Nouns, Pronouns, Adjectives

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Last Updated: Tuesday, 14 January 2025 00:09

Published: Friday, 28 July 2023 01:38

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Nouns: Nouns are names of things, place, people, etc. So, they mostly remain same with some alterations for singular/plural form. Nouns also have a fixed gender, and almost all nouns are either male or female.

Gender (feminine and masculine) of nouns:

In spanish, every noun has a gender and are masculine or feminine (just like in hindi language = cat is female (Hindi=billi aati hai), dog is male (Hindi=kutta khaa raha hai).

Quick gender hack: Most nouns that end in “-a”, “-dad” or "ción/sión" are feminine. Almost all nouns that end in “o” are masculine. Nouns ending in -e or -ista or in a consonant can be either masculine or feminine (these have to be memorized). Nouns that refer to people have both masculine and feminine forms. For nouns that end in a consonant, we can get feminine form by adding -a. Gender is intermediate level language concept, so it's ok to use words as gender neutral, and go with the wrong gender. You will still get the meaning across.

NOTE: Good way to remember for feminine endings is this => most Indian names of females end in "a": i.e lalita, priya, geeta, sarita, etc => So "a" implies feminine.

Ex:

• niño => boy, niña => girl, 
• profesor is male, while profesora is female

Singular and plural form of nouns:

Just as in English, nouns change based on  for plural we just add a "s" (for nouns ending in vowel) or "es" (for nouns ending in consonant) at the end of the noun. ex: chicos => boys.

Ex:

• edifico => building, edificios => buildings
• ascensor => elevator, ascensores => elevators

 NOTE: For all discussion from now on, we will use (m) for masculine, (f) for feminine, (s) for singular and (p) for plural.

 More ex of nouns:

• sun => el sol, moon => la luna

Determiners: Determiners specify a noun. Ex: a, the, this, that, etc. They are grouped into several types:

1. Articles: They are articles as a, an, the, etc. Explained later.
2. Demonstrative pronouns: They are also demonstrative pronouns as this, that, etc. Explained later.
3. Others: mucho => many.
   1. ex: Muchos perros => many dogs

Determiners go with nouns and change based on noun's gender and number. This is the unique thing in Spanish compared to English.

Articles (a, an, the): a and an are indefinite articles, while the is a definite article. These are used with nouns. Definite and Indefinite articles have to agree in gender and number with the noun they are associated with.

• a / an => indefinite article: When we refer to people or things that have not been specifically identified, we need to use an indefinite article before a noun. "a" is the 5th most commonly used word and an indefinite article in English. "a" similar to "the" has different translation for masculine and fenimine. At least 4 variants as shown below:
  •  

    	singular	plural
    masculine	un (could have been uno, but uno is already taken for "one") ex: a cat => un gato (o at end implies masculine)	unos (some / a few) ex: unos niños => some kids
    feminine	una ex: a good mother => una buena madre (mother is feminine, all adjectives get a at end to imply feminine)	unas ex: unas chicas => some girls

• the => definite article: When we refer to people or things that have been specifically identified, we need to use an definite article before a noun. "the" is the most commonly used word and a definite article in English. In spanish, "the" has different translation for masculine and feminine. At least 4 variants as shown below:
  •  

  • 	singular	plural
    masculine	1. el (No accent on e. If we put an accent on é, él becomes He) ex: the pencil => el lapiz 2. lo (used rarely, refers to "him or it. When used for him, we use "le" instead of "lo") ex: I did not see him => no lo vi	los (plural los came from lo) ex: the dresses => los vestidos ex: the good things => los buenos
    feminine	la ex: the ball => la pelota ex: the city => la ciudad	las ex: the flowers => las flores

ex: lo boleto => the ticket. boleto is ending in o (masculine), so we use lo (masculine version of the), instead of la (feminine version of the).

ex: los belotos => belotos is ending in "s" (plural), so we used los instead of lo

Common Ex:

• Masculine: ending in -o or -e:
  • el chico => the boy. la chica => the girl
  • el muchacho => the boy, la muchacha => the girl
  • el hombre => man
  • el nuevo => the new, la nueva
  • el árbol => the tree (it ends in-l which isn't -o or -dad, so masculine). NOTE: accent on a.
• Feminine; (ending in -a):
  
  • la mujer => the woman (woman is feminine to start with, so even though it ends in -r, it's still feminine), las mujeres => the women (plural)
  • la pregunta => the question. The opposite word "answer" is "respuesta", which sounds similar to response (i.e answer)
  • la -ción => all words ending in -ción are feminine
  • la piscina => the pool

Exceptions (where nouns ending in a are masculine, and ones ending in e are feminine):

• Masculine: ending in -a:
  • el problema => the problem
  • el programa => the program
  • el día => the day (accent on i)
  • el agua => the water
• Feminine; (ending in -e):
  • la clase => the class
  • la carne => the meat
  • la foto => the photo. foto is short form of fotographía (with accent on i), which ends in -a, so feminine. That's why foto remains masculine even with -o at end.

We also have a gender neutral demonstrative pronoun that can be used, when we don't know the noun's gender. We'll see that later.

-s vs -es: If the word ends in a consonant, then the plural form of that word ends in -es. For all other cases (i.e words ending in vowels), plural form ends in -s.

ex:

• los árboles => the trees (here -es added for plural)
• las chicas => the girls
• las -ciones => all words ending in -ción will have -es added for plural form with accent removed on o. So, it becomes -coines (w/o an accent on o) and NOT -ciónes.

Demonstrative pronouns (DP): When the noun is unidentified, demonstrative pronouns are used to identify or demonstrate the nouns they refer to. Ex are this, that, etc. For these pronouns, we have 3 variants: masculine, feminine and neuter (gender neutral) form, along with 3 more variants for plural. We'll look at this/that and here/there.

NOTE: Usually -o suffix is for male, and -a suffix is for female. -e is usually for gender neutral. However for DP, -e suffix is for male, and -o is for gender neutral. Female is still with -a suffix.For plural form of este/ese, there's irregularity, where plural form for male is estos/esos instead of estes/eses. So, keep in form masculine from for DP is different.

• this/these: Used to refer to things nearby. It has 6 variants for singular/plural and masculine/feminine/neuter with base word being "est". Remember it this way => "t" is touch, so means it's close enough to touch, so implies "this"
  

  • 	singular (this)	plural (these)
    masculine	este (ends in o or e for male)	estos (instead of estes, it's estos) ex:These books =>estos libros
    feminine	esta (ends in a for female). NOTE: there's está with an accent on a which means is/are for 3rd person (see in verb - ser/estar)	estas ex: these houses => estas casa
    Neuter (neutral => no gender or number)	esto (What is this? => ¿Qué es esto? Esto es bueno => This is good)	estos

     

• that/those: Used to refer to things farther away. It has 6 variants (similar to this/these shown above) with base word being "es". The only diff b/w this and aabove is "t" is being removed here. Remember it this way => "t" is touch, so no "t" means no touch, meaning it's far away, so implies "that"
  

  • 	singular (that)	plural (those)
    masculine	ese ex: Este y ese => this and that	esos (instead of eses, it's esos) ex: those courses => esos curses
    feminine	esa	esas ex: those tables => esas mesas
    Neuter (no gender or number)	eso (me gusta eso => I like that)	esos

     

• that/those over there: Used to refer to things which are at a distance. It is similar to that/those, but refers to things which are even further out. It has 6 variants for singular/plural and masculine/feminine/neuter with base word being "aquel". Remember it this way => "t" is touch, so means it's close enough to touch, so implies "this"
  

  • 	singular	plural
    masculine	aquel	aquellos
    feminine	aquella (pronouned aah-kee-yah)	aquellas
    Neuter (no gender or number)	aquello (aquello fue horrible => That was horrible)	aquellos

Pronouns: I, you, He, she, They, etc. Subject pronouns like these are not always necessary to be said or written explicitly, as they are understood from context. So, most of the times they are completely omitted. The demonstrative verb am, is, are,etc convey who is it for (since they have different ending depending on pronoun), and so instead of  saying "I am sick", we just say "am sick".

Link => https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRV9fvWjMHA&list=PLv63dFTP4Sjq6knRsZQI-bTnRE38cZZoy&index=2

Direct/Indirect object pronouns (DOP/IOP): Direct objects are nouns on whom the verb is being done. The indirect object, however, is the noun that receives the direct object itself. 

ex: Ajay passed Mohan the ball. Here "passing" is verb with ball the direct object. The direct object "ball" is received by Mohan, so Mohan is the indirect object, while Ajay is the subject. If instead of Mohan (name), we used "him", then "him" would be indirect object pronoun. If sentence was "Ajay passed him", then "him" is still indirect object pronoun, since something ( a ball which is direct object noun) was passed to him. If we used it instead of ball, i.e Ajay passed it to him, then it here refers to "direct object pronoun". When we use pronouns instead of nouns, the rule change slightly.

Direct object pronoun => So "direct object pronouns" are words that replace the person/thing that the verb is being done to. We use pronouns that refer to nouns via it, them, etc. So, instead of pronoun I, you, etc, we have me, it, them, etc. These go in front of the verb (different than in English, where they go after the verb).

• TIP: To find what the direct object is, put "what?" just after the verb in the sentence. ex: I received a letter. Replace it with question "I received what?" => answer is "a letter", so letter is the direct object.  If we replace this noun with pronoun, then it becomes a Direct pronoun, i.e I received it. Something done to someone is a direct object.

Indirect object pronoun => So "Indirect object pronouns" are pronouns that refer to indirect objects via him, her, etc. So, instead of pronoun I, you, etc, we have me, him, her, them, etc. These go in front of the verb, similar to direct object pronoun. There's not much difference in how they transform except for the the 3rd row (we have le/les for indirect object, instead of lo/la that's used for direct object).

• TIP: Just ask the question to whom or for whom the verb is done, or where the direct object is going? The answer to that is the "indirect object". ex: He gives the money to Jose. Direct object is "money' (since he gives what? => money). To whom? => Jose. So, Jose is the indirect object. If we replace Juan with "him", then him becomes indirect object pronoun. Usually Indirect objects have "to" in front of the object.

Link for IOP/DOP (good explanation): https://mangolanguages.com/resources-articles/how-to-use-direct-and-indirect-object-pronouns-in-spanish/

Both forms are shown in table below. In Spanish, indirect object pronouns (him) go before direct object pronoun (it), and both of them go before the conjugated verb. Way to remember is that whatever we do in English, we do it in reverse order in Spanish. In English we do subject + Verb + DOP + IOP, so in Spanish, we do IOP+DOP + Verb.

RULE: Subject + IOP + DOP + Verb (conjugated) =>This rearrangement is only for pronouns. If nouns were used, then no rearrangement is needed.

• Start thinking in Spanish. ex: I give him the money => I, to him, give the money > Yo le doy el dinero (le => him). That is how a person in Spanish thinks. Object pronouns don't come at the end as in English. So, when speaking Spanish, always put object pronouns first even in English, before you  even translate to Spanish. That will make it for natural for you to think in Spanish.

Rules for using object pronoun: Link => https://mangolanguages.com/resources-articles/how-to-use-direct-and-indirect-object-pronouns-in-spanish/

• Sometimes we may have just indirect object with no direct object.
  • ex: I told her => Yo le dije => If we put what after told, then we get "it" or "told something", that is the direct object, and that is going to "her", so her is indirect object. "I told her it" would be complete sentence, but "it" is hidden here.
• DOP must agree in gender and number with the noun they are replacing (for 3rd person only), while IOP agree just in number (for 3rd person only. Similar to pronoun table, gender doesn't exist for I and you).
  • DOP => Did you send the letters? => ¿enviaste las cartas?. Yes, I sent them => Sí, yo las envié.   (cartas is feminine+plural, so las used. No, les used when answering since it's DOP (not IOP)
  • IOP => Did you buy the present for your mother? => ¿compraste el regalo a tu madre?. Yes, I bought the present for her => Sí, yo le compré el regalo. See personal "a" section below.
• in Spanish we always place the indirect object pronoun before the direct object pronoun. In addition, both are always placed before the conjugated verb. NOTE: It has to be a pronoun *i.e him, it, me, etc) and NOT a noun (ball, Josh, etc). Nouns are still placed after verb (the way they appear in the sentence, same as what we do in English)
  
  • ex: I buy you it (a car) => yo te lo compro (IOP=te=you, DOP=lo=it)
• With positive imperatives, infinitives, and gerunds, pronouns are attached to the word, creating one single word.
• With some verb combinations, we can either place the pronouns before the conjugated verb or attach them to the non-conjugated verb of the verb combination.
• Also, remember that when 3rd person IOP (le/les) and a 3rd person DOP (lo/la, los/las) appear together, le(s) changes to se. Why? => 2 "l" words in sequence (le lo, les lo, le los, etc) don't sound good, so we change le/les to se. TIP: we don't do "le lo" in spanish.
  
  • ¿Compraste el libro a María?  => Did you buy the book for María? => Buy is past tense, since it's Did you buy (or you bought), so compraste. So, tú compraste el libro => You bought the book (you left out as is common). Maria is noun, so regular placement. So, "tú compraste el libro a Maria" => you bought a book for Maria. To change it to a question, just put question marks.
    
  • Sí, se le lo compré. => Yes, I bought it for her. => "I bought" is "yo compré". "it" being direct object comes before verb as "lo/la", so it's "yo lo compré" for "I bought it". her being indirect object comes before direct object pronoun, so it's "yo le lo compré" => I bought it for him/her. But as per the rule, le changes to se, so it becomes "yo se lo compré".
    

Object Pronouns with back to back Verbs: When we use Object pronouns with back to back verbs (usually verbs followed by infinitives), there are 2 ways to translate it:

1. Regular form: Translated in usual way with DOP appearing before the 1st verb.
   
   1. ex: I can see you => Yo te puedo ver => can and see are 2 verbs, so we translate it the usual way, placing DOP before the 1st verb.
2. Modified Verb form:Translated in English style where DOP appears after the verb.
   
   1. ex: I can see you => Yo puedo verte => This is the alternative form, where we translate this just like in English. DOP is placed after the verb, but we combine the infinitive form of verb with DOP to form 1 word. So, ver + te becomes "verte". We are allowed to do this, as infinitves don't change, so adding pronoun to it is easier, and still sounds ok. If verb was changing form, adding pronoun to it would have been messy.
   2. ex: I buy it => yo lo compro. Here there's only one verb "buy", so we can't use the second form. i.e we can't say "yo comprolo". You can also remember it by realizing that compro isn't in infinitive form, so we can't modify it.

NOTE: For some infinitives that do change form as in present progressive (i.e verb "watching" changes form to gerund), we are still allowed to use this second rule. However, we have to put an accent on the vowel of the infinitive form of verb to make it different than original form. NOTE: there are 2 verbs back to back => 1st one is are/am, etc (ser/estar), and 2nd one is real verb (reading, eating, etc).

• ex: You are watching me => tú me estás mirando OR  tú estás mirándome => Here we added an accent on "a" in "mirar" to get "mirándome".
• ex: They are reading it => ellos lo están leyendo OR ellos están leyéndolo => We added accend on "e" on "leer"to get "leyéndolo"
• ex: I'm going to buy it => yo lo voy a comprar OR yo voy a comprarlo. I'm buying it => Yo estoy comprándolo.

ex:

• They want to buy them (the books) => 2 forms are : Ellos los quiren comprar, OR Ellos quiren comprarlos.
• I am going to read it => yo lo voy a leer OR yo voy a leerlo (Remember that "a" is required for "going to")
• I have to read it => yo lo tengo que leer OR yo tengo que leerlo.

PrePositional pronouns: These are pronouns that are used with Prepositions as on, with, for, etc. These look like Direct/Indirect objects (i.e with him, for her, etc), but since prepositions are used, their transformation table is different. See in "Preposition" section.

Personal "a"(pronouned aa): This is used when a verb is being done to a direct object (DO) who happens to be a person or someone who is personal, In such cases, we add "a" before the person. It may also be a pet or something that the person has personal feelings to. If "a" is omitted, meaning may change. So, very essential to add this personal "a". There's no equiv of this personal "a" in English. Appart from DO noun,  we add this "a" for IO too. Usually indirect objects have a 'to" in front of the IO (i.e gives money to Jose). So, this "a" is equiv to English "to" when used for IO.

More details here: https://www.spanish.academy/blog/how-to-use-the-personal-a-in-spanish/

See ex:

• Juan bought a car => Juan compró un coche, Here verb buy is being done to direct object "car" which is an inanimate object (NOT a person), so no "a" used
• Juan kissed Karla => Juan besó a Karla. Here verb "kiss" is being done to a DO, who is a person, so personal "a" is being used.
• She watches John => Ella mira a John. John is DO person, so "a" added. If sentencse was with DOP, i.e She watches him => Ella lo mira (No, "a" as it's DOP and not DO noun)
• I called Mario. => Llamé a Mario. Here "call" is being done to Mario, so "a"
• I’m going to pick up Betty from the auto shop => Voy a recoger a (reco-her-aa) Betty del taller (taa-yer).  Here Betty may be a pet, car or any other inanimate obj, but if it's treated as persona, "a" is added.
• Emma carries her dog in her purse => Emma lleva a su perro en el bolso. – Here "her dog" or "su perro" is one object, so a" placed before that.
• I love Mexico. => Amo a México. Countries and Cities are also considered personal. Amar means "to love".

Personal "a" in questions: "a" is also added in front of a question. See in "Questions / Interrogative words" section.

Possessive pronouns: These pronouns are same as possessive adjective (PA) described below in Adjective section. These are words as mine, ours, theirs, etc.,

Other Pronouns:

• There is / There are => These are explained under "participle form of verb" section.
   

• Here / There => Here is aquí (aa-kee) in spanish. In election booths, you will find signs saying "Here" or "aquí". There has 2 forms, similar to that, one for close by (ahi), and other for far off (allí). All 3 forms have accent on i.
  • aquí (Here) => el libro está aquí => The book is here
  • ahí (aa-ee, There close) => el libro está ahí en la mesa => The book is there on the table (It's close by near to the speaker)
  • allí (aa-jee OR aa-yee, There far) => Where are the keys ? => ¿Dónde están las llaves? Response would be "The keys are there in the garage" => las llaves están allí en el garaje (gara-he)

Adjectives:

Adjectives describe a noun or pronoun. In Spanish, adjectives carry noun's gender and number (just like determiners). Adjectives have both male and female form, as well as singular and plural form. Masculine nouns need male adjective (end in o), while feminine nouns need female adjective (end in a). Just as with nouns, female version of male adjectives can be formed by changing -o to -a. Also, the adjective gets suffixed with a "s" if the noun is plural. So, there are 4 versions for any adjective: male/female and singular, plural (Same as what we have in above tables for noun/pronoun). Not all adjectives have both genders. Adjectives ending in -e or consonant are gender neutral, and so don't change based on noun's gender (ex: rojo => red. It's gender neutral).

in Spanish, adjectives almost always come after a noun. See below.

Ex: Below are few examples of words with the 4 variants possible.All these have a base word, from which these 4  variants are derived.

Good: The word good in spanish comes from base word bien (pronouned as b-ee-an, easy to see it as "i" is pronounced as "ee" and "e" is pronounced as "a"). Also used for ok, so, well (like in starting a sentence). It is used in multiple Eurpopean languages too say "ok", "fine", etc. It has 4 variants for singular/plural and masculine/feminine.

Welcome: Another word derived from Bien is Bien (well, ok)+venido(come). The verb for come is "venir", but it's "V3 past participle form" is "have come", where venir transforms to venido. "To have come" is "haber venido". So, the whole word means "it's well to have come"  or "welcome" becoming Bienvenido(m,s=> when saying to male)/Bienvenida(f,s=> when saying to 1 female). Similarly for plural form Bienvenidos/Bienvenidas. This word is also used in many Eurpean lanuages to mean "welcome".

Few ex here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGOvu-0gGXk&list=PLv63dFTP4Sjq6knRsZQI-bTnRE38cZZoy&index=12

Ex of adjectives: (m=male, f=female). Adding "s" or "es" at the end makes it plural.

• Characteristics:
  • pretty => bonito(m), lindo (m), bonita (f), ugly => feo (m), fea (f)
  • brunette => moreno (m), morena (f), blonde => rubio (m), rubia (f). ex: ella es rubia => She is blonde. el es rubio => He is blonde.
  • skinny => flaco (m), fat => gordo (m)
  • tall => alto / alta (pronounced arto), short => bajo / baja (pronounced as baho)
  • handsome => guapo / guapa
  • American => americano (m) /  americana (f)
  • intelligent => inteligente (gender neutral since ends in consonant). ex: el estudiante inteligenete > the smart student
  • funny => gracioso or comico (m), graciosa/comica (f) => comical means comedy/funny in English.
  • serious =>serio (m) or seria (f). ex: He is very serious => El es muy serio. She is very serious => Ella es muy seria. muy means very.
  • young =. joven (similar to juvenile). gender neutral as it ends in consonant. elderly => mayor (maa-your). old man => hombre mayor
  • healthy => saludable. sick => enfermos (m) / enfermas (f)
  • easy => fácil (s), faciles (p). Difficult => difícil (s), dificiles (p). For plural, no accent. It's neutral gender, so used in both genders.
• Feelings:
  • friendly, nice => simpático (m), simpática (f), plural forms are => simpáticos (m), simpáticas (f). this word similar to "sympathy" in English, which kind of means "sympathetic or friendly".
  • kind => amable, cruel => cruel. (amable comes from amicable meaning "having spirit of friendliness")
  • happy => alegre, Alegría is a noun formed from alegre that means ‘happiness, joy‘, Feliz also means Happy, while Felicidad means Happiness, but used for occasions. i.e Happy christmas => Feliz navidad. 
  • sad => triste. Pena is another synonym for sorrow/grief.
• Misc:
  • Knowledge => conocimiento, ignorance => ignorancia (-ance changes to -ancia in spanish)
  • Derecha => right, izquierda => left

Nouns with adjectives: In English, adjectives go before noun, i.e new car, tall boy, etc. However, in Spanish, noun comes before the adjective in general. Articles come before the noun, whlle adj comes comes after the noun. The reason is tht in Spanish, 'a new car" is thought of as "a car that is new". We don't really say or write "that is", and hence we end up with "the car new".

ex:

• the red book => the book (that is) red => el libro rojo. fat boy => chico gordo, fat girl => chica gorda.
• a very nice girl => a girl (that is) very nice => una niña muy simpática
• the boys are tall => los niños son altos. (Here adj agrees with "boys" in gender and number). For "the tall boys" => los niños altos. We leave out "is" here.
• you are fat => tú estás gordo (assuming you is male). We are fat => nosotros estamos gordos (we changed gordo to plural, since it's "we" in noun). We can omit the pronoun as is common in Spanish

There are some exceptions when adjectives come before noun. This is when adjectives indicate number/quantity (little spanish => poco español), PA (explained below), Adjectives sometimes go in either order, before or after the noun, and they are both correct, but may change the emphasis on noun vs the adjective.

ex: I read the long book => Leí el libro largo (common one, here it emphasizes that out of several books available, I read the long one). Other form is " Leí el largo libro" => Here we emphasize the book as being long. Both forms are correct.

ex: un gran hombre => a great man. Here adjective is before noun to emphasize the man or delivering subjective opinion of the man.

Possessive adjective (PA): These are NOT possessive pronoun, but possessive adjective. Possessive adjectives provide ownership information about a noun (i.e possession), whereas possessive pronouns eliminate the noun completely. If there is a noun next to pronoun/adjective, then it's possessive adjective. As it's an adjective, they have to agree both in gender and number with the noun in question.

Ex: my car => Here noun "car" is present, so "my" is PA.  => mi carro. If there were may cars, then "my cars" => mis carros

We have 2 forms of PA: short PA and long PA.

Short PA: These are PA such as my, your, her, etc. short PA don't change based on gender (except for our and your(plural)).

Long PA: These are PA such as mine, yours, hers, etc. Here -o or -yo is added compared to short PA. Also, depending on the gender of noun, these PA change from o to a (so -a and -ya for feminine). For plural, extra s is added at end.