THE NOUN


The noun in Spanish has only two genders.

Nouns denoting male beings are Masculine.
   "       "   female  "    "  Feminine.

When there is no real gender, nouns are called masculine or feminine
according to their terminations.

GENERAL RULE.--All nouns that terminate in a, ión, d, also abstract
nouns ending in ez, are feminine, as--

La villa: The town. La nación[21]: The nation.
La ciudad: The city or large town. La honradez: Honesty.
The other terminations are masculine.

There are many exceptions to the above rule, principally in nouns ending
in E.[22]

[Footnote 21: English words ending in "tion" end in ción in Spanish.
(Note the accent.)]

[Footnote 22: Appendix I--for reference only at this stage.]


Formation of the Plural of Nouns.

Nouns ending in a vowel which is not stressed and also nouns ending in
E bearing the stress, add S to form the plural.

All others add Es.

EXCEPTIONS--

1. Nouns ending in Z in the sing. change it into Ces.
2. Nouns ending in S do not change unless the last syllable is
stressed.


EXAMPLES--

El amo: The master. Los amos: The masters.
El cuñado: The brother-in-law. Los cuñados: The brothers-in-law.
La cuñada: The sister-in-law. Las cuñadas: The sisters-in-law.
El yerno: The son-in-law. Los yernos: The sons-in-law.
La nuera: The daughter-in-law. Las nueras: The daughters-in-law.
El árbol: The tree. Los árboles: The trees.
El examen: The examination. Los exámenes: The examinations.
El lápiz: The pencil. Los lápices: The pencils.
El ómnibus: The omnibus. Los ómnibus: The omnibuses.
El jabalí: The boar. Los jabalíes: The boars.


3. Nouns ending in Y add Es, as--

El rey: The king. Los reyes: The kings.
La ley: The law. Las leyes: The laws.

4. The following add only S to form the plural--

Papá, Mamá, Bajá (a pasha), Sofá (sofa).[23]

[Footnote 23: Words ending in accented vowels are very few and the rule
for those ending in á, ó, ú is not very strict.]


Compound Nouns form their plural according to sense, as--

Hijodalgo (a gentleman by birth), literally, "son of something"; Plu.,
Hijosdalgo (literally, "sons of something ").
Ferrocarril (railway), literally, "iron railroad"; Plu., Ferrocarriles
(literally, "iron railroads").

Such nouns are rare.[24]

[Footnote 24: A verb as a component part does not change, as El
portabandera (the standard-bearer), Los portabanderas (the
standard-bearers).]


Haber (to have), auxiliary.[25]      Tener (to have, to possess).

[Footnote 25: Viz. used only before the past participle of another verb,
as (Yo) he hablado (I have spoken).]

Pres. Part., Habiendo.              Pres. Part., Teniendo.
Past Part., Habido.                 Past Part., Tenido.

Pres. Tense, Indic. Mood.           Pres. Tense, Indic. Mood.

He (I have), etc.                     Tengo (I have, I possess), etc.
Has                                   Tienes
Ha                                    Tiene
Hemos                                 Tenemos
Habéis                                Tenéis
Han                                   Tienen

Imperf. Tense, Indic. Mood.         Imperf. Tense, Indic. Mood.

Había (I had), etc.                   Tenía (I had, I possessed, etc.)
Habías                                Tenías
Había                                 Tenía
Habíamos                              Teníamos
Habíais                               Teníais
Habían                                Tenían

Past Def. Tense, Indic. Mood.       Past Def. Tense, Indic. Mood.

Hube (I had), etc.                    Tuve (I had, I possessed), etc.
Hubiste                               Tuviste
Hubo                                  Tuvo
Hubimos                               Tuvimos
Hubisteis                             Tuvisteis
Hubieron                              Tuvieron


     VOCABULARY.

allí, there
aquí, here
buscar[26], to look for
caballo, horse
caja, box, case
el capital, the capital, money
la capital, the capital, town
comprender, to understand
copiador, copybook
creer, to believe, to think
dependiente, clerk
factura, invoice
fardo, bale
Francés, Frenchman
girar, to draw, (a bill of exchange)
el idioma, the language
Inglés, Englishman
inteligencia, intelligence
mal badly
muselina muslin
nunca never
país country
pequeño little (adj.)
poco little (adv. and subs.)
el porta-ramillete or florero the flower-stand
¿quién? who? whom?
seda silk
socio partner
solamente only
sólo (adv.) only
el tema the exercise

[Footnote 26: Changes c into qu before e; otherwise regular.]


                            EXERCISE 1 (5).

Translate into English--

1. ¿Comprende V. el español?

2. No, Señor, estudio el portugués y mi hermano comprende el español
perfectamente (perfectly).

3. ¿Quien escribe cartas?

4. Los comerciantes escriben cartas y sus dependientes escriben las
facturas y algunas cosas más.

5. Mi socio ha girado una letra (bill) desde (from) Viena (Vienna.)

6. París, Berlín, Roma, y Petrograd son las capitales de Francia,
Alemania, Italia y Rusia.

7. ¿Cómo se llaman (what are the names of) las capitales de España y
Portugal? Madrid y Lisboa.

8. ¿Ha estado (been) V. en Holanda?

9. No Señor, nunca he estado en aquel país.

10. En este tema hay palabras que no se dan (are not given) en el
vocabulario.

11. ¿Cuáles (which) son? Holanda, Portugal etcétera.

12. Estas se dejan (are left) á la inteligencia de Vs.

13. ¿No creen Vs. que son muy fáciles de comprender? (to understand).

14. Sí, Señor, V. tiene razón[27] (you are right).

15. Entonces, debemos (we must) continuar la lección.

16. Muy bien.

17. Debemos leer buenos libros y hablar en el idioma que estudiamos.

[27] Lit. "you have reason."


                            EXERCISE 2 (6).

Translate into Spanish--

1. Do you study German?

2. We study French and Italian, but my cousin studies English.

3. Does he understand English?

4. He understands English perfectly (perfectamente), but he speaks
Spanish badly.

5. Does your sister speak Italian?

6. No, she speaks only English.

7. What does the Englishman buy?

8. He buys a horse from the (al)[28] Frenchman.

9. My cousin sold (past. def.) his horse to Peter (Pedro).

10. John looks for his book and his paper.

11. The copy book is (está) on the table.

12. Henry (Enrique) must (debe) copy some letters.

13. Who copies the letters here?

14. Peter copies them (las copia).[29]

15. Has Henry much paper?

16. Yes, he has much paper but little ink.

17. The roses and violets are in the flower-stand.

18. The merchant has received (recibido) four bales of silk
handkerchiefs (pañuelo) and three cases of prints and muslins.

[Footnote 28: "To buy from" is translated by "Comprar á."]

[Footnote 29: The object pronoun precedes the verb in the indicative
mood.]