Agreement, Spanish Style

1
Agreement, Spanish Style

• Parte Uno
• Nouns have gender!
• Number, too!

2
Just like people, Spanish nouns have gender,
either masculine or feminine.

• Most Spanish nouns which end in an o are
  masculine. Here are some which you might already
  know
• el amigo - friend
• el libro - book
• el sombrero - hat
• el perro - dog
• el gato - cat
• el teléfono - telephone

• Dont let this gender thing confuse you! It
  is a characteristic of the word, not the person,
  place, or thing it represents!
• In other words, all cats are not males, but
  gato is a masculine noun.

3
Now for the feminine side of things

• Most Spanish nouns which end in an a are
  feminine. Here are some which you might already
  know
• la lámpara - lamp
• la amiga - girl
• la música - music
• la ensalada - salad
• la clase - class
• la tarea - homework
• la comida - food

• Nouns which end in -dad, -tad, and ión are
  often feminine. Here are some examples
• la ciudad - city
• la universidad - university
• la facultad - faculty
• la solución solution
• la revolución - revolution
• la nación - nation

4
You know that nouns have gendernow for number!
(Just like English - singular/plural)

• Making nouns plural is easy! If they end in a
  vowel, just add an s.
• el amigo los amigos
• el gato los gatos
• la ensalada las ensaladas
• la clase las clases
• el teléfono los teléfonos
• el libro los libros
• la lámpara las lámparas

• If the noun ends in a consonant, add es.
• la ciudad las ciudades
• la universidad las universidades
• la solución - las soluciones
• la revolución las revoluciones
• la nación las naciones
• la competición las competiciones

If the noun ends in z, change the -z to a c and
add es el lapíz los lapices
5
In Spanish, the adjectives must agree (match)
with the nouns they describe in 2 ways number
and gender.

• Here are some masculine, singular nouns with
  adjectives describing them
• El chico alto - the tall boy
• El gato gordo-the fat cat
• El libro viejo-the old book
• El perro pequeño - the small dog
• El amigo bueno - the good friend

• Now, were going to make these noun phrases
  plural
• Los chicos altos - the tall boys
• Los gatos gordos - the fat cats
• Los libros viejos the old books
• Los perros pequeños the small dogs
• Los amigos buenos-the good friends

6
Just as masculine nouns and adjectives must agree
(match), so must feminine nouns and adjectives.

• Here are some feminine nouns and adjectives in
  their singular form
• La chica alta the tall girl
• La lámpara nueva - the new lamp
• La clase aburrida the boring class
• La nación unida the united nation
• La ensalada buena - the good salad

• Now lets look at making these same noun phrases
  plural
• Las chicas altas the tall girls
• Las lámparas nuevas - the new lamps
• Las clases aburridas the boring classes
• Las naciones unidas-the united nations
• Las ensaladas buenas - the good salads

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In summary, noun/adjective agreement works like
this

• By watching the previous slides, you have
  probably figured out what this agreement thing
  is all about.
• If you havent, check out the following two
  examples
• el muchacho alto the tall boy
• los muchachos altos the tall boys
• la muchacha alta the tall girl
• las muchachas altas the tall girls
• THE NOUNS AND THEIR CORRESPONDING ADJECTIVES MUST
  AGREE IN NUMBER AND GENDER!! WHEN THE GENDER OR
  NUMBER OF A NOUN CHANGES, THE ADJECTIVE MUST
  CHANGE, ALSO!

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Agreement, Spanish Style,

• Parte Dos
• Noun/adjective placement
• la vida loca the life crazy??

9
Noun/Adjective Word Orderfor quantitative
adjectives

• In English, we place adjectives before the nouns
  that they modify when writing and speaking. In
  Spanish, adjectives of quantity are USUALLY
  placed before the nouns that they describe.
  Heres an example
• Los tres amigos son estudiantes.
• The three friends are students.
• The word for three, tres, is an adjective which
  tells quantity. Notice that it comes before
  amigos in the example above.

10
Noun/adjective word orderfor qualitative
adjectives

• In Spanish, qualitative adjectives GENERALLY
  follow the nouns which they modify. This can
  cause confusion for us, because its so very
  different from the way in which we do things in
  English. Consider the following examples
• la chica alta - the tall girl
• las clases aburridas - the boring classes
• el gato gordo the fat cat
• las lámparas nuevas the new lamps
• los libros viejos the old books
• la ensalada buena the good salad
• las amigas simpáticas - the nice friends

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Un repaso pequeño de todo

• In this lesson, you have learned that
• Nouns have gender masculine and feminine
• Nouns have number singular and plural
• Adjectives must agree (match) with the nouns that
  they modify both in number and gender.
• Quantitative adjectives usually come before the
  nouns they modify.
• Qualitative adjectives generally come after the
  nouns they modify.
• In the words of un cantante popular, by
  learning all of this, youll truly be living la
  vida loca.