Reference · module 2
Numbers and things
Everything this module explains, on one page.
Uno to veinte
Count, and say how old you are.
- uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho, nueve, diez. The first ten are their own words and are learned as they are.
- From sixteen the pattern shows: dieciséis is diez y seis glued together, and so are diecisiete, dieciocho, diecinueve.
- Age uses tener, to have: Tengo veinte años. Spanish says I have twenty years, and soy veinte años is not Spanish at all.
The mistake you are about to make
Soy veinte años.
Tengo veinte años.
"I am twenty" pushes soy to the front. Spanish has its years: tengo veinte años, and soy veinte años is not Spanish.
El and la
Put the right article in front of a noun.
- Every Spanish noun is masculine or feminine, and the article shows which: el libro, la casa. There is no neuter and no way to avoid choosing.
- The rule works most of the time: -o is masculine, -a is feminine. That covers the great majority of the vocabulary you will meet first.
- The exceptions are worth naming now: el día, el problema, la mano, la foto. Four words that break the rule and come up constantly.
The mistake you are about to make
la día
el día
The -a looks like a sure sign of feminine, so la comes out. Día is one of the everyday exceptions: el día.
Los and las
Make a noun plural, with everything that agrees with it.
- A noun ending in a vowel adds -s: libro becomes libros, casa becomes casas. One ending in a consonant adds -es: ciudad becomes ciudades.
- The article changes with it: el becomes los, la becomes las. Nothing in a Spanish phrase is allowed to disagree with anything else.
- And the adjective too: los libros rojos, las casas blancas. Three words and three endings, all saying the same thing.
The mistake you are about to make
los libros rojo
los libros rojos
English adjectives never take an -s, so rojo stays bare. Spanish adjectives agree in number as well: libros rojos.
Hay
Say what exists in a place.
- hay means there is and there are, and it is one word for both: Hay un libro. Hay tres libros. It never changes shape.
- It takes un, una or a number, or nothing at all: Hay pan. What it cannot take is el or la — that is the one restriction.
- So hay introduces something new, and está says where a known thing is: Hay un banco aquí. El banco está allí.
The mistake you are about to make
Hay el banco aquí.
Hay un banco aquí.
Hay introduces something new, so it never takes el. It takes un, a number, or nothing at all.