ESPAÑOL 1 Unit 0A: Greetings and Body Parts HW #8: 0A Semana 3 Nombre: ___________________ Fecha: ______________ Clase: Rojo Azul Amarillo Verde Palabras masculinas y femeninas A noun is a word used to denote a person, place, thing, or idea. PERSON: John, girl, dentist PLACE: garden, university, Venezuela THING: book, car, tomato IDEA: liberty, despair, intelligence In Spanish, all nouns are either masculine or feminine. MASCULINE el chico .................... boy el jardín .................... garden el libro ..................... book el miedo ...................fear FEMININE la chica ........................girl la universidad ...............university la revista ......................magazine la libertad ....................liberty The idea that nouns have gender seems perfectly natural when the noun stands for a living creature. This is because in English, living creatures often have different names, depending upon whether they are male or female. MASCULINE man tiger aviator FEMININE woman tigress aviatrix The following Spanish nouns all denote living creatures. el gato ..................... male cat el perro .................... male dog el chico .................... boy el abuelo .................. grandfather la gata .........................female cat la perra ........................female dog la chica ........................girl la abuela ......................grandmother How are all of these masculine nouns alike? el gato el perro el chico el abuelo HINT: look at both the beginning and the ending of each word pair. How are all of these feminine nouns alike? la gata la perra la chica la abuela HINT: look at both the beginning and the ending of each word pair. ESPAÑOL 1 Unit 0A: Greetings and Body Parts HW #8: 0A Semana 3 “El” and “la” both mean “the.” el chico (the boy) el perro (the male dog) Nombre: ___________________ Fecha: ______________ Clase: Rojo Azul Amarillo Verde la chica (the girl) la gata (the female cat) NOTE: These two words (el, la) are called “definite articles.” You will learn more about them in a later lesson. What do you notice about the last letter of these nouns? MASCULINE gato perro chico abuelo FEMININE gata perra chica abuela Nouns that end in -o are usually masculine. Nouns that end in -a are usually feminine. Notice the word “usually!” There are exceptions to these two rules and you will soon be learning them. One cannot predict the gender of a noun that stands for a non-living thing. Try to predict whether the Spanish words for the following things are masculine or feminine: MASCULINE OR FEMININE? book house money window One cannot predict the gender of a noun, except in the case of living creatures. Do not try to analyze the nature of the object, looking for some inherent masculinity or femininity. It won’t work! Take a guess. Do you think the Spanish word for “dress” is masculine or feminine? You might expect it to be feminine, since a dress is an article of clothing worn by females. Actually, the word for “dress” is a masculine word: el vestido Take another guess. Do you think the Spanish word for “necktie” is masculine or feminine? You might expect it to be masculine, since a necktie is an article of clothing worn by males. Actually, the word for “necktie” is a feminine word: la corbata When you learn a new noun, you should also learn its definite article (el, la). There are several reasons for this: • Because you cannot predict the gender of most nouns. • Because not every noun that ends in -o is masculine, and not every noun that ends in -a is feminine. • Because many nouns end in letters other than o or a. • Because the definite article (el, la) is your clue as to whether a noun is masculine or feminine. Why do you care whether a noun is masculine or feminine? Good question! As you shall see in upcoming lessons, Spanish places a great deal more emphasis on gender than does English. ESPAÑOL 1 Unit 0A: Greetings and Body Parts HW #8: 0A A. Circle the correct answer. 1. Which word is masculine? a. la casa b. la mesa c. el libro d. la ventana 2. Which word is feminine? a. el chico b. el hermano c. el abuelo d. la hermana 3. Which word is masculine? a. el cuaderno b. la pluma c. la maestra d. la profesora 4. Which word is feminine? a. el número b. el teléfono c. el muchacho d. la tía 5. ¿Cuál es la palabra masculina? a. la mañana b. la palabra c. el diccionario d. la tarea Semana 3 Nombre: ___________________ Fecha: ______________ Clase: Rojo Azul Amarillo Verde B. Choose between masculine or feminine. Circle the best answer. 6. el libro a. is a masculine word b. is a feminine word 7. la pluma a. is a masculine word b. is a feminine word 8. el cuaderno a. is a masculine word b. is a feminine word 9. el escritorio a. is a masculine word b. is a feminine word 10. la silla a. is a masculine word b. is a feminine word C. Circle the correct last letter of each word. 11. el libr___ o a 12. la mes____ o a 13. el gat____ o a 14. la gat____ o a 15. el chic____ o a 16. la chic____ o a 17. el cuadern___ o a 18. la plum____ o a 19. el vestid____ o a 20. la corbat____ o a ESPAÑOL 1 Unit 0A: Greetings and Body Parts HW #8: 0A Semana 3 Nombre: ___________________ Fecha: ______________ Clase: Rojo Azul Amarillo Verde D. Notes Reflection: 21. Go back and highlight or underline the most important things to remember about masculine and feminine nouns in the notes. Highlight or underline at least 3 things. 22. What was surprising or interesting in the notes? Respond in at least 3 sentences. ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________