Spanish Grammar

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About Nouns

Forming Plurals by Julie Gutin

Conveniently enough, in Spanish a noun is made plural by adding an -s or -es, just as you do in English. If a noun ends in a vowel, use the -s ending:

carta (letter)	cartas (letters)
abuelo (grandfather)	abuelos (grandfathers)
guante (glove)	guantes (gloves)

Nouns ending in a consonant take on -es to form a plural:

comedor (dining room)	comedores (dining rooms)
habilidad (ability)	habilidades (abilities)
matón (killer)	matones (killers)

Dropping the Accent Mark</h2> <p>As you can see from the example of <B>matón/matones</B>, making a noun plural may affect the use of the accent mark. Remember, words ending with a vowel, S, or N generally have a stressed second-to-last syllable, and exceptions must employ the accent mark to show where the stress falls. Because <B>matón</B> is pronounced “mah-TOHN,” and not “MAH-tohn,” the accent mark is employed to indicate correct pronunciation. However, by adding -es the syllable “ton” becomes second-to-last, thus making the accent mark unnecessary in the plural.</p> <h2>Spelling Modifications</h2> <p>It's also important to remember that adding the plural ending may affect the spelling of the word. For instance, a final Z will change to C, in order to avoid combination ZE, which does not occur in Spanish: <B>el pez</B> (fish), <B>los peces</B> (fishes).</p> <div class="npsb"> <h2> QUESTION</h2> <p><B>If a plural noun refers to a group of both genders, which ending should be used?</B></p> <p>Plural nouns that refer to a mixed group of both genders retain a masculine ending. For example, even if you've got one male cousin and twelve female cousins, you will refer to them collectively as <B>los primos.</B></p> </div> <h2>Other Exceptions</h2> <p>As you know, some English nouns don't have a singular and a plural form. For example, the word “elk” can be either singular or plural. The only way to know is through context. A few Spanish words behave the same way. For example, a compound word where the second part of the word is plural will retain the same ending, whether the noun is singular or plural: <B>paraguas</B> (umbrella, literally “for water”) is <B>el paraguas</B> in the singular and <B>los paraguas</B> in the plural.</p> <p>Other nouns only exist in the singular form, even though they refer to more than one person or object. The best example is “people” or <B>gente.</B> Although the noun refers to multiple individuals, the form both in English and in Spanish remains singular.</p>  <div id="pagination"><ul><li class="prev"><a href="http://www.netplaces.com/spanish-grammar/about-nouns/divided-by-gender.htm" title="Divided by Gender">Divided by Gender</a></li><li class="next"><a href="http://www.netplaces.com/spanish-grammar/about-nouns/definite-articles.htm" title="Definite Articles">Definite Articles</a> </li></ul></div></div> <div id="coda"> <div id="rel"><div class="n5">Related Articles</div><ul> <li><a href="http://grammar.about.com/od/mo/g/numberterm.htm" zT="18/1YL/Zn"> number - definition and examples of number </a></li> <li><a href="http://www.netplaces.com/german-practice/the-noun/unclassified-nouns.htm" zT="18/1YL/Zn"> Unclassified Nouns - German Practice </a></li> <li><a href="http://spanish.about.com/cs/forbeginners/a/adjective_agree.htm" zT="18/1YL/Zn"> Noun-Adjective Agreement - Spanish for 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