El protestante, the Protestant La protestante-a, the Protestant 32. The following common nouns have distinct forms for the masculine and feminine gender: El hombre, the man. El padre, the father. La mujer, the woman. La madre, the mother. El marido (el esposo), the hus- La esposa, the wife. 33. There are two numbers, singular and plural: El perro, the dog. La casa, the house. Los perros, the dogs. Las casas, the houses. THE FORMATION OF THE PLURAL 34. The following nouns form their plural by adding 8: a. All nouns ending in unaccented vowels, except y: El hijo, the son. El amigo, the friend. Los hijos, the sons. b. Nouns terminating in an accented e: El pie, the foot. Los pies, the feet. El café, the coffee, the coffee-house. Los cafés, the coffees, the coffee houses. Excepting the letter e of the alphabet, which becomes las ees in the plural. 35. The following nouns take es in the plural: a. Those ending in consonants, final z always becoming c before taking es. (See letter z in Introduction to the Method.) El animal, the animal. La producción, the production. El juez, the judge. b. Nouns terminating in y: La ley, the law. Los animales, the animals. Las producciones, the productions. Los jueces, the judges. c. Nouns terminating in accented vowels, except e accented: El alfolí, the granary. Las leyes, the laws. Los alfolies, the granaries. El maravedí, the maravedi, a Los maravedís, maravedises, and small Spanish coin. El landó, the landau. formerly maravedíes. Los landós, the landós. It should be observed that the letters of the alphabet and many monosyllables come under this rule: La á, la ó, la ú, the a, the o, the u. Las aes, las oes, las ues, the a's, the o's, the u's. 36. Some nouns are invariable: a. Those ending in es and is unaccented, in words of more than one syllable: La crisis, the crisis. El martes, Tuesday. b. Patronymics, in s and z: Fernández, (a family name). Las crisis, the crises. Los martes, Tuesdays. Los Fernández, the Fernández. 1 A maravedź was about a sixth of an American cent. 37. Compound words, if not already plural in form, usually suffix the proper plural sign to their last member only: El ferrocarril, the railroad. El tranvía, the tramway. Los ferrocarriles, the railroads. El cortaplumas, the pen-knife, having already a plural termination, does not change. 38. Certain masculine plurals, apparently contrary to their obvious meaning, include persons of both sexes: Los príncipes, the princes, or the prince and the princess. Los padres, the parents, or the father and mother. Los señores, the gentlemen, or the gentleman and his lady. 39. Since the only inflectional ending which Spanish nouns possess is the plural sign, it is useless to give any tables of inflection. Prepositional inflection can only be learned by the study of many examples. These are to be found in the Method. THE ADJECTIVE 40. Adjectives are masculine or feminine, singular or plural: Un hombre rico, a rich man. Una mujer bonita, a pretty woman. Lo caballos viejos, the old horses. Las peras chicas, the small pears. 41. In addition to the masculine and feminine, there is an absolute form of the adjective with lo, sometimes, though incorrectly, called a neuter: Lo bueno, the good, that which is good. 42. Adjectives agree in gender and number with the nouns which they qualify: Una casa alta, a high house. Los muchachos vivos, the lively boys. 43. When the adjective is used with lo, and is followed by que, that, with the verb to be, or its equivalents, it varies to suit the gender and number of the noun of which it is the attributive. In such cases the Spanish adjective must be rendered by a substantive: Lo baratos que son estos som- The cheapness of these hats, (the breros. cheap that are these hats). The antiquity of the church. Lo antigua que es la iglesia. THE PLURAL OF ADJECTIVES 44. Adjectives form their plural by adding s to unaccented vowelfinals, and es to consonant and accented vowel-finals, changing z to c before es: 45. There are several classes of adjectives which vary their end ing for gender: a. Common adjectives ending in o, an, ol, on, or, oz, change to, or add a: El hombre alto, the tall man. El muchacho comilón, the gluttonous boy. La mujer alta, the tall woman. La muchacha comilona, the gluttonous girl. b. All proper adjectives, except those ending in a, e, and accented í, form the feminine by adding a: ish grammar. El libro español, the Spanish La gramática española, the Spanbook. El americano, the American La americana, the American (man). woman. c. Diminutives in ete and augmentatives in ote change the final e to a: El grandote, the biggish boy or La grandota, the biggish girl or man. d. Diminutives in in add a: Chiquitín, a wee one, (masc.). woman. Chiquitina, a wee one, (fem.). e. A few adjectives ending in tor change to triz, or merely add a: Fuerza motora or motriz. Motive power. 46. Many adjectives have only one termination for the masculine and feminine; namely, common adjectives ending in a, e, í, al, el, il, ul, en, in, un, ar, az, ez, iz, oz, es, ista, and comparatives in or and ior: El, la belga, the Belgian, (male or Fiel, faithful, (masc. or fem.). female). Grande, large, (masc. or fem.). Útil, useful, (masc. or fem.). Personal, personal, (masc. or fem.). Sagaz, sagacious, (masc. or fem.). Soez, base, low, (masc. or fem.). Cortés, courteous, (masc. or fem.). 47. All adjectives may be employed as substantives. In such cases they are subject to the rules governing nouns: El prudente, the wise man. El español, the Spaniard. La americana, the American Las fieles, the faithful women. woman. 48. Occasionally nouns are used as adjectives to qualify other nouns: La tierra virgen, the virgin soil. La madre patria, the mother coun try. APOCOPATION OF ADJECTIVES 49. Eight adjectives are capable of apocopation—that is, they lose their final o when they immediately precede a masculine noun in the singular. They are: a. In colloquial language the a in the feminine termination is sometimes dropped before the singular, when it begins with a and ha: Un alma, a soul. Algún ave, any (some) bird. b. Uno, one, when combined with other numerals, is contracted before nouns: Noventa y un hombres, ninety- Cuarenta y un soldados, forty-one soldiers. one men. 50. Grande, great, in the sense of eminence loses de when it stands before a singular noun which begins with a consonant sound: Un gran día, a great day. El gran general, the great general. a. Sometimes, for intensity or emphasis, the full form grande is used, even before singular nouns beginning with consonants, though there is a tendency to abandon this usage: Tan grande daño, so great harm. El grande duque, the grand duke. |
