Spanish 101

LECCIÓN 1:
Abecedario Español, los
artículos, géneros,
números, acentos

Prepared by Fr. Robert Rafael B. Dael,

OSA
 EL ABECEDARIO ESPAÑOL

avión bebé Cebú Chico/chica derecha elefante fabrica guerrero

historia imagen japonés kilómetro leyenda llamada magia nombre

niño obediencia palacio quieto raza perro sagrado teléfono

universidad vaso whisky rayo x y zombi

 ARTÍCULOS
• In Spanish articles can be classified into two groups: definite and
indefinite articles.
• Definite articles refer to a specific object, person, or events. E.g. the dog
• Indefinite articles on the other hand does not refer to a specific object,
person or event. E.g. a girl; an apple.
• In Spanish we have to differentiate the singular and plural forms of the
articles which should be coherent to the noun that it accompanies. E.g.
the dog= el perro/ the dogs=los perros.
• The articles also change according to the gender of the noun it
accompanies. E.g. The boy=el chico; the girls=las chicas.
 TABLE/FORMAT FOR DEFINITE
AND INDEFINITE ARTICLES
Form Number Masculine Feminine Example Example
(masculine) (feminine)

Definite singular el la El maestro (the la maestra

master/the (the teacher)
teacher)

indefinite singular un una Un camarero ( a Una camarera

waiter) (a waitress)

Definite plural los las Los maestros Las maestras

indefinite plural unos unas unos camareros Unas camareras

 NUMEROS (SINGULAR OR
PLURAL)
• In Spanish, nouns always have to be in a specific form in terms of number for the listener to understand what
we refer to.
• When we refer to a noun in singular form we use the singular form. E.g. when we refer to a specific singular
cat, we use the singular form: the cat. When we refer to several specific cats, we use the plural form: the cats.
• However in Spanish, we have to take into consideration the gender of the noun and adjust to either the singular
or plural form. This includes the adjectives that describe it and the articles and prepositions that refer to it.
• In English we usually add –s if the noun ends in a vowel (e.g. tree>trees). We also consequently add –s for
those that end in a consonant (e.g. car>cars). Finally we add –ies and remove the y for those that end in y (e.g.
story>stories)
• In Spanish, we add –s for those that end in vowels (la mesa> las mesas; el lobo>los lobos)
• For those that end in consonant, we add –es (masculine) and –s (feminine). E.g. el tenedor>los tenedores (the
fork>the forks) ; la niña>las niñas (the little girl>the Little girls); un torre>unos torres (a tower>some towers);
una alumna>unas alumnas (a female student>some female students)
 SPECIAL RULE
• The Spanish language is a bit sexist crudely speaking. So When in a
group, there are female and male members the form that it takes is
always the masculine. For example, when a group is composed of 1 boy
and 3 girls, we call them niños (masculine) and not niñas (feminine).
When a group of students is composed of male and female students we
use the plural form in masculine (almunos) instead of the feminine
(alumnas)
 SPANISH ACCENT MARKS AND
WORD STRESS
Key rules of Spanish stresses
With regards to stressed syllables in Spanish, there are two key rules to
remember:

1: If a word ends with a vowel, or the letters ‘s’ or ‘n’, the penultimate
syllable is stressed.

2: If a word ends with a consonant other than ‘s’ or ‘n’, the final syllable is
stressed.
Words where the penultimate syllable is stressed are said to be paroxytone and a total of 79.5
percent of all Spanish words fall into this category. On the other hand, words where the final
syllable is stressed are said to be oxytone. Meanwhile, words which break these two rules, by
having the stress on the third-to-last syllable are proparoxytone.

The word camino (path) ends in a vowel, so the penultimate syllable is stressed and it is
paroxytone. The word animal (animal) ends in a consonant other than ‘n’ or ‘s’, so the final
syllable is stressed and it is oxytone. Both of these words are in-keeping with the two key roles
referred to above.

However, the word propósito (purpose) ends in a vowel, but breaks the rule, as the stress is on
the third-to-last syllable [pro-PÓ-si-to]. It is, therefore, proparoxytone. This is where we start
to see the use of written accents within the Spanish language, in order to mark the location of
stresses.
HOW TO TYPE SPANISH SYMBOLS/LETTERS
IN AN ENGLISH KEYBOARD
 To use Spanish keyboard, install Spanish in
your keyboard languages
 Press windows sign + space bar to change
from Spanish to English.
To use tildes or stress marks for consonants, in spanish keyboard
setting press ‘ + the vowel. E.g. á é í ó ú.
 To type ñ or Ñ, input the apostrophe
quotation mark button to the right of the
letter L.
NUMBERS IN SPANISH CHART
 HOMEWORK
• To be sent in our GC and to be submitted not later than Thursday morning.