadora, guitarra
  • a place (museum, university): museo, universidad
  • an event (festivals, concert): festivales, concierto
  • or an idea (idea, socialism): idea, socialismo


How many kinds of nouns are there?

There are two main kinds of nouns: 

  • Common Nouns do not refer to a specific person, animal , place, etc., but rather to the whole class of things. You would look a common noun up in your dictionary. 
mum = mamá       elephant  = elefante      province= provincia
  • Proper Nouns refer to a specific person, animal, place, etc. Some are found in dictionaries, but you may need an encyclopedia to find many of them.
Peter = Pedro      Fido = Fido      Mexico = México
Proper nouns always begin with a capital letter even if they are not at the beginning of a sentence.  The capitalization of proper nouns will help you to recognize them when you are reading a text in Spanish.
 
What accompanies a noun?

In Spanish, as in English, commons nouns are often accompanied by a determiner (an article, a possessive or demonstrative adjective, etc.)
 

La ciudad de México ofrece miles de atracciones turísticas.
[The noun ciudad is preceeded by the article la]		 The city of México offers thousands of touristic attractions.
[The noun city is preceeded by the article the]
Su historia remonta al siglo XIV.
[The noun historia is preceded by the possesive adjective su]		 Its history goes back to the XIV century.
[The noun history is preceded by the possesive adjective its]
Esta ciudad es una de las más grandes del mundo.
[The noun ciudad is preceded by the demonstrative adjective esta]		 This city is one the biggest in the world.
[The noun city is preceded by the demonstrative adjective this]

Nouns are also often accompanied by adjectives (una ciudad bonita), which we'll look at in more detail later.  

Do nouns have different forms?

Spanish nouns, like English nouns, have two forms: 

  • singular: 
student = estudiante      activity = actividad
  • plural: 
students = estudiantes      activities = actividades

But unlike English, nouns in Spanish are also: 

  • masculine: museo is masculine
  • or feminine:  universidad  is feminine


The number (singular or plural)  and the gender (masculine or feminine) also affect the words that accompany the noun, such as articles and adjectives which must agree with the noun. We'll talk about that later in other lessons.
 
 

Number
 
  • In English, nouns have usually two forms: singular and plural, with the plural simply adding an s to the singular. 

    • singular
    plural
    video videos
    dictionary dictionaries
    map maps
    nation nations

    English has a few exceptions  

    singular
    plural
    man men
    child children
    foot feet

  • In Spanish, too, nouns have two forms and plural nouns end in -s. In Spanish, there are no exceptions to this rule!

    •  
    singular
    plural
    video videos
    diccionario diccionarios
    mapa mapas
    nación naciones
In the dictionary nouns appear under the singular form.
To find the singular of a noun you take off the -s or -es
  • Be careful! As in English not all words ending in -s are plural nouns:

    •  
    Spanish
    English
      speaks
    mess
    always
    gas
    gris
    cortés
    inglés    		 gaz
    grey
    courteous
    English


 
 
Gender
 
  • As previously mentioned, all nouns in Spanish are either masculine or feminine. This does not mean that Spanish sees them as having masculine or feminine characteristics .  It is just a linguistic convention, common to many languages.
For example, in Spanish art (arte) is masculine and music (música) is feminine.
In Spanish, determiners and adjectives agree with the noun they accompany, not just in number, but also in gender. Let's look at how this works.

El arte moderno Modern art
Arte is masculine, therefore the masculine article el and the masculine form of the adjective (-o) are used.
La música moderna Modern music
Música is feminine, therefore the feminine article la and the feminine form of the adjective (-a) are used.

Nouns that refer to people, will be masculine or feminine depending on the sex of the person. Sometimes the same form is used for masculine and feminine. That is the case with the names of profession ending in -ista, like dentista or economista, 
 

El dentista era mexicano. The dentist was Mexican.
We know that dentista refers to a male dentist because it is preceded by the article el and because the adjective ends in -o.
La dentista era mexicana. The dentist was Mexican.
We know that dentista refers here to a female dentist because it is preceded by the article la and because the adjective ends in -a.

  • Sometimes the masculine and feminine forms present slight variations in the endings:

    • Spanish
    English
    Masculine
    Feminine
    		  
    El director La directora The director
    El sicólogo La sicóloga The psychologist

  • In very few cases the masculine and feminine forms are completely different.

    • Spanish
    English
    Masculine
    Feminine
    		  
    El hombre La mujer The man / the woman
    El actor La actriz The actor / the actress

  • As in English, the masculine form is also often used in a general sense, refering to masculine or feminine.

    • El estudiante es responsable de completar las actividades. The student is responsible for completing the activities.
    Estudiante is used here in a general sense, referring to both male and female students