Spanish Color Agreement

Colors in Spanish -
Agreement

In Spanish...

Colors are adjectives and need to agree with the noun they are describing.

• Which means:

  • If a color ends with an "o" it should be describing a masculine noun.

  • If a color ends with an "a" it should be describing a feminine noun.

Multiple Choice

If a word ends with an "o" in Spanish, it is NORMALLY...

• masculine

• feminine

Multiple Choice

If a word ends with an "a" in Spanish, it is NORMALLY...

• masculine

• feminine

Fool Proof Method:

Instead of relying on the ending of a word to tell its gender, look at the article in front of it.

• Masculine:

  • El -the

  • Un - a / an
    

• Feminine:

  • La -the

  • Una - a / an
    

Multiple Choice

If a word has "el" in front of it, the noun is...

• masculine

• feminine

Multiple Choice

If a word has "la" in front of it, the noun is...

• masculine

• feminine

Multiple Choice

If a word has "una" in front of it, the noun is...

• masculine

• feminine

Multiple Choice

If a word has "un" in front of it, the noun is...

• masculine

• feminine

Drag and Drop

The words "a/an" in English are ________ in Spanish. ​

Placeholder

Drag these tiles and drop them in the correct blank above

un / una

el / la

Drag and Drop

The word "the" in English is ________ in Spanish. ​ ​

Placeholder

Drag these tiles and drop them in the correct blank above

el / la

un / una

Awesome job!

Now, let's look at our animal vocabulary to determine if the noun is masculine or feminine.

In Spanish, even though the word for a cow "vaca" is FEMININE, the word "vaca" can refer to both MALE and FEMALE cows.

Multiple Choice

La cabra

the goat

• masculine

• feminine

Multiple Choice

el gato

the cat

• masculine

• feminine

Multiple Choice

un perro

the dog

• masculine

• feminine

Multiple Choice

la lagartija

the lizard

• masculine

• feminine

Multiple Choice

un elefante

an elephant

• masculine

• feminine

Multiple Choice

un ratón

a mouse

• masculine

• feminine

Great work!

It's time to make the colors we know agree to the noun they're describing.

• If a color in its base form ENDS WITH AN "O" turn it to an "A" to make it feminine.

• Un perro negro - a black dog

• Una vaca negra - a black cow

Multiple Choice

un conejo blanco

a white rabbit

• blanco

• blanca

Multiple Choice

una oveja rojo

a red sheep

• rojo

• roja

Multiple Choice

un gato anaranjado

an orange cat

• anaranjado

• anaranjada

Nice job!

This is where it gets a bit confusing...

• If a color in its base form DOES NOT END WITH AN "O" you DON'T need to change it to make it feminine.

• Un perro gris - a grey dog

• Una vaca gris - a grey cow

• This is the case for the colors: gris, violeta, verde, azul, and marrón.

Multiple Choice

una cabra verde

a green goat

• verde

• verda

Multiple Choice

una ballenas azul

a blue whale

• azula

• azul

You got it!

To make it plural...

• If you have more than one animal with a color to it, you also need to make the color agree with a plural.

• The same rules apply to what we learned already:

  • If it ends with a vowel, add an "s."

  • If it ends with a consonent, add "es."

Multiple Choice

una ballena azul

a blue whale

• azula

• azul

Multiple Choice

los gatos blanco

the white cats

• blancos

• blanco

You got the hang of it!

This is hard for English speakers, since there's no English equivalent of this!

The LAST difference:

Colors go AFTER the noun in Spanish.
la vaca blanca - the cow white
el gato morado - the cat purple