In Spanish, nouns are grouped into two categories, "O" and "A". The words we use for "the" or "a" ("an") will depend on which category the noun belongs to. Words like "the", etc. must MATCH the noun that they are used with.

el libro
la casa

el muchacho
la muchacha

Nouns that refer to males (animals or people) are "O" category. Nouns that refer to females are "A" category.

The words for "a" are:

span class="highlight">>un
una

The words for "the" are:

el
la
los
las

Verbs are in two categories in Spanish also. They can be analyzed by dividing them into three parts. The first is the meaning. Some books call this the "stem" or "root" of the verb. The second part is the "A" or "E" which indicates the category. The third part is the ending which must MATCH the subject (who does the action). You should notice that there are two places in the pattern where the "slots" are blank. We drop the "A" or "E" from the center slot when it comes in front of the "O" in the form "I do something". Also, in the third form which means, "he" or "she" does something, the end slot which matches the subject is blank. Nothing comes after the "A" or "E" of the middle slot which indicates the category. Keep in mind that all verbs belong to either the "A" or the "E" category. When we learn a new verb you must memorize which category it belongs to since that will estáblish the pattern that the verb will follow in other forms that we will study in the future.

yo habl – o

tú habl a s

él, ella, usted habl a –

nosotros habl a mos

ellos, ellas, ustedes habl a n

yo le – o

tú le e s

él, ella, usted le e –

nosotros le e mos

ellos, ellas, ustedes le e n

There is one other possibility for the third "slot" of the verb. If we put the letter "R" in it, we have the equivalent of putting the word "to" in front of the verb in English.

to speak habl a r

Notice that we don't use a separate word for "am", "is", or "are" when we say, "I am speaking". We just say, "I speak". We don't have a separate word for "is" when we say "He is reading". We just say, "He reads". There is a word which we use for "is" when we tell where something is located. If we tell where something "is", we say, "está".

Words to learn:

dice - says
que - that
necesitar - to need
hablar - to speak
estudiar - to study
el libro - the book
la página - the page
el capítulo - the chapter
el lapicero - the ballpoint pen
una hoja de papel - a sheet (leaf) of paper
el alumno - the student (male)
la alumna - the student (female)
el muchacho - the boy
la muchacha - the girl
el profesor - the teacher (male)
la profesora - the teacher (female)
creer - to believe
está - is (where)
la biblioteca - the library
el periódico - the newspaper
buscar - to seek (hunt something)
el artículo - the article
en - in
para - for
porque - because
trabajar - to work
el abogado - the lawyer
hoy - today
mañana - tomorrow
La clase de historia - The history class