HELP...definite articles and indefinite articles
I am new to SpanishDict. I love it. I have always wanted to speak Spainish. Now I am learning.
HOWEVER: I have issues.
It has been too long since I was in school and learned about the articles, and of course all grammar especially Spainish.
HELP! I also am am unsure of what is masculine and feminine in foods. I can't locate how to answer these issues. How would I know that an egg is masculine, an egg is an egg? Why and how is it el huevo, masculine and not la huevo?
How do I know and find out these issues?
HELP!
Martha Burrell jcforgaveme@yahoo.com
4 Answers
Can't add much to Katy's already perfect answer, other than just reinforcement and confirmation. The lessons she points you towards will help for the ones that follow some sort of pattern. The vast majority however, have nothing to do with biological gender, and simply have to be memorized. In any language with gender, it's best to learn the article along with the word, as a unit. Once that's understood and accepted, you'll slowly begin accumulating all the ones you need.
Good luck
Hi Martha,
Look under 'Learn" on the blue toolbar at the top, click it then click "Spanish grammar" then click on some of the explanations under "Articles" or "Gender".
There are some great explanations there.
I think they use the terms 'masculine' and 'feminine' because some of the nouns follow a clear gender path: niño - boy/ and niña - girl - These are some examples.
However, other nouns that aren't so gender recognizable like 'huevo - egg' might as well be called the green group and the purple group since an egg isn't really very boy-like or girl-like (until they are hatched maybe). However, it does end in 'o' like niño, so you can remember it is masculine. The problem is that some nouns are irregular and you just have to memorize them.
Here are the general rules I learned from the lessons on this site - Lesson 2.11 video
If a noun ends in an A D Z or IóN it is usually feminine.
Most masculine nouns end in an E O, an accented vowel, or a consonant OTHER than D or Z.
These are general rules - there are exceptions "El lápiz" (the pencil) for example, but if you have to guess, this works most of the time.
I am new to SpanishDict. I love it. I have always wanted to speak Spainish. Now I am learning.
HOWEVER: I have issues.
It has been too long since I was in school and learned about the articles, and of course all grammar especially Spainish.
HELP! I also am am unsure of what is masculine and feminine in foods. I can't locate how to answer these issues. How would I know that an egg is masculine, an egg is an egg? Why and how is it el huevo, masculine and not la huevo?
How do I know and find out these issues?
HELP!
