The masculine articles el and un are always used before feminine singular nouns when they begin with a or ha, accented on the first syllable* (whether the accent is marked or not); as, as, El ama, the mistress. Un arca, a chest. El hambre, the hunger. El água, the water. In the plural, such nouns take the regular feminine article; Las águas, the waters. the chests. Las arcas, If an adjective intervene between the article and feminine noun (even though the adjective begin with a or ha accented), the feminine article is always used; as, La ancha arca, the broad chest. | Una buena ama, a good mistress. Remark. There are very few feminine nouns in Spanish which begin with a or ha accented; so that the exceptions to the general use of la and una are very few. When the preposition á (to) or de (of) comes immediately before the masculine article el, a contraction takes place, and both words are united. Thus, instead of á el and de el (to the and of the), al and del are used; as, Al padre, to the father. A la muger, to the woman. Del muchacho, of the boy. Del hambre, of the hunger, los, las, lo, un, and una, the as the articles, remain un De los hombres, of the men. De lo futuro, of the future. De una noche, of a night. • Before feminine nouns singular beginning with a or ha, not accented on the first syllable, this rule does not apply; and, of course, la or una is used. El juez. El médico. La criada. Una Francesa. La muger. El hermano. Un criado. El alma. Un ama. El alma del hombre. La hermana del Americano. La hija de la Francesa. La criada de la muger. Lo cierto. Lo bello. Un criado del juez. Una hija del médico. Lo futuro. Al marido de la Francesa. A la muger del juez. Al alma del ama. El hambre del criado. El hijo del hermano del médico. El criado de la muger. Al hermano del juez. A la hermana del Americano. Al hijo de la Francesa. A una hija del Americano. Lo pasado. A lo bello. The plural of such words in the above vocabulary as end with a vowel, is formed by adding s to the singular; as, hombre, man; hombres, men. Los hombres. Los maridos. Las criadas. Las hermanas de la Francesa. Los hijos del médico. A las hijas de la muger. A los hermanos del juez. Las almas de las Francesas. Las hijas del Americano. Las criadas de los médicos. Los hermanos del marido de la Francesa. Las hijas de los Americanos. Los hermanos de las criadas. ENGLISH-SPANISH. The man. The woman. The soul. The men. The physician. The daughters. A woman. A judge. A famine. A mistress. The brother of the physician. The son of the French-woman. The hushand of the woman. The maleservant of the American. The sister of the judge. If the noun end with s immediately preceded by a vowel not accented, no change takes place to form the plural; as, Hipótesis, hypotheses. Hipótesis, hypothesis. The brothers. The sisters. The sons of the American. To the brothers of the physician. To the souls of the female servants. The daughters of the French-woman. The sisters of the judge. The male servants of the sons of the physician. The following nouns are irregular in the formation of the The sons of the sisters of the American. The husbands of plural; sofá, sofa; papá, pope, father; mamá, mamma; dux, the daughters of the judge. The brothers of the female ser-uuke; their plurals being sofás, papas, mamás, duces. vants. OF THE NOUN, Nouns are divided into proper and common, as in English; and to them belong gender, number, person, and case. GENDER. In Spanish Grammar, every noun is considered as either masuline or feminine, whether it really has any gender or not; thus, pan, bread; sombrero, hat; plato, plate; papel, paper; azúcar, sugar-are masculine; while casaca, coat; manteca, butter; água, water; mesa, table-are feminine. The following are the rules for distinguishing the gender :Nouns which are the names of males, as well as those which denote the ranks, offices, professions, or employments of males, are masculine; as, hombre, man; perro, dog; rey, king; cura, rector; pintor, painter; zapatero, shoemaker. Nouns which are the names of females, as well as those which denote the ranks, offices, professions, or employments of females, are feminine; as, muger, woman; vaca, cow; reina, queen; costurera, seamstress; zapatera, shoe-maker's-wife. And of those which are not comprehended in the above rules: Nouns which end in a, d, ion, is, and ez, are feminine; as, marca, mark; locura, folly; soledad, solitude; religion, religion; hipótesis, hypothesis; timidez, timidity. Nouns which do not end in a, d, ion, is, and ez, are masculine; as, zapato, shoe; honor, honour; té, tea; jabon, soap. Nouns used only in the plural are of the gender to which CASE. In Spanish, nouns have but two cases, the nominative and objective, the former being the agent or subject of the verb; the latter the object of an action expressed by the verb, or of a relation expressed by a preposition. There is no possessive case in Spanish; property or possession is expressed by means of the preposition de; as, El hijo de Juan, the son of John, i. e. John's son. La casa de la muger, the house of the woman, ie, the woman's house. La conciencia del hombre, the conscience of the man, i. e. the El libro es de Maria, the book is of Mary, i. c. the book is La pluma es del escribiente, the pen is of the clerk, i. e. the One noun cannot serve as an adjective for another noun, as in English; thus, such phrases as,-the York road; a paper hat; an ivory spoon; are in Spanish to be rendered el camino de York; un sombrero de papel; una cuchara de marfil; i.e. the the road of (to or from) York; a hat of paper; a spoon of ivory. In Spanish, the sentence "he went to his brother's," should be fully expressed thus: "fué á casa de su hermano," he went to (the) house of his brother. Remark. That the learner may be able to translate and to form complete sentences, a few verbs will now be placed in the vocabulary. But as he is not yet acquainted with the form of conjugating verbs in Spanish, it is necessary to mention that of the few verbs for the present given in the vocabulary, those ending with n are in the third person plural, and of course are to be used when plural nouns are nominative to them: those in the vocabulary not ending with n are in the third person singular. In English we say, "the man wrote," and "the men wrote," (the verb being spelt alike in both the third persons singular and plural); but in Spanish we should say, el hombre escribió, "the man wrote," and, los hombres escribieron, "the men wrote." In Spanish the general rule of consructing sentences is to produce clearness and harmony. Hence it is by no means important to place the nominative before the verb, as is usually the case in English. Thus in Spanish we can say, Pedro dió el libro á Maria, Peter gave the book to Mary; or, Pedro dió á Maria el libro, Peter gave to Mary the book; or, Pedro á María dió el libro, Peter to Mary gave the book; or, Pedro á Maria el libro dió, Peter to Mary the book gave; or, á Maria dió Pedro el libro, to Mary gave Peter the book; or, dió Pedro á Maria el libro, gave Peter to Mary the book; and each of these positions of the words is allowed by the rules of the Spanish construction, that form which is most clear, forcible, and harmonious being always preferred. The learner will be able to distinguish the gender of nouns, either from their sex or from their termination. Any noun forming an exception to the general rules of gender, will have its gender specified in the vocabulary, and should be remembered by the learner. The Spanish for ship carpenter, is carpintero de navío, car penter of ship. So, ship surgeon, coach horses, would besurgeon of ship, horses of coach. It cannot be said in Spanish, I am hungry, I am thirsty, I am afraid, but, I have hunger, I have thirst, I have fear. El impresor tiene hambre, should be translated in English, the printer is hungry, and not, the printer has hunger. So, John is thirsty, should be translated in Spanish, Juan tiene sed, John has thirst. The painters have money. The printers have books. The women have husbands. The carpenters gave a book to the son of the judge. The sons of the American gave money to the male servants of the physician. The daughters of the French-woman wrote letters to the sons of the judges. The physician wrote letters to the mother of the painter. The male servants of the physician wrote letters to the female servants of the French-woman. The printers went to (the) house of the judge. The horses are hungry. The men are thirsty. The oxen are thirsty. LESSONS IN ARITHMETIC.-No. XXXI. SUBTRACTION OF DECIMAL FRACTIONS. Example.-From 425 684 subtract 216.96. Explanation. Operation. 425-684 216.96 208-724 Ans. Having written the less number under the greater, so that units may stand under units, tenths under tenths, etc., we proceed exactly as in subtraction of whole numbers. Thus, thousandths from 4 thousandths leaves 4 thousandths. Write the 4 in the thousandths' place. Since the figure 9 in the lower line is larger than the one above it, we borrow 10. Now 9 from 16 leaves 7; set the 7 under the column and carry 1 to the next figure. Proceed in the same manner with the other figures in the lower number. Finally, place the decimal point in the remainder directly under that in the given number. To subtract one Decimal Fraction or Mixed Number from another. RULE. Write the less number under the greater, placing units under units, tenths under tenths, hundredths under hundredths, etc. Subtract as in whole numbers, and point off the answer as in addition of decimals. PROOF.-Subtraction of Decimals is proved in the same mannET as Simple Subtraction. When there are blank places on the right hand of the upper number, they may be supplied by ciphers without altering the value of the decimal. EXERCISES. 1. From 456-0546 take 364.3123. 8. From 10 take 000001. 9. From 65.00001 take 9682347. 10. From 3.29 take 999. 11. From 10 take 0000001. 12. From 9 take 999999. 13. From 4636 take 4654. 14. From 25 6050 take 567 392. 15. From 76-2784 take 29 84234, 16. Take 0000001 from 0001. 17. Take 0000004 from 00004. 18. From 32 take ⚫00032. 19. From 24681 take 87623. 21. Take 00045 from 45. 23. From 1 thousandth take 1 millionth. 25. From 29 thousand take 92 thousandths. 24. From 7 hundred take 7 hundredths. 30. From 2874 millionths take 211 billionths. 31. From 6231 hundred thousandths take 154 millionths. 32. From 7213 ten thousandths take 431 hundred thousandths. 33. From 8436 hundred millionths take 426 ten billionths. MULTIPLICATION OF DECIMALS. Example.-If a man can reap 96 of an acre in a day, how much can he reap in 5 of a day? Analysis. Since he can reap 96 hundredths of an acre in a whole day, in 5 tenths of a day he can reap 5 tenths of that • Casa, when it means a house, as a place of residence, or home, does not quantity. But multiplying by a fraction, we have seen, is take the article before it, as in English. taking a part of the multiplicand as many times as there are |