So how long have you been studying your "new" language? - Page 2

In Spanish, nouns have gender: feminine and masculine. Most of the nouns (be careful, not all of them) ending in -o are masculine; the same with nouns ending in -a, which are feminine.

Determiners (and adjectives) must agree with noun in gender and number. So you can't use a feminine determiner with a masculine noun. Or you can't use a plural determiner with a singular noun:

Compro este libro: both este and libro are masculine and singular.
Compro esta libreta: feminine and singular.
Quiero estos lápices: masculine and plural.
Quiero estas camisas: feminine and plural.

There are several kind of determiners, as the articles. So you can say: el, la, los, las and un, una, unos, unas (mas. sing., fem. sing, masc. plural, fem. plural):

Estoy leyendo un libro.
Estoy leyendo una libreta.
Estoy comprando unos zapatos.
Estoy comiendo unas manzanas.

I hope it helps. :)

I knew of the gender and "o" and "a" but no one ever explained it to me the way you have! I like how you explain things, it is easy for me to understand!:thumbsup:
(although, I always wondered how an object can have a gender)
It's like spanish is really two languages, the masculine and the feminine.

:?:There is but one more thing confusing me about this lesson..:?:

o.k, for the "Estoy leyendo un libro." and "Estoy leyendo una libreta.",
I know one is male and one is female, but how do I decide which one to use? Does it depend on who I'm talking to?

thanks

Well, sometimes we use neuter gender, but not with names (in upper lessons ;)). Three languages... :D

Un libro means a book.
Una libreta means a notebook (you can read a notebook if there is something written in it, can't you?) ;)

Gender of nouns has nothing to see with sex, they're not male or female. For instance, "un poeta" is a masculine name applied to a man, though ending with -a. "Una poetisa" means a woman poet, and it is a feminine noun.

Or better: "la gente" is a feminine noun for "people", but there can be men and women":

Hay mucha gente en la calle - There are a lot of people in the street (men and women).

:)

thanks! and saying "Hay mucho gente en la calle" is incorrect.
but I could say "Hay mucho gente en lo calle" which is correct?
If I am right..... that means I have learned today and I can take a break!

Estoy lo correcto? Por favor?

Sometimes they are, so a cow is feminine noun and a bull is masculine noun in Spanish, as you might expect. But inanimate objects have an unpredicatable gender; for example sausage is feminine in Spanish, French and German. The sun is feminine in German, masculine in French and Spanish. Girl is neuter in German. You just have to learn them.

[You'll have to learn the gender of the nouns. If you find a new word in a text, determiner will give you the clue, for if it is feminine, the noun will be feminine. You'll have to look up in a dictionary when the words are isolated. :sad:

Hay mucha gente en la calle.

Both gente and calle are feminine nouns, so you'll use a feminine determiner: esta, la, una - calle, gente. You can't say: el calle :bad: / mucho gente :bad:

Lo is a neuter article and it's not used with nouns, but with adjectives. The masculine article is el (sing.) and los (pl.):

Lo bueno.
Lo malo.
Lo bello.

:)

It's true with some animals, but you can say: una foca hembra o macho, una tortuga hembra o macho, una morsa hembra o macho, un galápago hembra o macho, etc.

And sausage is feminine whet it means "salchicha", but "salchichón" or "chorizo" are masculine.
;)

I somehow missed that gente was feminine,

Me voy a lo calle:bad:

Me voy a la calle:good:


yo soy leído un libro en la calle:?:

"Poeta" is a particularly special exception: it's a masculine first declension Latin noun.

Yes, a very particular special exception, such as: día, mapa, sistema, cura, emblema, idioma, dilema, enigma, poema, teorema, diafragma, fantasma, drama, atleta, guía, centinela, fama, lexema, morfema, espía, camarada, planeta, criptograma, asceta, eremita, nauta, profeta, cometa, papa, papá, vigía, espada, puma, gorila, mañana, maná, rioja, jumilla, champaña, borgoña, naranja, púrpura, guardia, problema, maya, quechua, celta, persa, tema, clima, carcinoma, telegrama, programa, reuma, violinista, pianista, treinta, cuarenta, cincuenta, sesenta, setenta, ochenta, noventa, hipócrita, machista, evangelista, estratega, iconoclasta, suicida, déspota,fascista, extremista, astronauta, etc.

OOoooh - me encanta esta lista. Gracias por esa! Necesito memorizarla. :)

ADDED LATER: but, wait ... some of these are listed in the Tomisimo dictionary as "NF"........??

Pero día es de "dies" (5ª, femenina o masculina según el contexto); mapa es de "mappa" (femenina); etc. Lo que hace excepcional "poeta", y "nauta" también, es que la gran mayoría de los sustantivos latines de la 1ª declinación (-a, -ae) son femeninas.

The correct phrase in Spanish is.


Compro este libro.:)


Have fun.

Just a few nuances about Irma's list:

"Cura" is a masculin when it means a priest, and a feminin when it refers to something that heals or the return to health.

"Rioja", "Borgoña", etc., are masculin nouns when one talks about wine, but when one talks about the geographic regions, they are feminin nouns.

"Fama" and "espada" are always feminin. (Irma?) :thinking:
(I know a special case of a masculin "fama", but that's a character invented by Julio Cortázar) :)

"Atleta", "guía", "espía", "camarada", "puma", "gorila", "guardia", "violinista", "pianista", "hipócrita", "astronauta", "estratega", "iconoclasta", "suicida", "déspota", etc., can be used either for masculin or feminin subjects.

Él es guía de turistas - ella es guía de turistas
El rey era un déspota - la reina era una déspota
Él es astronauta - ella es astronauta
En la jaula hay un puma macho y una puma hembra.


"Naranja", "púrpura", "rosa", etc., are masculin nouns only when they are referred to as colours. "Naranja" as a fruit is a feminin, "rosa" as a flower is a feminin, etc.

"Maya", "quechua", "celta", "persa", etc., can be also feminin if one talks about feminin subjects.


Some words like "cometa", "champaña", "reuma", in Mexico at least, are feminin.

All "-ista"s ("machista", "evangelista", "fascista", "extremista", etc.), can either be feminin or masculin, depending on the subject.

Some of these words, when used as adjectives, they are the same for a feminin and for a masculin subject.

Él es hipócrita - ella es hipócrita
Él es machista - ella es machista
Él es maya - ella es maya

Yes, fama is feminine, I guess I wanted to write "lama" :thinking: (sometimes my hands write what they want and my eyes read what they they like) :D

And words as espada, trompeta, corneta, batería, etc. can be both feminines and masculines nouns. They are masculine when are referred to somebody's occupation (except when feminine one is specified) and feminine when we are talking about the instrument:

El conocido espada d'Artagnan.
Tengo una espada en un armario.

El trompeta y el batería son los mejores del grupo.
Me voy a comprar una trompeta y una batería.
El corneta tocó la corneta.

Muchos sustantivos pueden ser masculinos o femeninos, al ser invariable su terminación (como los terminados en -ista). El género lo indica el determinante, pero ello no implica que no puedan ser sustantivos masculinos terminados en -a (el/la violinista, el/la pianista, etc.).

Lou Ann, you don't need to learn this list, it's enough if you know a few rules:

- Nouns derived from Greek ending in -ma and -ta:

criptograma, hematoma, lexema, programa, clima, enigma, cometa, planeta, atleta, nauta, poeta, profeta, etc.

- Some occupations:

papa, cura, corneta, trompeta, etc.

- Arabian and Oriental origin (above all the ones related to religion)

karma, lama, mantra, nirvana, etc.

- Some animals:

Gorila, puma.

- Guarantee in origin:

Rioja, borgoña, champaña, etc.

What about "tequila"?. I say "el tequila", but I think that somewhere it's called "la tequila" :thinking:

- Nouns of languages, colours, numbers:

Cuarenta, maya, persa, lila, naranja, etc. También el fa y el la (notas musicales).

- Some nouns (nombres propios):

Etna, Himalaya, Sena, Volga, etc.

:)

Thanks for clarifying, Irma. :)

"Tequila" is always a masculin too. :)

You're welcome. :)

Tequila must be masculine because it's a strong drink :D

:confused: lol

maybe i should just go live in spain for a few years lol

We don't drink tequila (not usually) :D . We drink wine and beer (and water, of course) :D

You drink water ????? I didn't know that people did this in Spain. :eek:

(What's the point, when wine costs less than one euro per bottle?)

Well, less than one euro in Canarias, not here :D

And yes, I drink water, but never eating ;)

Is "what's the point" a saying? :thinking: