Like English, all Spanish nouns have a number: singular (one), as in la familia, or plural (more than one), as in las familias. Unlike English, however, all Spanish nouns also have a gender: masculine or feminine. In some instances, the gender of the noun is blatantly obvious: un hombre (a man) is masculine, whereas una mujer (a woman) is feminine. In other cases, the gender of a noun is not in the least bit apparent and defies all rules of common sense or logic: una corbata (a tie) is feminine, while un vestido (a dress) is masculine.

Spanish syntax and grammar require that all words in a sentence agree in number and gender with the noun or pronoun they modify. For this reason, you must learn the gender of each noun you need or deem important. Special noun endings and markers, either articles or adjectives, indicate the gender and number of Spanish nouns.

NOUN MARKERS

Noun markers are articles or adjectives that tell you whether a noun is singular or plural, masculine or feminine. Three of the most common markers, as shown in the following table, are definite articles expressing “the,” indefinite articles expressing “a,” “an,” “one,” or “some,” and demonstrative adjectives expressing “this,” “that,” “these,” and “those.”

Singular Noun Markers

MEANING / MASCULINE / FEMININE

definite article: the / el / la


indefinite article: a, an / un(o) / una


demonstrative adjectives:
this / este / esta
that / ese / esa
that / aquel / aquella

Plural Noun Markers

MEANING / MASCULINE / FEMININE

definite article: the / los / las


indefinite article: some / unos / unas


demonstrative adjectives:
these / estos / estas
those / esos / esas
those / aquellos / aquellas

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