Study with me — Spanish — Part 8

Let’s learn how to construct basic sentences in Spanish! We also dive into the world of nouns.

Sentence Order

Just like in many other languages, in Spanish there is a typical order in which elements of a sentence appear. This order is often referred to as Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) order.

Just as simple as that! Let’s just break it down a little.

Subject: This is the person or thing that performs the action of the verb.

Verb: The action being performed by the subject.

Object: The person or thing that receives the action of the verb.

It’s important to note that language is flexible, and this order might be different in other situations. Yet, this is the baseline that we should know in order to be able to construct easily understandable sentences.

Reference

In this lesson you can find the subject pronouns and the basic verb conjugations.

Nouns

Nouns are classified by gender — masculine or feminine — and number — singular or plural.

Gender of Nouns

In Spanish, every noun has a gender: masculine or feminine. Here are some general rules to help determine the gender of a noun:

Masculine Nouns

• Typically end in “-o”: el libro (the book), el niño (the boy)
• Words referring to male beings: el hombre (the man), el padre (the father)
• Days of the week, months, and seasons: el lunes (Monday), el enero (January), el verano (summer)
• Names of oceans, rivers, and mountains: el Atlántico (the Atlantic), el Amazonas (the Amazon), el Everest (Mount Everest)

Feminine Nouns

• Typically end in “-a”: la casa (the house), la niña (the girl)
• Words referring to female beings: la mujer (the woman), la madre (the mother)
• Names of fruits and trees: la manzana (the apple), la naranja (the orange)
• Names of letters of the alphabet: la A (the A), la B (the B)

Exceptions

• Some nouns end in “-ma” but are masculine: el problema (the problem), el programa (the program)
• Some nouns end in “-ción” or “-sión” and are feminine: la canción (the song), la televisión (the television)

Number of Nouns

Nouns in Spanish also have a number, meaning they can be singular or plural. Here are the rules for forming plurals:

• For nouns ending in a vowel (a, e, i, o, u): Add “-s”

Example: el libro (the book) → los libros (the books)

• For nouns ending in a consonant: Add “-es”

Example: la ciudad (the city) → las ciudades (the cities)

• For nouns ending in “-z”: Change the “-z” to “-c” and add “-es”

Example: el lápiz (the pencil) → los lápices (the pencils)

Thank you for reading! 💖

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