In this lesson, we talk about the plural in Spanish. In particular, we talk about the plural when it refers to nouns. Let's start this lesson with a little quiz. Do you know the plural form of the following nouns?:
1. Casa (house)
2. Perro (dog)
3. Universidad (university)
4. Lápiz (pencil)
5. Jabalí (wild boar)
6. Análisis (analysis)
If you are not sure about how to make a singular noun plural in Spanish, we invite you to take a look at the following simple rules. While going through these rules, we will be unveiling the plural form of the 6 nouns we included in our quiz. Let's take a look.
- Casa (house) - Casas (houses)
- Estudiante (student) - Estudiantes (students)
- Perro (perro) - Perros (dogs)
Se escucha un perro.
You can hear a dog.
Caption 43, Conversaciones en el parque - Cap. 2: Cafe y bocadillos
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Tus perros también son muy bonitos.
Your dogs are very beautiful too.
Caption 58, Conversaciones en el parque - Cap. 2: Cafe y bocadillos
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- Papá (dad) - Papás (dads)
- Dominó (domino) - Dominós (dominoes)
- Café (coffee) - Cafés (coffees)
Y les voy a mostrar el proceso de control de calidad de café de Colombia.
And I'm going to show you the quality-control process for coffee from Colombia.
Caption 5, Una Historia de Café - La Bodega
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Cada uno de estos cafés tiene distintas cualidades tanto físicas como sensoriales.
Each one of these coffees has different qualities both physically and sensorially.
Caption 14, Una Historia de Café - La Bodega
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- Bisturí (scalpel) - Bisturíes or bisturís (scalpels)
- Jabalí (wild boar) - Jabalíes or jabalís (wild boars)
- Tabú (taboo) - Tabúes or tabús (taboos)
Generally speaking, however, it is preferred to use the plural formed with 'ES'.
Also, this rule is very common when you are dealing with adjectives of nationality:
- Iraní (Iranian) - Iraníes or iranís (Iranians)
- Árbol (tree) - Árboles (trees)
- Profesor (teacher) - Profesores (teachers)
- Universidad (university) - Universidades (universities)
- Rey (king) - Reyes (kings)
La rata esta es el rey de la estafa por allá en Europa.
This rat is the king con artist over there in Europe.
Caption 45, Confidencial: El rey de la estafa - Capítulo 1
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Actualmente es la residencia oficial de los reyes de España.
Currently, it's the official residence of the King and Queen of Spain.
Caption 23, Madrid - Un recorrido por la capital de España
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Notice that the singular noun árbol has a graphic accent in the second-to-last syllable (palabra grave). However, when you form the plural, the graphic accent moves to the third-to-last-syllable becoming a proparoxytone word (palabra esdrújula). Similarly, singular nouns like profesor and universidad that are stressed in the last syllable (palabras agudas) become paroxytone words (palabras graves) in the plural form.
- Lápiz (pencil) - Lápices (pencils)
- Raíz (root) - Raíces (roots)
- Voz (voice) - Voces (voices)
Tengo muy buena voz.
I have a very good voice.
Caption 91, Los casos de Yabla - Problemas de convivencia
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Vuelven esas voces a mi cabeza.
Those voices come back to my head.
Caption 37, El Aula Azul - La Doctora Consejos - Subjuntivo y condicional
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Paroxytone or proparoxytone nouns ending in 's' or 'x' keep the same form in plural. Let's see some examples:
- Cactus (cactus) - Cactus (cactuses/cacti)
- Tórax (thorax) - Tórax (thoraxes/thoraces)
- Análisis (analysis) - Análisis (analyses/tests)
Y en un análisis de nuestras debilidades, oportunidades, fortalezas y amenazas.
And an analysis of our weaknesses, opportunities, strengths and threats.
Caption 37, Raquel y Marisa - Español Para Negocios - Crear una empresa
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...para hacerle los análisis de sangre, de heces.
...to do the blood tests, stool (tests).
Caption 54, Santuario para burros - Santuario
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That's it for now. We hope these rules help you to use the plural in Spanish. If you feel like practicing a little bit more, take 20 nouns and try to form their plural forms. And of course, don’t forget to send us your feedback and suggestions.
In a previous lesson, we learned about how the verb volver can be used figuratively to express the idea of becoming:
Después se volvió más profesional
Afterwards, it became more professional
y me encantó más aún todavía, ¿no?
and I loved it even more still, right?
Caption 10, Los Juegos Olímpicos - Adrián Gavira
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But other Spanish verbs also translate as "to become," for example the verbs transformarse and convertirse (to become, to turn into). These verbs are just as common as volverse but they work differently. That's why you can't just substitute se volvió with se transformó or se convirtió in the example above. When using these verbs you need to be more specific and always remember to use the preposition en (into) to introduce a complement that gives more information about the transformation in question. For example:
...pronto se convierte en una carrera de obstáculos.
...quickly becomes a highway of obstacles.
Caption 41, Animales en familia - La operación de Yaki
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El pergamino se transforma en "cisco" y en almendra.
The parchment is transformed into the leftover "cisco" and the bean.
Caption 41, Una Historia de Café - La Bodega
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You can switch convertirse and transformarse in the examples above and obtain correct expressions:
...pronto se transforma en una carrera de obstáculos.
...quickly becomes a highway of obstacles.
El pergamino se convierte en "cisco" y en almendra.
The parchment is transformed into the leftover "cisco" and the bean.
But with the verb volverse you don’t need the preposition en (into), so you say:
...pronto se vuelve una carrera de obstáculos.
...quickly becomes a highway of obstacles.
El pergamino se vuelve "cisco" y almendra.
The parchment is transformed into the leftover "cisco" and the bean.
However, to use transformarse or convertirse instead of volverse in the first example you'll have to do more than that, because you can't just say that something or someone se transformó en más profesional (transformed into more professional), right? The expression is incomplete. “Transformed into a more professional what?” people would ask. So you have to say something like:
Después se transformó en una actividad más profesional...
Después se convirtió en una actividad más profesional...
Afterwards, it became a more professional activity...
Finally, an interesting tidbit: You can use both transformarse and convertirse alone as reflexive verbs to express the idea that a person transforms herself or himself, without the need of any complement or preposition, but you can't do the same with volverse:
Me transformo (I transform myself).
Me convierto (I transform myself).
Me vuelvo (This is incomplete; you have to state what you are turning into, for example: me vuelvo un vampiro, which means "I become a vampire").
Colombia is famous for growing and exporting a product that some people around the world are hopelessly addicted to. Yes, rich Colombian coffee is what we're talking about. In the first installment of this series of videos on Colombia's coffee industry, we get a guided tour of a storehouse for the coffee beans.
"La Bodega," is the title of this video tour, because "bodega" is the word for the coffee beans' "warehouse." It's interesting that "bodega" has its own entry in English dictionaries as a wine shop, a barroom, a storehouse for maturing wine and a small grocery store in an urban area. Well, "bodega" means all of those things in its native Spanish as well, and on top of that it's a place to store coffee beans. The etymology of the word goes all the way back to the Latin "apotheca," storehouse, which itself is descended from the Greek "apotheke" (αποθήκη), which also means storehouse. The more modern definitions concerning wine and groceries evolved from the places where wine or supplies were stored to be sold. And now you know.
Bueno, ésta es la bodega de Almacafé.
Well, this is Almacafé's warehouse.
Caption 6, Una Historia de Café - La Bodega
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Ok. So what do we find in La Bodega? Each section of this bodega holds up to 20,000 sacks ("sacos") of coffee beans, each from a particular region ("departamento") of Colombia. We learn that the entire bodega holds approximately 200,000 sacks of coffee beans collected from the harvest ("la cosecha"). Impressed? That's quite a coffee buzz.
Cada, cada nave de la bodega tiene una capacidad de aproximadamente veinte mil sacos de café.
Each, each section of the warehouse has a capacity of approximately twenty thousand coffee sacks.
Caption 19, Una Historia de Café - La Bodega
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Soon, we'll post the videos that bring you into the laboratory where the Colombian coffee beans become cups of Joe.
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