Spanish Grammar For Dummies Cheat Sheet

Masculine nouns include the following:

• Most nouns that end in -o, such as año (year)

• Nouns that identify males, such as tío (uncle)

• Nouns that end in -aje or -ambre, such as equipaje (luggage) and alambre (wire)

• Certain nouns that end in -or or -án, such as amor (love) and champán (champagne)

• Nouns that end in -ama, -ema, -oma, -ma, or -ía, such as programa (program) and dilema (dilemma)

• Days of the week and months of the year

• Colors used as nouns

• Names of languages, rivers, seas, and oceans

• Compound nouns that consist of noun-verb combinations and that usually end in -s, such as abrelatas (can opener)

Feminine nouns include the following:

• Most nouns that end in -a, such as ensalada (salad)

• Nouns that identify females, such as hija (daughter)

• Nouns that end in -dad or -tad, such as ciudad (city) and libertad (liberty)

• Nouns that end in -ie, -eza, -sis, or -itis, such as especie (species), riqueza (richness), tesis (thesis), and sinusitis (sinusitis)

• Nouns that end in -ción, -sión, -tud, or -umbre, such as canción (song) and misión (mission)

• Gender: If a noun is feminine, like la muchacha (the girl), the adjective must be feminine, too. For example, to talk about a tall girl, you’d say la muchacha alta (the tall girl). If the girl has a brother who’s also tall, you’d say el muchacho alto (the tall boy).

• Number: If a noun is plural, the adjective must also be plural. For example, to describe a group of tall girls, you’d say las muchachas altas. To describe a group of tall boys, you’d say los muchachos altos. Similarly, if a noun is singular, the adjective must be singular, too (see the preceding bullet for examples).

Following are some general rules about making adjectives agree with the nouns they modify:

• Like nouns, most adjectives follow the general rule that masculine adjectives end in -o and pluralize with -s and feminine adjectives end in -a and pluralize with -s.

• Adjectives that end in a consonant, -e, or -ista usually don’t have masculine and feminine forms, but they do have singular and plural forms. To make an adjective that ends in -e or -ista plural, simply add -s. To make an adjective that ends in a consonant plural, add -es.

• With some adjectives that end in -dor, -ón, or -án, you add -a to form the feminine, -es to form the masculine plural, and -as to form the feminine plural.

Here are a few more examples of adjectives that agree with the nouns they modify in both gender and number:

• un examen difícil (a difficult exam)

• una chica inteligente (a smart girl)

• unos peces caros (some expensive fish)

• unas reglas importantes (some important rules)

Here’s a conjugation chart for a regular –ar verb conjugated in the present tense:

Here’s a conjugation chart for a regular -er verb conjugated in the present tense:

Here’s a conjugation chart for a regular -ir verb conjugated in the present tense: