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Masculine and Feminine Nouns: Cenar Is The Rough Equivalent of "To Dine" or "To Eat Dinner" and Refers Specifically To

This document provides information about grammar concepts in Spanish, including: - Masculine and feminine nouns typically end in "o" and "a" respectively, and the articles "el/un" and "la/una" are used accordingly. - Accent marks are used to indicate stressed syllables and distinguish between homophones like "él" and "el". - There are different terms like "tú", "usted", and "vos" for the second person singular pronoun "you" depending on the region and level of formality. - Verb conjugation changes based on the subject performing the action. - Irregular verbs like "ser" must be memor

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Robin Khatri
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286 views

Masculine and Feminine Nouns: Cenar Is The Rough Equivalent of "To Dine" or "To Eat Dinner" and Refers Specifically To

This document provides information about grammar concepts in Spanish, including: - Masculine and feminine nouns typically end in "o" and "a" respectively, and the articles "el/un" and "la/una" are used accordingly. - Accent marks are used to indicate stressed syllables and distinguish between homophones like "él" and "el". - There are different terms like "tú", "usted", and "vos" for the second person singular pronoun "you" depending on the region and level of formality. - Verb conjugation changes based on the subject performing the action. - Irregular verbs like "ser" must be memor

Uploaded by

Robin Khatri
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Masculine and Feminine Nouns

In Spanish all nouns are masculine or feminine. Usually, nouns that end with an "o" are
masculine, and nouns that end with an "a" are feminine. For example, "manzana"
(apple) is feminine and "diario" (newspaper) is masculine.
The articles "el" and "un" are used with masculine nouns, and the articles "la" and "una"
are used with feminine nouns. "The apple" is "la manzana" and "a newspaper" is "un
diario."
Accent Marks
Vowels in Spanish can have an accent mark, such as the "u" in "men" (menu). One use
of the accent mark is to indicate which syllable should be stressed in the pronunciation.
For example, in "telfono" (telephone), the second "e" has the most stress.
Accent marks are also used to distinguish homophones. For example, "l" and "el" are
homophones because they have the same pronunciation. However, "l" is a masculine
pronoun (meaning "he" or "him") and "el" is a masculine article (meaning "the").
The Second Person Singular
"T," "usted" and "vos" are different ways of referring to the second person singular
(you). "Usted" is the formal way of saying "you," and "vos" is used in informal speech in
certain countries instead of "t."
The three pronouns are synonyms, but they change the way verbs are conjugated. For
instance, for the verb "comer" (to eat), it is "t comes," "usted come," and "vos coms."
The decision of which form of "you" to use is regional and cultural, but you can typically
use "usted" when referring to strangers.
Verb Conjugation
Verb conjugation in Spanish is more complicated than in English. In Spanish, the verb
endings change in order to describe who is doing the action and when. For example, for
"comer," "I eat" is "yo como" and "you eat" is "t comes."
Because the conjugations indicate who is doing the action, it is usually possible to omit
the pronoun. For instance instead of saying "yo como arroz" (I eat rice), you can say
"como arroz."
Food
For eating breakfast you can use the verb desayunar
I eat breakfast - [Yo] desayuno.
For eating lunch you can use the verb almorzar
I eat lunch - [Yo] almuerzo.
Cenar is the rough equivalent of "to dine" or "to eat dinner" and refers specifically to
eating the final meal of the day.
She eats dinner - [Ella] cena.

He eats dinner - [l] cena.


Azcar is an ambiguously gendered word. It can be both feminine and masculine.
Double negatives are common in Spanish!
When nada is the object of a verb, it is normal for the verb itself to be negated.
Therefore, when translating such sentences, you usually have to translate nada as
"anything".
I do not eat anything - [Yo] no como nada
Tardes and Noches
In English, "afternoon" comes before "evening," which in turn comes before "night." In
Spanish there are only two words that cover these times of the day: "tarde" which means
"afternoon," but overlaps with "evening," and "noche," which means "night" but also
overlaps with "evening." Therefore, at 6:30pm it is ok to say either "buenas tardes" or
"buenas noches."
Buenos Das
Even though "buenos das" literally means "good days," it is used in the mornings to
mean "good morning."
Conjugation of 'Hablar'
Present indicative (presente del indicativo):

yo hablo

t hablas

usted habla

l habla

ella habla

nosotros/as hablamos

ustedes hablan

ellos/ellas hablan

In Spanish, the most common negative word is "no". As an adverb negating a sentence,
it always comes immediately before the verb.
I speak - [Yo] hablo.
I do not speak - [Yo] no hablo.
He is - [l] es / est.
He is not - [l] no es / est.

The Second Person Plural


In Latin America the pronoun for the second person plural is "ustedes, and in Spain it is
"vosotros."
The two pronouns are synonyms, but they change the way of conjugating verbs. For
example, to say you guys eat, in Latin America you would say "ustedes comen," and in
Spain "vosotros comis."
Adjectives. As a general rule, in Spanish adjectives come after the noun they describe,
e.g.
An English dog / Un perro ingls
A Spanish horse / Un caballo espaol
Possessive Determiners
Possessive determiners are adjectives that are used to show ownership, such as "my" in
"my dog." There are five possessive determiners in Spanish:
Spanish

English

mi

my

tu

your (familiar singular)

su

his, her, your (formal), their

nuestro

our

vuestro

your (familiar plural, used in Spain)

The first three of these have only two forms, singular and plural:
Singular

Plural

mi

mis

tu

tus

su

sus

For example, "my dog" is "mi perro" and "my dogs" is "mis perros."
"Mi", "tu" and "su" do not have masculine and feminine forms, so for example you say
"mi gato" and also "mi gata."
Nuestro and vuestro have four forms depending on the gender and number of the noun
being referred to:

Singular
Masculine

Plural
Masculine

Singular
Feminine

Plural
Feminine

nuestro

nuestros

nuestra

nuestras

vuestro

vuestros

vuestra

vuestras

For example, it is "nuestro gato," "nuestra gata," "nuestros gatos," and "nuestras gatas."
Long-form Possesive Adjectives and Pronouns
The determiners above are always used before the noun. Spanish has an additional
"long-form" way to describe possession, which usually comes after the noun:
Spanish

English

mo, mos, ma, mas

mine, my

tuyo, tuyos, tuya, tuyas

yours, your (familiar singular)

suyo, suyos, suya, suyas

his, hers, yours (formal), your (formal), theirs,


their

nuestro, nuestros, nuestra,


nuestras

ours, our

vuestro, vuestros, vuestra,


vuestras

yours, your (familiar plural, used in Spain)

"El gato es mo" means "The cat is mine."


Note that the possessive adjectives vary by number and gender. The change is with the
nouns they modify, not with the person(s) who possess the object. For example, for a
male cat you say "El gato es tuyo" (The cat is yours) regardless of whether you are
talking to a man or a woman.
The short form and long forms of nuestro and vuestro and related pronouns are
identical. They differ only as to whether they are used before or after the noun.
Tu Versus T
The two words "tu" and "t" are pronounced the same. "T" is the personal pronoun
meaning "you" (informal), and "tu" is the possessive adjective meaning "your" (informal).

CONJUGATING THE IRREGULAR SPANISH VERB SER (TO


BE)
Spanish verbs fall into different groups, and each group is conjugated a little
differently. If youre going to master Spanish verbs like ser, you need to be able to

identify which group a verb belongs to: regular (follows regular conjugation rules for ar, -er, and -ir verbs), stem-changing (morphs depending on how you use it in a
sentence), spelling-changing (has consonant-spelling changes in some forms to
follow pronunciation rules), or reflexive (reflects the action back on the subject of the
sentence).
But then there are those verbs that refuse to be lumped into a category: the
irregulars. Ser (sehr) (to be) is an irregular -er verb; it doesnt follow most normal
ending patterns, so your best bet is to just memorize its conjugations. Here it is in the
present tense:
The Present Tense of Ser

Conjugation

Translation

yo soy

I am

t eres

You (informal) are

l/ella/ello/uno es

He/she/one is

usted es

You (formal) are

nosotros somos

We are

vosotros sois

You all (informal) are

ellos/ellas son

They are

ustedes son

You all (formal) are

The following examples show you ser in action:


La boda es el veintisiete de junio. (The wedding is the 27th of June.)
Ellos son mis abuelos. (They are my grandparents.)

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