Gender and articles: el / la
Every noun carries a gender, and the article travels with it. Learn the word together with its article: la casa, not just casa. For example: “el libro → los libros” — book → books. A rule from the Spanish course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
Every noun carries a gender, and the article travels with it. Learn the word together with its article: la casa, not just casa.
A guide that holds for 80% of nouns: a noun in -o takes el, a noun in -a takes la. A few break it, el día and la mano among them, and those stick on their own.
In the plural el becomes los and la becomes las. The noun adds -s after a vowel and -es after a consonant: libro, libros; ciudad, ciudades.
By example
- el libro → los librosbook → books
- la ciudad → las ciudadescity → cities
- un café, por favora coffee, please
How the rule settles in your head
A rule is not memorized from an explanation. It is memorized from an attempt to use it and a mistake — that is why the app delivers it mixed in with words, not as a separate lesson: it resurfaces exactly where you forgot it.
Frequently asked
Gender and articles: how does it work in Spanish?
Every noun carries a gender, and the article travels with it. Learn the word together with its article: la casa, not just casa.
What does it look like in an example sentence Spanish?
“el libro → los libros” — book → books. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.