24. Spanish nouns
have two genders, masculine and feminine.
a. Names of male beings are masculine and names of female
beings are feminine.
b. Nouns ending in -o are for most part
masculine.
c. Nouns ending in -a are for most part
feminine.
d. mano, 'hand', however', is feminine
and día, 'day', is masculine.
e. Nouns ending in -ión, -tad, -dad,
are always feminine:
| leccíon, lesson |
edad, age |
| libertad, liberty |
|
f. Nouns of Greek origin, ending in -ma, -ta,
are masculine:
| planeta, planet |
poema, poem |
| cometa, comet |
sistema, system |
25. Plural of Nouns.
a. Nouns ending in an unstressed vowel or diphthong
form their plural by adding -s to the singular:
| casa (house) |
casas |
| libro (book) |
libros |
| agua (water) |
augas |
b. Nouns ending in a stressed vowel or diphthong, or
in a constant, add -es:
rubí
(ruby) |
rubíes |
|
flor
(flower) |
flores |
ley
(law) |
leyes |
|
árbol
(tree) |
árboles |
The above rules have some exceptions:
1. The days of the week which end in -es
(lunes, 'Monday,' etc.) remain unchanged in plural.
2. Family names also remain unchanged:
Martínez,
los Martínez, 'the Martínez.'
3. Some nouns ending in accented vowels add -s
instead of -es:
| mamá |
mamás |
|
pie
(foot) |
pies |
| papá |
papás |
|
canapé
(couch) |
canapés |
c. Nouns ending in c and z
changes these endings to qu and
c,
respectively, before adding -es:
| frac (frock) |
fraques |
| luz (light) |
luces |
26. Some nouns are used in the masculine plural
for both genders, and some of these with special meanings:
| niños, children or
little boys |
| hijos, son(s) and daughter(s)
or sons |
| padres, parents or fathers |
| reyes, king(s) and queen(s)
or kings |
| hermanos, brother(s) and
sister(s) or brothers |
| muchachos, boy(s) and girl(s)
or boys |
|
