Rosetta Stone
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umbrellas and other strange nouns
Paraguas - umbrella
Paraguas is a special kind of noun in spanish, called a compound noun, which is made by forming two words into one (I'm not sure which two words are involved for paraguas). What is special about this is that when you have compound nouns like this, the singular and plural are the exact same word, only the article changes.
el paraguas - an umbrella
los paraguas - the umbrellas
Another compound noun is 'abrelatas' - abre + latas = open + cans
el abrelatas - a can opener
los abrelatas - the can openers
The general rules for singular and plural nouns are:
1. If a noun ends in a vowel (a,e,i.o,u), simply add an -s at the end to make it plural.
ex. el gato + s = los gatos
el perro + s = los perros
2. With a few exceptions, if a noun ends in a consonant, add -es.
ex. la universidad + es = las universidades (universities)
la ciudad + es = las ciudades (cities)
3. If a noun ends in -c, change the -c to -z and then add the -es.
ex. el lapiz becomes lapic + es = los lapices (pencils)
la voz becomes voc + es = las voces (voices)
4. If a noun ends in -ión, drop the accent before adding -es.
ex. el avión becomes avion + es = los aviones
la televisión becomes television + es = las televisiones (televisions)
5. A plural masculine noun is also masculine. A plural feminine noun is always feminine. But if a plural noun refers to a mixed group that includes both masculine and feminine, the plural is always masucline.
ex. 1 gato (male cate) + 1 gata (female cat) = dos gatos
