A Student Grammar of Spanish - Number

Unit 3 (Unidad 3)
Number (El plural)
Level 1
1.1 Plural of nouns (El plural de los sustantivos/nombres)
1.2 Anglicisms (Anglicismos)
1.3 More on the formation of plurals (M
´
as detalles sobre la formaci
´
on de nombres
en plural)
1.1 Plural of nouns
i In the plural, the definite article has the following forms, agreeing with the nouns
they accompany:
Masculine Feminine
los the las the
los hombres/chicos/libros las mujeres/chicas/mesas
men/boys/books women/girls/tables
ii The plurals of all Spanish nouns end in s. Nouns ending in an unstressed vowel or
diphthong merely add an s:
la casa / las casas house/houses
el mexicano / los mexicanos Mexican/Mexicans
la tribu / las tribus tribe/tribes
el agua / las aguas water/waters
Monosyllables are treated in the same way:
el pie / los pies (foot/feet), la fe / las fes (faith/faiths)
iii Nouns ending in a consonant insert e as a connecting vowel:
el jard´ın / los jardines (yard/yards / garden/gardens), el m´artir / los m´artires, el autor / los
autores, el canal / los canales
iv Final z is changed to ces:
el c´aliz / los c´alices chalice/chalices

la cruz / las cruces cross/crosses
el juez / los jueces judge/judges
el matiz / los matices shade of meaning / nuance / shades of
meaning / nuances
la ra´ız / las ra´ıces root/roots
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3 Number
la voz / las voces voice/voices
el desliz / los deslices error/slip-up / errors/slip-ups
v The nouns ending in a stressed vowel also add es:
el bamb´u/los bamb´ues bamboo/bamboos
el esqu´ı/los esqu´ıes ski/skis
el rub´ı/los rub´ıes ruby/rubies
el tab´u/los tab´ues taboo/taboos
el marroqu´ı/los marroqu´ıes (frequently in
speech = los marroqu´ıs)
Moroccan/Moroccans
el magreb´ı/los magreb´ıes person(s) from the Maghreb (North Africa)
el yemen´ı/los yemen´ıes Yemeni/Yemenis
*el hind´u/los hind´ues Hindu/Hindus
el israel´ı/los israel´ıes Israeli/Israelis
* Also, although incorrectly but very common = Indian (from India).
However:
mi pap´a = my pop/dad mis pap´as (M) = my mom and dad/parents
vi Unstressed endings in is, es and us in words of more than one syllable, pure Latin
terms, and family names ending in z not stressed on the last syllable do not change:
el/los an´alisis analysis/analyses
la/las crisis crisis/crises
el/los lunes Monday, Mondays
el/los d´eficit deficit/deficits

el/los ultim´atum ultimatum/ultimatums
el/los super´avit surplus
Mart´ınez (name) / los Mart´ınez Martinez / (the) Martinez
el virus / los virus virus/viruses
vii Final diphthongs ending in y require es for their plural:
el rey / los reyes king/kings
el convoy / los convoyes convoy/convoys
1.2 Anglicisms
i Some Anglicisms have the English plural form though usage is uncertain here:
el g´angster / los g´angsters gangster/gangsters
el r´ecord / los r´ecords record/records
el club / los club(e)s club/clubs
el l´ıder / los l´ıders / los l´ıderes the leader/leaders
el m´ıster / los m´ısters soccer coach (Who would guess m´ıster?)/
soccer coaches
Understandably, from the point of view of pronunciation, the plural of el lord is los lores.
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ASTUDENT GRAMMAR OF SPANISH
ii Some nouns have stress on different syllables in singular and plural:
el car´acter / los caracteres character/characters
el r´egimen / los reg´ımenes r´egime/r´egimes
el esp´ecimen / los espec´ımenes specimen/specimens
1.3 More on the formation of plurals
i In the formation of plurals, the place of the stress and the sound of the final
consonant of the singular remain the same, and the spelling reflects this:
el almac´en / los almacenes warehouse/warehouses
el ca˜n´on / los ca˜nones canyon/canyons
la imagen / las im´agenes image/images
el jard´ın / los jardines yard/yards /garden/gardens
el/la joven / los/las j´ovenes youth/youths

el l´apiz / los l´apices pencil/pencils
el margen / los m´argenes margin/margins
el origen / los or´ıgenes origin/origins
la virgen / las v´ırgenes virgin/virgins
ii Some plurals in Spanish do not have a concise equivalent in English:
los t´ıos the uncle and aunt
los padres the father and mother / parents
los pap´as (M) the father and mother / parents
Exercises
Level 1
i Put the following nouns in the plural with the definite and indefinite article:
Example
muchacho > los/unos muchachos, muchacha > las/unas muchachas
padre, madre, libro, estudiante, pared, ´arbol, ingl´es, franc´es, martes, primavera, oto ˜no,
pie, tribu, matiz, voz, atlas, caries, rat´on, c´arcel, buey, jersey, alem´an, reloj
ii Fill in the nouns in their plural form. Note that est ´a means “is” and est ´an means
“are.” These two forms are from the verb estar = to be
Example
El vaso est´aenelsal´on Los vasos est´an en los salones
El ni ˜no est´aenlacasa El jard´ın est´a detr´as (behind) del edificio
El ´arbol est´aenelparque La hoz est´aenlamonta˜na
El gato est´a cerca de (near) la puerta La naci´on est´a contenta
El l´apiz est´aenlamesa La ni ˜na est´a feliz
La flor est´aenelflorero La tribu est´aenlaselva
iii Put in the singular. See note on the verb estar immediately above.
Example
Los alumnos est´an en los jardines – El alumno est´aeneljard´ın
Hay ´arboles en los jardines
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3 Number

Los estudiantes est´an en las aulas
Los cuadros est´an cerca de las ventanas
Los ingleses est´an en los hoteles
Los alemanes est´an en los salones
Los reyes est´an en los palacios
Los convoyes est´an en las carreteras
Las bicicletas est´an en las banquetas (M = sidewalks/pavements)
iv Paired activity
Objective – learn the plural of nouns
Method –Two people collect ten nouns each from the various lists above. Each person
asks the other what the plural of a given noun is.
Example
PREGUNTA: ¿Cu´al es el plural de ingl´es (What is the plural of ingl´es)?
RESPUESTA: El plural de ingl´es es ingleses
When all twenty nouns have been dealt with, the teacher/instructor will call the class
together to discuss findings.
Level 2
2.1 Compound nouns (Nombres compuestos)
2.2 Spanish plural = English singular (Plural espa ˜nol = singular ingl ´es)
2.3 Spanish singular = English plural (Singular espa ˜nol = plural ingl ´es)
2.4 Agreement in number and verb (Concordancia entre plural y verbo)
2.5 Noun + ser + noun (Nombre + ser + nombre)
2.1 Compound nouns
Usually, the first noun is put in the plural but the second noun may also take a plural s,
although this is less frequent, and would even sound strange if, for example, the last word
of the following expression had an s: un veh´ıculo todo terreno, veh´ıculos todo terreno.Itshould
be added that, since compound nouns and their pluralization are a comparatively recent
linguistic phenomenon, hard and fast rules are still difficult to come by, and Spanish
speakers hesitate themselves, so we are in good company. The following is just a small
selection of the ever-increasing number of compound nouns as they are used in the plural:

las bocacalles street entrances
las ciudades dormitorio dormitory towns
las ciudades modelo model cities
las fechas tope final/closing dates
las ideas clave key ideas
los coches bomba car bombs
los coches patrulla patrol cars
los factores sorpresa surprise factors
los sectores clave key sectors
los l´ımites tope final/closing dates
las c´elulas madre mother cells
los retratos robot photofits
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ASTUDENT GRAMMAR OF SPANISH
las carreras reina main races
las horas punta commute/rush hours
las horas pico (M) commute/rush hours
Note: Clave is certainly one of the nouns often used in the plural.
los elementos claves key elements
las ideas claves key ideas
las actividades claves key activities
2.2 Spanish plural = English singular
There is often a plural noun in Spanish corresponding to an English singular noun:
las agujetas stiffness (in limbs) (but shoelaces in M!)
*por los aires through the air
las andas portable platform (for religious processions)
*los aplausos applause
*las barbas beard
*las bodas wedding
los cascotes/escombros rubble

*los celos jealousy
*los conocimientos knowledge
*(los) Correos Post Office
las cosquillas tickling
con creces with interest (financially), abundantly
los cubiertos cutlery
los datos information/data
los deberes homework
¡Buenos D´ıas! Good morning!
los efectivos personnel
las enaguas petticoat
a mis expensas at my expense
*las fuerzas strength
*los funerales funeral
*los honorarios fees (professional)
las investigaciones research
las lluvias rain(s)
las municiones ammunition
¡Felices Pascuas/Navidades! Merry Christmas!
*las nieves snow
los pertrechos gear
hacer progresos to make progress
*los remordimientos remorse
las tinieblas darkness
los transportes (p´ublicos) public transportation
en v´ısperas de on the eve of
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