Number El pluralLevel 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 no
Trang 1Number (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)
i In the plural, the definite article has the following forms, agreeing with the nouns
they accompany:
los hombres/chicos/libros las mujeres/chicas/mesas
ii The plurals of all Spanish nouns end in s Nouns ending in an unstressed vowel or
diphthong merely add an s:
el mexicano / los mexicanos Mexican/Mexicans
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
el matiz / los matices shade of meaning / nuance / shades of
meaning / nuances
Trang 2la 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 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 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:
Mart´ınez (name) / los Mart´ınez Martinez / (the) Martinez
vii Final diphthongs ending in y require es for their plural:
el convoy / los convoyes convoy/convoys
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 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.
Trang 3ii 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
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:
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´a en el sal´on Los vasos est´an en los salones
El ni ˜no est´a en la casa El jard´ın est´a detr´as (behind) del edificio
El ´arbol est´a en el parque La hoz est´a en la monta ˜na
El gato est´a cerca de (near) la puerta La naci´on est´a contenta
El l´apiz est´a en la mesa La ni ˜na est´a feliz
La flor est´a en el florero La tribu est´a en la selva
iii Put in the singular See note on the verb estar immediately above.
Example
Los alumnos est´an en los jardines – El alumno est´a en el jard´ın
Hay ´arboles en los jardines
Trang 4Los 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
P R E G U N TA : ¿Cu´al es el plural de ingl´es (What is the plural of ingl´es)?
R E S P U E S TA : 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)
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 It should
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 ciudades dormitorio dormitory towns
Trang 5las carreras reina main races
Note: Clave is certainly one of the nouns often used in the plural.
There is often a plural noun in Spanish corresponding to an English singular noun:
las agujetas stiffness (in limbs) (but shoelaces in M!)
las andas portable platform (for religious processions)
con creces with interest (financially), abundantly
¡Felices Pascuas/Navidades! Merry Christmas!
los transportes (p´ublicos) public transportation
Trang 6*It has to be added that this list is only a rough guide, since many of these
nouns (*) may be used in the singular, but in a different way However, the following three nouns are also used in the singular with no real change of meaning:
aplauso, funeral, remordimiento:
El aplauso dur´o varios minutos The applause lasted for minutes
Al funeral asisti´o mucha gente Many people attended the funeral
No siente el menor remordimiento She feels not the slightest remorse
El aire means “the air” as in Necesitamos aire para respirar (We need air to breathe) or Hay mucho aire hoy (It’s breezy today) while the plural would be used in saltar por los aires (to explode into the air)
Las bodas is used in las bodas de plata/oro (silver/golden wedding) but in the singular it
means specifically “wedding” as in Ayer asist´ı a una boda (Yesterday I attended a
wedding)
El celo means zeal (el celo religioso) and heat (of animals = en ´epoca de celo)
Cosquillas is used in the expressions hacer/tener cosquillas (to tickle / to be ticklish) and
is rarely used in a singular form
Dato may be used in the singular as: a piece of data= datum
Deber means duty
Las lluvias is frequently used in las lluvias abundantes/torrenciales (heavy/torrential rain)
but No me gusta la lluvia (I don’t like rain)
Las nieves has a poetic touch, as in Escasean las nieves este a˜no (There has not been much
snow this year) But Me gusta jugar en la nieve (I like playing in the snow)
Many more examples could be cited but we are now moving into the area of usage, which is not the intention of the book
This is the reverse of2.2:
The words asterisked also have a plural form In fact, alicates, bragas, escaleras, mallas and
pinzas are used more than their singular counterparts Los pantalones is used as frequently
as its singular equivalent The same is true of las tropas.
As with estad´ıstica and t´actica, la f´ısica and la pol´ıtica seem to suggest a plural but are singular.
Trang 72.4 Agreement in number and verb
Difficulties can occur, even for Spanish speakers, when a collective noun is followed by
de+ plural noun, just as in English we may hesitate over: “The government states/state that ” or “The police has/have released a statement.” In the following cases, logic requires a plural, but purists would argue for the singular:
Un n´umero de profesores se re´une esta tarde (A number of teachers meets this afternoon) but
se re´unen is acceptable
Un grupo de chicos jugaba en el patio (A group of boys were playing in the yard) but jugaban is acceptable
La mayor parte / La mayor´ıa de los carros fue estropeada (Most of the cars were damaged)
but fueron estropeados is acceptable
El noventa por ciento de los estudiantes saca una buena nota (90% of the students get a good
mark) Sacan is acceptable
Similarly: la mitad / un tercio de las chicas (half / a third of the girls ), una docena /
un centenar de coches (a dozen/hundred-odd cars ), Buena parte de los edificios
(A good part of the buildings ), medio mill´on de j´ovenes (half a million young
people )
Los Estados Unidos is usually followed by a plural verb while Estados Unidos (i.e no definite
article) is followed by a singular verb:
Los Estados Unidos proponen un pacto The United States propose a pact
Estados Unidos sugiere una mesa redonda The United States suggests a round table
Ser agrees in number with the following noun:
El problema son los estudiantes The problem is the students
La manifestaci´on eran unos gamberros que romp´ıan
cristales
The demonstration was hooligans breaking windows
Exercises Level 2
i Pon en singular donde sea necesario
Ejemplo (las primeras palabras del ejercicio) Los gobiernos pasan > El
gobierno pasa por una crisis econ´omica, sobre todo el lunes
Los gobiernos pasan por crisis econ´omicas, sobre todo los lunes Yo creo que las crisis tienen sus or´ıgenes en los virus de las computadoras Es casi cierto que los d´eficits de los gobiernos superan los diez billones de d´olares y que rompen todos los r´ecords Los d´eficits no tienen nada que ver con los reg´ımenes pol´ıticos Esperan que los super´avits vuelvan en los pr´oximos meses Los elementos claves de esta situaci´on residen en las fechas l´ımite en que los gobiernos, los lores y sobre todo los g´angsters, tendr´an que devolver todos los billones prestados o robados La alternativa es ingresar a todos los granujas que son culpables en c´arceles modelo
RB/JPL
ii Pon en plural donde sea necesario
Ejemplo (las primeras palabras del ejercicio) El joven, con un amigo israel´ı
> Los j´ovenes, con amigos israel´ıes
Trang 8El joven, con un amigo israel´ı y una amiga hind´u, entr´o en el almac´en con papel moneda Quer´ıa comprar una luz piloto pero no estaba en la zona euro y no hablaba espa ˜nol S´olo sab´ıa una palabra clave, nada m´as, porque su lengua madre era el ´arabe El due ˜no le ofreci´o una luz piloto de gran calidad Sali´o del almac´en y, con su amigo israel´ı y su amiga hind´u, entr´o en una bocacalle oscura Se encontr´o en un caf´e donde tom´o un t´e ´arabe de menta, y regres´o a la estaci´on para ver a su amigo yemen´ı
iii Rellena los blancos / Llena los espacios (M) en las siguientes frases con palabras en plural
Ejemplo Avanz´o ( ) en las tinieblas> Avanz´o a ciegas en las tinieblas
a Tengo ( ) por haber hecho demasiado ejercicio
b El coche bomba salt´o por los ( )
c Una salva de ( ) acompa ˜naba al l´ıder de la carrera
d Los obreros rellenaron el hoyo con los ( ) de la obra
e Dame tus ( ) personales para rellenar la ficha
f El estudiante hace muchos ( ) en la universidad
g Me dan miedo las ( ) cuando llega la noche
h Falta poco para que festejemos las ( ) de plata
i Pon los ( ) en la mesa, por favor
j Ganaron el Premio Nobel con sus ( ) sobre el c´ancer
iv Actividad en parejas
Objetivo – estudiar el plural de nombres compuestos
M ´etodo – dos personas eligen diez nombres compuestos (ver 2.1) A le hace a B preguntas
(y viceversa) sobre la formaci´on del plural de nombres compuestos Aqu´ı, se trata de un partido
Ejemplo
P R E G U N TA : ¿Cu´al es el plural de idea clave?
R E S P U E S TA : El plural de idea clave es ideas clave(s)
(Hay dos posibilidades) L´ogicamente, la persona que consiga m´as respuestas gana el partido
Trang 9Verbs (Los verbos)
Level 1
1.1 Present indicative of the three model verbs (Indicativo del presente de los tres
verbos modelos)
All Spanish verbs in the infinitive end in -ar, -er or -ir They are divided into three
classes or conjugations according to these endings:
1st conjugation comprar to buy
2nd conjugation vender to sell
3rd conjugation vivir to live
The vowels a, e and i are characteristic of these three conjugations The first
conjuga-tion includes approximately 90 percent of all the verbs in the language, so we have no justification in complaining here There are about 300 verbs which deviate from these patterns, but this figure includes some uncommon verbs little used except in quizzes, for instance
If we cut off the endings ar, er, ir from the infinitive, we have the stem of the verb
to which endings of various moods and tenses are to be added This excludes the future and conditional Spanish verbs therefore reflect the pattern of Romance languages like French, Italian and Portuguese Here, then, is the conjugation of the three model verbs
in the present indicative:
1st person yo compro vendo vivo
2nd person t´u compras vendes vives
Sing 3rd person ´el
ella Ud.
1st person nosotros/as compramos vendemos vivimos
2nd person vosotros/as compr ´ais vend´eis viv´ıs
Plur 3rd person ellos
ellas Uds.
(See Unit17.1.1 for the use of the vosotros / as forms.)
The present indicative corresponds to three English forms:
yo compro / t´u compras, etc. I buy / do buy / am buying / you buy, etc
yo vendo / t´u vendes, etc. I sell / do sell / am selling / you sell, etc
yo vivo / t´u vives, etc. I live / do live / am living / you live, etc
Trang 10Since the endings of Spanish verbs, like those of Italian verbs and, to a lesser extent,
French verbs, have a distinctive sound characteristic, the subject pronouns yo, t ´u, ´el,
etc are much less used than in English They are only used to avoid ambiguity or
to stress the reference to a particular person If you wanted to say “I am buying a
house,” you would probably say in Spanish “Compro una casa.” However, if you
wanted to highlight the fact that you are buying the house and not someone else, your
brother, a friend, etc., you would probably say “Yo compro la casa (y no ´el).” Furthermore, if reference has already been made to, say, ´el, ella or Ud and their corresponding plurals,
although the verb ending is the same, it is likely that the subject pronoun would not be repeated
Exercises Level 1
i Put in the correct form of the present indicative of the verb shown in parentheses so that it fits the subject pronoun You need not put in the pronoun in your sentence:
Example
(Yo / estudiar) el italiano > Estudio el italiano
(Yo/comprar) un carro, (T´u/buscar) una flor, ( ´El/Ella/Ud./necesitar) dinero,
(Ella/tocar) el piano, (Nosotros/as/platicar [M]) con un amigo, (Vosotros/as/hablar) espa ˜nol, (Ellos/Ellas/Uds./rentar (M) / alquilar) una casa
ii Put the infinitive into the correct form so that it corresponds to all the subject pronouns indicated:
yo/t´u/´el/ella/Ud./nosotros/as/vosotros/as/ellos/ellas/Uds estudiar el portugu´es
beber vino comer pan viajar mucho correr los cien metros aprender la nataci´on limpiar la cocina escribir una carta abrir la puerta
iii The following phrases are not in the right order and need to be placed in a logical sequence, which then produces a small narrative in the present tense Also, put the infinitives in their corresponding forms There is not just one fixed order of
sentences So, feel free to use your imagination.
Colocar un sello / timbre (M) en el sobre
Meter la carta en el buz´on
Platicar (M) / hablar con el cartero
Mandar la carta a Estados Unidos
Los amigos recibir la carta al d´ıa siguiente
Caminar (M) / andar hasta Correos
No manejar un carro (M) / conducir un coche
(Yo) entrar en la cocina y abrir la ventana
Regresar a casa
Escribir una carta en la mesa
Los amigos vivir en Estados Unidos