0.1.2 Nouns & Articles Flashcards
Kids vs adults; simple descriptions; articles; basic conjunctions; gender; quantity agreement
Translate to Spanish:
a woman
una mujer
Note that for a female noun, the English indefinite article “a” translates to una in Spanish.
Translate to Spanish:
a man
un hombre
Note that for a male noun, the English indefinite article “a” translates to un in Spanish.
Translate to Spanish:
the woman
la mujer
Note that for a female noun, the English definite article “the” translates to la in Spanish.
Translate to Spanish:
the man
el hombre
Note that for a male noun, the English definite article “the” translates to el in Spanish.
Translate to Spanish:
a boy
un muchacho / un chico
The Spanish words muchacho and chico are used relatively interchangeably to mean “boy” of any age.
Note that most masculine nouns in Spanish end in o.
Translate to Spanish:
the girl
la muchacha / la chica
The Spanish words muchacha and chica are used relatively interchangeably to mean “girl” of any age.
Note that most feminine nouns in Spanish end in a.
Translate to Spanish:
a child
un niño
When the speaker is unsure of whether the kid is a boy or a girl, the masculine form un niño is used. (Sorry, we don’t make the rules.)
Also note that while muchacho, chico, and niño all translate to the English word “kid”, niño typically refers to much younger kids.
Translate to Spanish:
a child
una niña
When the speaker is unsure of whether the kid is a boy or a girl, the masculine form un niño is used. (Sorry, we don’t make the rules.)
Also note that while muchacho, chico, and niño all translate to the English word “kid”, niño typically refers to much younger kids.
Translate to Spanish:
the children
(any genders)
los niños
Note that when making a noun plural in Spanish, not only do you add an s, but also the definite article (el in this case) changes to its plural form.
Los is the plural form of el. (In English, both el and los would just translate to “the”.)
Translate to Spanish:
the children
(only girls)
las niñas
Note that the plural form of the definite article la is las.
Translate to Spanish:
some men
unos hombres
In Spanish, when referring to more than one of something, the indefinite article un or una becomes plural also (unos or unas), corresponding to the gender.
Unos loosely translates to the English quantitative adjective “some”.
Translate to Spanish:
some women
unas mujeres
Note that when a Spanish noun ends in a consonant (like mujer does), and you want to make it plural, you have to add es and not just s.
Translate to Spanish:
a boy and a girl
un chico y una chica
Note that the English conjunction “and” is y in Spanish. (Or e in special circumstances.)
Note that in this example, you could have also said un muchacho y una muchacha.
Translate to Spanish:
men and women
los hombres y las mujeres
Note that in Spanish, when referring to a noun(s) in general, you still need to use the definite article (el, la, los, etc.).
e.g. “pizza” = la pizza
This is kind of the opposite of how it’s done in English, where saying “the men” would typically mean you’re referring to specific men.
Translate to Spanish:
a student
una alumna / una estudiante
“student” = un alumno, un estudiante.
Both terms are used relatively interchangeably to mean “student”, with occasional nuance.
Translate to Spanish:
a teacher
un profesor / un maestro
“teacher” = el profesor / el maestro.
These terms are largely used interchangeably, depending on country. Profesor can also refer to a university “professor”.
Note that these terms change based on gender. (e.g. A female teacher would be una maestra or una profesora.)
The word maestro can also mean a “master” of other things too (e.g. of chess).
Translate to Spanish:
a professor
(female)
una profesora
professor = el profesor
While profesor is mostly synonymous with maestro when referring to school teachers, only the word profesor can be used to describe a university professor.
Translate to Spanish:
the house
la casa
Note that in Spanish, even common nouns have a gender. La casa is feminine (which you could have guessed since it ends in a, like most feminine nouns do).
One of the tough parts about learning Spanish is that you have to remember the gender of every noun you learn :/
Translate to Spanish:
money
el dinero
Remember that in Spanish, when referring to a noun(s) in general, you still need to use the indefinite article (el, la, los, etc.).
So, “money” (a masculine noun) is el dinero.
(Interestingly, the slang term for money, la plata, which technically means “silver”, is feminine.)
Translate to Spanish:
cars
los carros / los coches
El coche is primarily used in Spain, while el carro is mostly used in Latin America. In both cases the word is masculine.
Note that in Spain and some parts of South America, you might also hear un auto, which is short for automóvil.
