When to use -o, -a, -n?
I am confused on when to use o, a, or n in a word. I understand that o is masc. and a is fem, but still am getting confused. Word like lavo or lavan, and nessicito or nessecita.Why is it roto or rota? Not sure where in the grammar area these answers would be. Mucho gracias!
2 Answers
Hi asti,
You are confusing two concepts: gender of nouns and conjugation of verbs.
In Spanish, all nouns (person, place or thing) have an inherit gender. For instance, the word for tree (árbol) is masculine while the word for rock (roca) is feminine. There are some general rules-of-thumb about noun gender. For example, almost all nouns ending in -o are masculine. However, you will never change the gender of a noun or the ending of a noun (except to add -s or -es to make it plural).
Secondly, in Spanish, verbs are conjugated. Verbs (action words) do not have gender at all. Verbs take a different ending based on who is doing the action and what tense the action is being done in.
For example (verb = hablar, to talk):
I talk = hablo
he talks = habla
Nouns = http://www.spanishdict.com/answers/100009/nouns-gender
verbs = http://www.spanishdict.com/answers/100002/spanish-verbs
The words lavo, necesito, roto are conjugations of verbs.
