Noun Gender and their Articles

Spanish nouns are unlike their English counterparts in that they are inherently associated with a certain gender. English nouns are all neutral. Spanish nouns are either masculine or feminine. This doesn't necessarily mean the noun exhibits either of these qualities; but rather, these nouns are linked with certain articles.

The Spanish articles, much like English, are either indefinite or definite. The indefinite articles are either un, una, unos, or unas and are the English equivalents of "a", "an", or "some". Notice that there are four forms in Spanish, and they are respectively associated with nouns that are singular-masculine, singular-feminine, plural-masculine, or plural-feminine. Look at the following examples:

un dependiente	a store clerk
una manzana	an apple
unos libros	some books
unas bufundas	some scarves

On the other hand, the definite article only has one English use, namely "the". Again, there are four forms to match the possible gender and number combination of the given noun. They are el, la, los, and las. Here are some more examples:

el mostrador	the counter
la taza de café	the coffee cup
los relojes	the watches
las lámparas	the lamps

Although it will take awhile for you to solidify your understanding of noun gender in the Spanish language, you will start seeing patterns take shape, and it will allow you to use pronouns with more efficiency as you advance in your knowledge acquisition of the Spanish language.