Some Rules

Articles – el (male singular) la (female singular),  los (male plural), las (female plural)

El  is used before the singular masculine nouns (el  coche,  el libro.)  Los is used before plural masculine nouns (los coches,  los libros)

La is used before singular feminine nouns (la silla, la ciudad.)  Las is used for plural feminine nouns (las sillas, las ciudades).

Nouns ending in –o are generally masculine
Nouns ending in –a are generally feminine…..However there are exceptions:

Nouns denoting male beings are always masculine.  Those denoting female beings are always feminine (a man - un hombre; a woman - una mujer).

Nouns ending in –ma, -ta, -pa are also masculine  (mapa, clima, tema)
Nouns ending in – ión,  -ción, –sión  and –umbre, are feminine  (ciudad, lección, dumbre)

For reasons of euphony, the article el is used instead of la,  singular form before all  feminine words ending with an a or ha (el agua, el hada).  However, in the plural form, the normal feminine article las  is used (las aguas, las hadas)

Capitalaization

Ordinal numbers

As with uno, the word primero and tercero, drop the final –o when used before a singular masculine noun (Estoy in el primer (tercer) año.)(I am in the first (third) year.)

Persona is a feminine word when it refers to a man or woman.
(El hombre está el sexto persona en la línea.) (The man is the sixth person in the line.)

Sentence Structure

In a statement, the subject goes before the verb:       Pedro tiene un perro grande.
In a question, the verb goes in front of the subject:  ¿Tiene un perro grande, Pedro?
Sentence structure:  Article – noun – adjective – verb –    final dependent phrase
  La        casa       blanca       está            en Washington, DC
 The       house     white        is located    in Washington, DC

Hester Chamberlain
Learning Assistance Center
Eastfield College