El Nombre

Other main elements in a sentence are nouns. A noun can function as the subject or object in a sentence. Nouns typically refer to persons (José), places (los Andes), animals (el gato), things (la mesa), states (alegría) or qualities (belleza).
 
All Spanish nouns are either masculine or feminine. When you refer to more than one person, thing, animal etc. you use the plural form of the noun.
 
Most nouns are preceded by an article. There are definite articles (el, la, los and las) and indefinite articles (un, una).
 
 
El Género

The Gender of nouns - except for nouns that refer to persons and animals, which have a “natural gender” -is, from our perspective, arbitrary. Luckily the ending of the noun gives us some general clues about its gender.
 

Masculino

Most nouns ending in –o, -l, and –r are masculine. Masculine nouns are preceded by the definite article el (Singular) and los (Plural) or the indefinite article un (Singular): el perro, el árbol, el motor.

Unfortunately there are some exceptions to this role. There is a number of nouns ending in –o, -l, and –r are feminine: la foto (because it’s an abbreviation of la fotografía), la mano (hand), la moto (motorcycle, because it’s an abbreviation of la motocicleta), la radio, la capital, la cárcel (jail), la catedral, la miel (honey), la moral, la piel (skin), la sal (salt), la señal (sign, signal)
 

Languages, days or the week, mountains, rivers, seas, and oceans, numbers, colors, and (fruit)trees (because the name for tree, árbol, is masculine) are masculine: el francés, el viernes, los Andes, el dos de enero, el azul es mi color favorito, el manzano
Compound nouns that consist of a verb and a noun are masculine: el paraguas, el lavaplatos, el salvavida (lifeguad), el parachoques (bumper), el limpiacristales (window cleaner), el tocadiscos, el sacacorchos (corkscrew)

 

Feminino

Most nouns ending in –a, -(ta)d, -(da)d, -(c)ión, -sión, -umbre, -ez, -sis, -itis, and- cia are feminine. Feminine nouns are preceded by the definite article la (Singular) and las (Plural) or the indefinite article una (Singular): la familia, la actividad, la actitud, la edad, la canción, la televisión, la constumbre, la cumbre (summit)

Unfortunately there are some exceptions to this role. There is a number of nouns ending in -a, particularly in -ma, -pa y -ta that are masculine: el clima, el crucigrama (crossword puzzle) el drama,  el día, el enigma, el esquema, el estratega, el fantasma (ghost) el idioma, el lema, el mapa, el panorama, el papa, el Papa (Pope), el planeta, el poema, el poeta, el problema, el programa, el sistema, el telegrama, el tema, el tranvía (street car)
 

Letters of the alphabet are feminine: La a es la primera letra del alfabeto.
Some feminine nouns carry the article el instead of la because they start with a stressed a- or ha-, only because it would be difficult to pronounce *la agua. Therefore we say el agua clara, el águila hermosa, el ala blanca, el hacha pesada, el hambre pequeña.
(I have added an adjective to each noun to show you that even though we use the article el, the noun is still feminine. Please don’t confuse these nouns with nouns like el día, that are masculine even though they end in -a.)

If you use these words in plural, you use them with the article las, because this article doesn’t interfere with the pronunciation.
 


Question: What do you think is the gender and article for the Spanish nouns academia and azafata (stewardess)

Answer: The article is la because the first syllable is not stressed and therefore there is no need to switch to el.


  Some Spanish nouns have both a masculine and feminine gender, but with a different meaning:
 
 

masculine feminine
el capital money la capital capital city
el mañana tomorrow la mañana morning
el frente  front (weather, military) la frente forehead
el orden order (tidiness) la orden order (command)
el policía policeman la policía policewoman, police force
 
 
El Número
 
Nouns ending in a vowel add –s to form the plural: la madre – las madres
Nouns ending in a consonant, in –y, and some stressed vowel, add –es to form the plural: el árbol – los árboles (tree), el rey – los reyes (king), el ingles – los ingleses (Englishman).

Nouns ending in –z form the plural in –ces: pez – peces (fish)

Nouns of more than one syllable, ending in an unstressed vowel and s do not change for the plural: el lunes – los lunes, el paraguas – los paraguas (umbrella)

Some nouns are always plural in Spanish (the same as in English): los anteojos (eyeglasses), las gafas (sunglasses), las tijeras (scissors); las afueras (outskirts); others are usually plural in Spanish (other than in English): las vacaciones
 

Uso del artículo

The subject of a sentence carries almost always an article.

In Spanish, unlike in English, the definite article is used before abstract, mass or uncountable nouns and colors like democracia, vino, azul:

La democracia es una forma de gobierno (Democracy is a from of government.) 

El vino es una bebida. (Wine is a drink.)
El azul es mi color preferido. (Blue is my favorite color.)

In Spanish we use the article before titles, like señor, señora, doctor, doctora, except when you address the person:

El señor Garzón no está. (Mr. Garzón is not here.) but: "Señor Garzón",  dijo la chica, "tengo que hablar con Ud."

We use the definite article in Spanish to tell time:

Son las tres. (It's three.)

We use the definite article with the days of the week when in English you use "on":

Los domingos nunca trabajo. (I never work on Sundays)]

El lunes no tengo clase. (On Monday I don't have class).

In Spanish we use the definite article rather than the possessive adjective that we use in English with parts of the body and articles of clothing, especially with reflexive verbs:

El se puso los pantalones. He put on his jeans.

When  we describe how people look in Spanish, we also use the definite article:

Ella tiene los ojos azules. (She has blue eyes.)

El tiene el cabello cano. (He has grey hair.)

The definite article is usually omitted in appositions:

Washington, capital de los Estados Unidos de América, es una ciudad bonita. (Washington, the capital of the USA , ...)

The definite article is omitted before ordinal numbers with kings and other rulers:

Carlos V (quinto) (Charles the Fifth)