Spanish Nouns

In Spanish, gender and number are applied to nouns. Two of the genders in Spanish are masculine and feminine. Number refers to singular and plural. Nouns are naming words. We use them to give names to people, objects, thoughts, feelings, substances, etc.

Rebecca - Rebecca
mesa - table
alegría - happiness
oro - gold

In Spanish nouns distinguish between masculine and feminine. Generally if a noun ends in:

-o it is masculine
-a is feminine

Éste es mi niño. - This is my child.
In this example the noun "niño" names a boy.
Ésta es mi niña. - This is my child.
In this example the noun "niña" names a girl.

Spanish nouns also distinguish between singular and plural.

The general rule is to add "-s" to the noun in singular.

una mesa - one table
tres mesas - three tables

If the singular noun ends in "-z" we do its plural en "-ces".

Tengo un pez. - I have a fish.
Tengo tres peces. - I have three fish.

When the singular noun ends in "-s" and it is formed by only one syllable, we add "-es" to form the plural. This rule also applies to nouns of more than one syllable ending in "-s" and with the accent in the last syllable.

No tengo compás. - I do not have a compass.

Yo tengo dos compases. - I have two compasses.

Nouns ending in "-i" with "tilde" or in "-y" do their plural by adding "-es".

el rey - the king
los reyes - the kings

un Israelí - an Israeli
dos Israelíes - two Israelis

Compound Nouns