Hello! I am taking Spanish 2 as part of finishing up my foreign language recommendation. I took Spanish 1 back when I was in junior high, yet, after my school asked me to. One thing I never learned, or don't remember learning, is how to tell whether a word should be male or female? You know, like: Mi contestó el teléfono. (I answered the telephone.) ¿Quién está sentado en la silla? (Who is sitting in the chair?) If I was saying something about "a telephone" or "a chair", I know that I would us un and una, respectively. My Spanish is extremely rough and out-of-practice, so I may not have translated very well. Also, if I am just listing a bunch of words, objects for example, do I put the "el/un" or "la/una" before hand? Or no?
More the anything its the ending that detrimins the Gender of the word. so you have to think of the word before you say what it is. I know sounds hard. Over time you will learn to use the right one. Look at the link its a start. http://www.spanishpronto.com/spanishpronto/spanishbasics.html#gender But always their are exeptions NOTABLE EXCEPTIONS: la mano (the hand), el día (the day), el problema, el programa, el planeta hope this helps :yup:
El/La is used for sayings like "the cat" or "the table"...Un/Una are for sayings like "a cat" or "a table". Hope this answers your question.
I am currently in Pre-AP Spanish 3 so I hope I can help, items, themselves, do not have different spellings as in telefono/telefona. They have simply one way to be spelled and you just have to memorize/know if it is masculine or feminine. Also to your second question, yes do use the el/la, un/una before the words. Ex: la mochilla, el gato, y la manzana.