Spanish Nouns

Spainish Nouns

We have seen that nouns in Spanish are either in the "o" category, or in the "a" category. The way that we distinguish between the two, normally, is by looking at the end of the noun. If it ends with an "o", it will be in the "o" category. If it ends with an "a", it will be in the "a" category. There is still a little bit more to know about noun categories, however.

If all nouns actually ended in these two letters, our job would be somewhat simpler. There are, however, some nouns that don't end in either "o" or "a", but they act like they do. In some cases, we can predict which category they will fall in, just by the way that they are spelled. For instance, any noun that ends in "-cion" will be considered to be an "a" category noun. When we use these words in sentences, the other words will match them in the same way that the must match words which actually end in the letter "a". Other clues for nouns in the "a" category are nouns that end in the letter "d". This rule is not 100% true, but the number of exceptions is very small and you can usually count on it being right. The teacher will point out any exceptions. Another clue which usually indicates that the noun will act like an "a" category noun is when it ends in the letter "z". Once again, it is not 100% reliable, like the "-cion" ending, but it's usually right. There are very few exceptions. Also, words which end in the combination "-umbre" are always counted as "a" nouns. Some examples would be "costumbre", "certidumbre" and "lumbre".

There aren't very reliable rules for other endings which will indicate "o" category nouns, but we won't run into a lot of them during the first year class and the teacher will let you know when you must memorize an exception.

There is one group of nouns that you just have to memorize. These are nouns which end in the letter "e". Some of them act like "a" nouns, and some of them act like "o" nouns. Let me show you some examples.

"A" CATEGORY "O" CATEGORY
fuente puente
clase cine
frase guante
Pay close attention to the first pair of words. "Puente" and "fuente" are exactly the same, except for the first letter, but one is an "o" word and the other is an "a" word. This should show you clearly why we have to MEMORIZE which category the noun belongs to when it ends in the letter "e".

The importance of knowing which category the noun belongs to will be clearer after you have studied the section on "articles".