1st LONG QUIZ on Spanish Plural Formation for Nouns

Hello! How've you been?  I hope you reviewed my 4 last blog posts regarding how to pluralize Spanish nouns... because today you're going to take a quiz about them :O

If you studied the lessons, that's good! If you didn't, don't worry because the quiz for today is pan comido (as easy as pie),

So, grab a pen or pencil and a paper where to put your answers to the questions below.

If you're ready, let the quiz begin! :)

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A. Choose the letter you think is the correct plural form for the noun given and write them on your paper.

1. María y Pablo son ____________ .         (Clue: siblings)
   a. hermanas
   b. hermano
   c. hermanos

2. Esta es una ________ de madera.          (Clue: chair)
   a. sillos
   b. silla
   c. sillas

3. Juan ve muchos _________ en el mar.          (Clue:  fishes)
   a. pez
   b. peces
   c. pezes

4. Este mes hay cuatro __________.          (Clue: Wednesdays)
   a. miércol
   b. miércoleses
   c. miércoles

5. Barcelona y Madrid son __________ españolas.      (Clue: cities)
   a. ciudades
   b. ciudad
   c. ciudados


B. Write the plural form of the following nouns.

1. vez   __________
2. bailarín   __________
3. joya  __________
4. matriz  __________
5. dependiente  __________
6. autobús  __________
7. rey __________
8. piloto __________
9. cortaúñas ___________
10. sofá  __________

C.  Name the picture by choosing the correct word in the box below. Make sure you make these words plural if necessary.

================================================
hoz       montaña     televisión       tijeras      persona
plato       nube        pantalones      perro        árbol
================================================


1.

______________________








2.                                                                                  _____________________

3.                                                  _____________________________

4.                        

________________________








5.                                                  __________________________

6.

__________________________








7.

_______________________











8.

______________________












9.  

_____________________









10.                                                                                 ________________________

END OF QUIZ

Answers can be found here.

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Very good, the quiz is finished! Congrats.

How did you fare? Did you get a perfect mark  in the quiz regarding Spanish plurals of nouns?

Share your results in the comments section below... :)

FORMATION OF PLURAL OF SPANISH NOUNS: Words that doesn't change

Hi! Congratulations! You've reached the last rule for the plural formation in Spanish.

But before anything else, let's recap the 3 rules in making Spanish words plural that you already learned.

1. By adding -s:  
                              taza -> tazas;   padre -> padres;   océano -> océanos;   tribu -> tribus

2. By adding -es:
                             color -> colores;   ciudad -> ciudades;   papel -> papeles

3. By changing "z" to "ces":
                             luz -> luces;   vez -> veces;   lápiz -> lápices


Take some time to memorize them... and when you're ready, let's go to the last rule on how to make Spanish nouns plural.

So, the last rule is... that you DO NOTHING to change the singular Spanish noun! That's it! You've heard it right.

That means, regardless the number (simgular/plural) of the noun, the noun does not change form! The singular noun is also the plural noun. Confused? Well, let's see a couple of examples.

"Friday" in Spanish is "viernes". If you refer to all the Fridays, in Spanish you say the same: viernes, and not VIERNESES.  The latter is wrong :(

See how nothing is done to the singular form of the noun? In fact, all the days of the week (except Saturdays and Sundays) do NOT change:

SINGULAR                                      PLURAL

el lunes                          los lunes
el martes                        los martes
el miércoles                   los miércoles
el jueves                        los jueves
el viernes                       los viernes

But:

el sábado                                          los sábados
el domingo                                      los domingos


This rule also applies to Spanish words that end in -S. For example:

el paraguas (the umbrella)

los paraguas (the umbrellas)

 

el abrelatas (the can opener)

los abrelatas (the can openers)

So, there you have it! All the 4 rules for the formation of the plural of Spanish nouns. Easy, right?

Do review for the long QUIZ about the plurals of nouns! It will be posted next...

For your questions, don't hesitate to leave them below.  Buena suerte!!! :)

FORMATION OF PLURAL OF SPANISH NOUNS: Change "z" to "ces"

In the previous post, you learned that if a Spanish noun ends in a consonant you just add -es to it to make it plural. The most common consonants in which words may end in Spanish (d, j, l, n, r, s, y) all follow this rule! However, for the letter "z" you have to make some changes before adding -es.

First, you have to change "z" to "c". Then, after having done so, add -es directly to where the change is, that is, to the letter "c".

To make this clearer, let's take an example. The Spanish words "luz" (meaning ¨light¨) and "pez" (meaning ¨fish¨)  both are singular and both end in the consonant letter z. Therefore, the plural forms for them are "luces" and "peces".

Son luces. (These are lights)

Hay muchos peces. (There are many fish)

So again! To form the plural of Spanish words ending in letter z, you have to change "z" to "ces":

     pez -> pec + es = peces
     luz -> luc + es = luces

Other examples for this rule:

     andaluz (Andalusian) -> andaluc + es = andaluces
     capuz (a type of cape) -> capuc + es = capuces
     voz (voice) -> voc + es = voces
     paz (peace) -> pac+ es = paces    (as in "hacer paces", to make peace)
     nuez (nut) -> nuec + es = nueces
     avestruz (ostrich) -> avestruc + es = avestruces

Hay siete avestruces. (There are seven ostriches)

E X E R C I S E
        Give the plural form of the following Spanish words. Remember the rule for formation of plural when the word ends in -z!

1.   alcazuz     ______________
2.   vez           ______________
3.   lápiz         ______________
4.   actriz       ______________
5.   variz        ______________
6.   cruz         ______________
7.   juez         ______________
8.   raíz          ______________
9.   aprendiz   ______________
10. lombriz    ______________

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Way to go! Only 1 rule for the formation plural is left. But no worries! We'll discuss it on the next blog post. So, relax and brace yourselves for that! :)

FORMATION OF PLURAL OF SPANISH NOUNS: Addition of "es"

¡Hola! :)

In the previous post, you saw how in Spanish an -s is added to words that end in a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) to make it plural. For example: estrella (star) -> estrellas (stars)

Now, you might wonder how words that in consonants (b,c,d,f,g and so on) form their plural. You're going to learn how in today's mini-lesson!

Firstly, let's look at the some Spanish words that end in a consonant. The English translation comes after the Spanish word in italics. Know that "el" and "la" are definite articles that mean "the" in English.

el corazón           the heart                
el color               the color
la universidad     the university
la flor                  the flower

"Corazón", "color", "universidad" and "flor" are all SINGULAR. This means, there is only one (1) each.

If there is more than 1 of these nouns, that is,if the word is plural, just attach -es to the end of the singular form as shown below:

corazón + es = corazones                    hearts
color + es = colores                             colors
universidad + es = universidades        universities
flor + es = flores                                 flowers

So, by adding an -es you can form the plural of Spanish nouns that end in consonants.

Hay nueve corazones. (There are nine hearts)

El arco iris tiene siete colores. (The rainbow has seven colors)

Estas son flores amarillas. (These are yellow flowers)

E X E R C I S E
     In the blank provided, write down the plural form of the words given. DO NOT forget the plural rule for Spanish words ending in consonants!

1.  virtud        ___________
2.  actor         ___________
3.  televisión ___________
4.  pintor       ___________
5.  reloj         ___________
6.  rey           ___________
7.  edad         ___________
8.  autobús    ___________
9.  móvil       ___________
10.  papel     ___________

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Stay tuned for the next lesson wherein we'll discuss two more rules regarding the formation of plural of Spanish nouns!

Questions? Don't hesitate to ask them, and for your comments, you can post them below! I'd appreciate it.

Chau! Nos vemos pronto!

FORMATION OF PLURAL OF SPANISH NOUNS: Addition of "s"

Hi, welcome to today's mini-lesson! I'm glad that you've come here to learn some Spanish :) So, get ready and let the lesson begin...

If you are an English speaker, probably you already know that some words are changed to their plural form by adding the letter "s" at the end of the word.  Well, you're in luck! Spanish words work the same way, too!

To start with, let's have examples of English words that form their plural by adding -s.
     SINGULAR                            PLURAL
* key                                        * keys
* car                                         * cars
* castle                                     * castles
* house                                    * houses
* book                                     * books

The translation to Spanish of the words above are:
    SINGULAR                           PLURAL
llave                                          llaves
coche                                        coches
castillo                                      castillos
casa                                           casas
libro                                          libros

Observe how the Spanish plural simply attaches an -s to the end of the singular form (see the blue highlights).

For example:   llave + s = llaves
                        coche + s = coches
                        castillo + s = castillos
                        casa + s = casas
                        libro + s = libros

NOTE:  The rule of addition of "s" only works with Spanish words that end in vowels (a, e, i, o and u).

So, the addition of -s  is one of the several ways that we can use to "pluralize" (make plural) Spanish nouns. There are exceptions, but it's good that you know this rule right now!

Esta es una llave azul. (This is a blue key.)

                                                       

Estas son llaves. (These are keys.)

Estas son casas.  (These are houses.)

Estos son coches rojos. (These are red cars.)

Estos son libros de muchos colores. (These are colorful books.)

I hope you liked the lesson for today! Shortly, I'll post the next mini-lesson about plurals, so stay tuned!

For your doubts or comments, don't hesitate to share them to other learners like you!  :)

¡Buena suerte!

Welcome to my language blog in SPANISH!!!

¡Hola! Soy instructor de español como lengua extranjera en una escuela de mi ciudad, enseño español básico nivel A1 según el Marco Común Europeo de Referencia (CEFR, en inglés), y he creado este blog para compartir mis experiencias, historias, reflexiones y a lo mejor hasta mis conocimientos sobre la lingüistica y los idiomas extranjeros, sobre todo el español. Soy aficionado de los idiomas por lo que he adquirido a lo largo de los años varios idiomas aparte del español, aunque no los hable con perfecta soltura. Uno de ellos es el portugués que puedo hablar muy bien y el otro es el francés que hablo muy poco. Empecé a aprender los dos hace unos años aunque los he dejado al lado para centrarme ahora en español, puesto que éste tiene que ver con mi trabajo como profesor.

Actualmente intento aprender el alemán (se llama Deutsch en alemán), a pesar de mi horario cargado en la oficina. Admito que es una lengua difícil y complicada, sin embargo es una que suena a música celestial. No tengo idea de cuanto rápido podría aprender el alemán ya que he superado ya lo que consideran el auge de la adquisición de idioma. No obstante estoy optimista de que sea posible junto con mi fuerte interés y firme motivación. Tengo confianza de poder conocer a hablantes nativos de alemán que me enseñen ese idioma. Si lo eres, ¡no dudes en entrar en contacto conmigo! :)

Volviendo a los idiomas romances... creo que ya he sabido tres quintos de ellos (el español, portugués, y francés). Aunque también pienso comenzar el italiano, otro bonito idioma. No estoy, sin embargo, tan optimista en cuanto al rumeno porque creo que es el idioma romance menos parecido al español (dado sus muchas influencias eslavas). Pero ¿quién sabe? Ya que me interesa adquirir un idioma eslavo (lo menos uno de los varios hablados en la Europa Oriental), quizá el rumeno me será el más fácil para tener acceso a las lenguas verdaderamente eslavas tal y como el polaco, el búlgaro, el checo, el ruso y así sucesivamente.

Me tengo por un poliglota capaz de hablar cinco idiomas, a saber: el inglés, tagalo (o a veces conocido como filipino), chavacano (un criollo de español, también mi lengua materna), el español y portugués.

Me gustaría seguir mi aventura hacia ser poliglota, hablando al menos 10 lenguas a la vez :) A los poliglotas, ¡espero que me ayudéis! Estamos todos en eso, jajajaja!

Si tienes dudas, ¡siéntete libre en hacérmelas! Me encantan las preguntas, pero no me hagas preguntas imposibles! Jajajajaja :D 

Nos vemos! Até logo! Tschüss! Au revoir! Ciao! See you!

Welcome to my language blog

Hello, there! I am an instructor of Spanish as a Foreign Language, teaching basic Spanish to equivalent to A1 of the CEFR (acronym for Common European Framework of Reference) in a school in my city, and I created this blog to share my experiences, stories, musings and perhaps also knowledge about linguistics and foreign languages, especially Spanish. I am a language enthusiast. So through the years I've gained several foreign languages aside from Spanish, albeit not perfectly fluent in them. One of them is Portuguese, which I can speak very well, and the other is French, which I can speak very little. Both of them I started learning some years back, although I have discontinued them, because I am now more focused in Spanish, since it's in line with my work as a teacher.

Currently I am trying my hand on learning Deutsch (German, that is), despite my busy schedule at work. I admit it's a difficult and complicated language, yet a very beautiful-sounding one. Having past what is considered the heyday of language acquisition, I'm not sure how quickly I could grasp the German language, but I am positive that, through my strong interest and constant motivation, it is possible. Hopefully I can find German native speakers who will teach it to me. If you are, don't hesitate to contact me! :)

Going back to the Romance languages... I guess I've known three fifths of them (Spanish, Portuguese and French) already. Although I am also looking forward to start Italian, another beautiful language. However, I am not quite optimistic about Romanian because, in my opinion, it's the least close Romance language to Spanish (given its many Slavic influences). But who knows? Since I'm also interested in acquiring a Slavic language (at least one of the several existing in Eastern Europe), perhaps Romanian would be the easiest for me to gain access to the true Slavic languages such as Polish, Bulgarian, Czech, Russian etc.

I consider myself a polyglot able to speak five languages, to wit: English, Tagalog (sometimes called Filipino), Chavacano (a Spanish creole and my native tongue), Spanish and Portuguese.

I'd like to continue my polyglot journey to be able to speak at least 10 languages at the same time :) Polyglots out there, I hope you help me out! Haha... We're all in this together, hahahaha!

If you have questions, feel free to ask! I love questions. But don't ask questions that I can't answer! Hahahaha :D

See you! Nos vemos! Até logo! Tschüss! Au revoir! Ciao!