You have been working through a lot of material that includes sorting grammatically correct and incorrect sentences.
Directions: Take a look at the sentences below. Observe the situations when a specific definite article is used and what changes are made to the other parts of speech in the sentence. Make your best guess to create a rule in your own words for using el, la, los, and las.
Example sentences:
El alumno nuevo es tímido. The new (male) student is shy.
La alumna nueva es tímida. The new (female) student is shy.
Los alumnos nuevos son tímidos. The new (male) students are shy.*
Las alumnas nuevas son tímidas. The new (female) students are shy.
*This sentence can also refer to a mixed group of female and male students.*
Hint:
Look at the parts of speech (noun, adjective, verb, definite article).
Note the differences among each of the sentences.
Note the subject of the sentence. Describe it.
Use the special phrase: agrees with
Extra Help:
El, La, Los, Las= definite articles
es, son= verbs
alumno, alumna, alumnos, alumnas= nouns
nuevo, nueva, nuevos, nuevas= adjectives
tímido, tímida, tímidos, tímidas= adjectives
Based on the given sentences, it appears that the definite articles "el" and "los" are used before masculine singular and masculine plural nouns respectively, while the definite articles "la" and "las" are used before feminine singular and feminine plural nouns respectively.
Additionally, it can be observed that the adjectives "nuevo" and "tímido" agree with the noun they describe in terms of gender and number. For example, when the noun is masculine singular, the adjective is also masculine singular ("tímido"). Similarly, when the noun is feminine singular, the adjective is also feminine singular ("tímida"). The same pattern is followed for plural nouns and adjectives.
Based on this, a possible rule for using "el", "la", "los", and "las" could be:
- Use "el" before a singular masculine noun.
- Use "la" before a singular feminine noun.
- Use "los" before a plural masculine noun.
- Use "las" before a plural feminine noun.
Additionally, the adjectives that describe the noun should agree with it in terms of gender and number.