Nouns

What is a noun? (English)

A noun is a word that names a person, place, thing, or idea.

Nouns are what sentences are about. They act as subjects (who does the action) and objects (what receives the action).

---

Categories (English)

Persons

#	Noun	Example sentence
1	teacher	The teacher explained the rule.
2	doctor	A doctor arrived at the scene.
3	friend	I called my friend.
4	engineer	The engineer fixed the bug.
5	child	A child was playing outside.
6	president	The president gave a speech.
7	student	The student passed the exam.
8	player	A player scored the goal.
9	sister	My sister lives abroad.
10	neighbor	The neighbor waved hello.

Places

#	Noun	Example sentence
1	city	She moved to a city.
2	school	The school is two blocks away.
3	hospital	He drove to the hospital.
4	country	Spain is a country in Europe.
5	park	We ate lunch at the park.
6	office	I work at an office downtown.
7	market	She went to the market early.
8	airport	The airport is very crowded.
9	library	I studied at the library.
10	street	A street was blocked off.

Things

#	Noun	Example sentence
1	book	I finished the book.
2	car	She bought a car.
3	table	Put it on the table.
4	phone	The phone is ringing.
5	door	Close the door, please.
6	coffee	I drank a coffee.
7	chair	Grab a chair.
8	report	He submitted the report.
9	key	I lost the key.
10	bag	She left a bag on the train.

Ideas / Abstract

#	Noun	Example sentence
1	freedom	Freedom is not free.
2	love	Love takes effort.
3	time	Time moves quickly.
4	knowledge	Knowledge is power.
5	truth	I want the truth.
6	fear	Fear held him back.
7	justice	We fought for justice.
8	idea	She had an idea.
9	hope	Hope kept them going.
10	success	Success requires consistency.

---

Singular vs Plural (English)

Rule	Singular	Plural
Default: add -s	book	books
Add -es (ends in s, x, z, ch, sh)	box	boxes
-y → -ies (consonant before y)	city	cities
-f / -fe → -ves	leaf	leaves
Irregular	man	men
Irregular	woman	women
Irregular	child	children
Irregular	person	people
No change	sheep	sheep
No change	fish	fish

---

Countable vs Uncountable

• Countable — you can count them individually: one book, two books
• Uncountable — cannot be counted directly: water, rice, advice

Countable	Uncountable
a book / three books	water (not “a water”)
a chair / five chairs	rice (not “a rice”)
an idea / two ideas	information (not “an information”)
a mistake / ten mistakes	advice (not “an advice”)
a job / many jobs	work (when meaning effort in general)

Uncountable nouns take no article for general statements: “Water is essential.”
They take the when referring to a specific instance: “The water in this glass is warm.”

---

How Spanish handles nouns differently

Key differences

• Every Spanish noun has a grammatical gender: masculine or feminine — English nouns have none
• Gender is a property of the word itself, not the real-world object
• Gender determines which article and adjective form to use
• Plural rules are similar but not identical

Gender signals — patterns to recognize

These are strong tendencies, not absolute rules.

Pattern	Gender	Examples
Ends in -o	Masculine	libro, coche, año, vino, plato
Ends in -a	Feminine	mesa, casa, puerta, camisa, tienda
Ends in -ción / -sión	Feminine	canción, nación, televisión, profesión
Ends in -dad / -tad / -tud	Feminine	ciudad, libertad, actitud
Ends in -or	Masculine	color, calor, dolor, amor
Ends in -ema / -oma / -ama	Masculine	problema, sistema, programa, tema
Person nouns	Match biological sex	el maestro / la maestra

Notable exceptions — memorize these

Noun	Gender	Why it surprises
el día	Masculine	Ends in -a but masculine
el mapa	Masculine	Ends in -a but masculine
el problema	Masculine	Ends in -a (Greek origin)
el sistema	Masculine	Ends in -a (Greek origin)
el programa	Masculine	Ends in -a (Greek origin)
la mano	Feminine	Ends in -o but feminine
la foto	Feminine	Short for fotografía
la moto	Feminine	Short for motocicleta

---

Plural rules in Spanish

Rule	Singular	Plural
Ends in a vowel → add -s	libro	libros
Ends in a vowel → add -s	mesa	mesas
Ends in a consonant → add -es	ciudad	ciudades
Ends in a consonant → add -es	mujer	mujeres
Ends in -z → change to -ces	voz	voces
Ends in -z → change to -ces	vez	veces

Vowel-ending → add -s

Singular	Plural	English
libro	libros	books
mesa	mesas	tables
coche	coches	cars
casa	casas	houses
perro	perros	dogs
café	cafés	coffees
calle	calles	streets
tienda	tiendas	stores
puerta	puertas	doors
año	años	years

Consonant-ending → add -es

Singular	Plural	English
ciudad	ciudades	cities
mujer	mujeres	women
flor	flores	flowers
árbol	árboles	trees
papel	papeles	papers
mes	meses	months
color	colores	colors
canción	canciones	songs
habitación	habitaciones	rooms
reloj	relojes	clocks

-z → -ces

Singular	Plural	English
voz	voces	voices
vez	veces	times
pez	peces	fish
nariz	narices	noses
luz	luces	lights

---

Side-by-side: English → Spanish noun pairs

English	Spanish	Gender	Pattern
book	libro	masculine	ends in -o
table	mesa	feminine	ends in -a
city	ciudad	feminine	ends in -dad
car	coche	masculine	ends in -o
door	puerta	feminine	ends in -a
house	casa	feminine	ends in -a
song	canción	feminine	ends in -ción
problem	problema	masculine	exception: Greek origin
day	día	masculine	exception: ends in -a
hand	mano	feminine	exception: ends in -o

---

Common mistakes

• ❌ Assuming -a always means feminine → ✅ el día, el mapa, el problema are masculine
• ❌ Assuming -o always means masculine → ✅ la mano, la foto are feminine
• ❌ Forgetting article changes in plural → ✅ el libro → los libros, la mesa → las mesas
• ❌ Learning a noun without its article → ✅ Always learn the pair: el libro, la mesa

---

Summary

• A noun names a person, place, thing, or idea — same in English and Spanish
• Spanish nouns carry grammatical gender (masculine/feminine); English nouns do not
• Learn every new noun with its article as a pair: el libro, la mesa
• Plural: vowel-ending → add -s · consonant-ending → add -es · -z ending → -ces

See also: Articles — once you know a noun’s gender, the article follows directly.
See also: Why Spanish Nouns Have Gender — deeper explanation of the gender system.