|
|
|
|
From the dictionary: Spanish pronunciation
Pronunciación inglesa Sample
A–Z pages:
Across five editions, fifty years, and more than ten million copies sold, The University of Chicago Spanish Dictionary is the most popular dictionary of its kind. |
|
|
All Spanish nouns, not just those that denote male or female beings, are assigned either masculine or feminine gender. As a general rule, male beings (muchacho ‘boy’, toro ‘bull’) and all nouns ending in -o (lodo ‘mud’) are assigned masculine gender (exceptions: mano ‘hand’, radio ‘radio’, foto ‘photo’, all feminine). Similarly, female beings (mujer ‘woman’, vaca ‘cow’) and nouns ending in -a (envidia ‘envy’) tend to be assigned feminine gender (exceptions: mapa ‘map’, drama ‘drama’, día ‘day’, all masculine). In addition, nouns ending in -ción, -tad, -dad, -tud, and -umbre are always feminine: canción ‘song’, facultad ‘college’, ciudad ‘city’, virtud ‘virtue’, and muchedumbre ‘crowd’. Otherwise, nouns ending in consonants and vowels other than -o and -a are of unpredictable gender. Some are feminine (barbarie ‘savagery’, clase ‘class’, nariz ‘nose’, tribu ‘tribe’), while others are masculine (antílope ‘antelope’, corte ‘cut’, mesón ‘lodge’, nácar ‘mother of pearl’). Nouns in -o that denote human beings (and to some extent, animals) form the feminine by replacing -o with -a, as in tío ‘uncle’ / tía ‘aunt’, niño ‘boy’ / niña ‘girl’, oso ‘bear’ / osa ‘she-bear’. Where the masculine noun does not end in -o, the rules of formation are more complex. For example, nouns ending in -ón, -or, and -án require the addition of -a, as in the pairs patrón / patrona ‘patron’, pastor / pastora ‘shepherd’, holgazán / holgazana ‘lazy person’. In other cases the difference is more unpredictable: poeta / poetisa ‘poet’, emperador ‘emperor’ / emperatriz ‘empress’, abad ‘abbot’ / abadesa ‘abbess’. Some nouns have different genders according to their meanings: corte (m) ‘cut’, (f) ‘court’, capital (m) ‘money capital’, (f) ‘capital city’, while others have invariable endings which are used for both the masculine and the feminine: artista ‘artist’ (and all nouns ending in -ista), amante ‘lover’, aristócrata ‘aristocrat’, homicida ‘murderer’, cliente ‘customer’. Finally, some words vacillate as to gender, e.g., mar ‘sea’, which is normally masculine but is feminine in certain expressions (en alta mar ‘on the high seas’) and in poetic contexts, and arte, which is masculine in the singular but feminine in the plural. Some words, such as armazón and esperma, can be both masculine and feminine. PluralizationNouns ending in an unaccented vowel and -é add -s to form the plural: libro / libros, casa / casas, café / cafés, while nouns ending in a consonant, in -y, or in an accented vowel other than -é add -es: papel / papeles, canción / canciones, ley / leyes, rubí / rubíes. Exceptions to this rule include the words papá / papás, mamá / mamás, and the small group of nouns ending in unaccented -es and -is, which do not change in the plural: lunes ‘Monday’, ‘Mondays’, tesis ‘thesis’, ‘theses’. ArticlesThe equivalent of English the is as follows: masculine singular, el; feminine singular, la; masculine plural, los; feminine plural, las. Feminine words beginning with stressed a or ha take el in the singular and las in the plural: el alma ‘the soul’ / las almas ‘the souls’, el hacha ‘the hatchet’ / las hachas ‘the hatchets’. In spite of this, these nouns remain feminine in the singular, as shown by adjective agreement: el alma bendita ‘the blessed soul’. When preceded by the prepositions a and de, the masculine singular article el forms the contractions al and del. The equivalent of English a, an is as follows: masculine singular, un; feminine singular, una. In the plural, masculine unos and feminine unas are equivalent to English some. Feminine words beginning with stressed a or ha take un in the singular and unas in the plural: un alma ‘a soul’ / unas almas ‘some souls’, un hacha ‘a hatchet’ / unas hachas ‘some hatchets’. The adjective in Spanish agrees in gender and number with the noun it modifies: el lápiz rojo ‘the red pencil’, la casa blanca ‘the white house’, los libros interesantes ‘the interesting books’, las flores hermosas ‘the beautiful flowers’. Adjectives follow the same rules as nouns for the formation of the plural: pálido, pálidos ‘pale’, fácil, fáciles ‘easy’, cortés, corteses ‘courteous’, capaz, capaces ‘capable’. Adjectives ending in -o change to -a: blanco, blanca ‘white’. Adjectives ending in other vowels are invariable: verde ‘green’, fuerte ‘strong’, indígena ‘indigenous, native’, pesimista ‘pessimistic’, baladí ‘trivial’, as are adjectives ending in a consonant: fácil ‘easy’, cortés ‘courteous’, mayor ‘older’, ‘larger’. Some cases are more complex: (a) adjectives ending in -ón, -án, -or (except comparatives like mayor) add -a to form the feminine: holgazán, holgazana ‘lazy’, preguntón, preguntona ‘inquisitive’, hablador, habladora ‘talkative’, (b) adjectives of nationality ending in a consonant add -a to form the feminine: francés, francesa ‘French’, español, española ‘Spanish’, alemán, alemana ‘German’. Most adverbs are formed by adding -mente to the feminine form of the adjective: clara ‘clear’ / claramente ‘clearly’, fácil ‘easy’ / fácilmente ‘easily’. Comparison of Inequality in Adjectives and Adverbs The comparative of inequality is formed by placing más or menos before the positive form of the adjective or adverb: más rico que ‘richer than’, menos rico que ‘less rich than’, más tarde ‘later’, menos tarde ‘less late’. The superlative is formed by placing the definite article el before the comparative: el más rico ‘the richest’, el menos rico ‘the least rich’. The following adjectives and adverbs have irregular forms of comparison:
|
