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Learn about Spanish nouns ending in -umbre, -ión, -dad, -tad, -itis and -sis
Most nouns ending in -umbre, -ión, -dad, -tad, -sis and -tis are feminine in Spanish.
Have a look and listen to these examples:
Necesito saber la verdad.I need to know the truth.
La relación con mi madre es difícil.The relationship with my mother is difficult.
La gente no tiene mucha libertad en ese país.People don't have much freedom in that country.
La educación en este colegio es excelente.The education in this school is outstanding.
Nuestros amigos están entre la muchedumbre.Our friends are among the crowd.
Estados Unidos pasó por una crisis económica en los años 20.The U.S.A went through an economic crisis in the twenties.
El médico dice que tengo una otitis grave.The doctor says that I have acute otitis.
Remember that articles and adjectives must agree with these feminine nouns.
There are some exceptions to this rule, for example:
- el avión (the plane) not la avión
- el camión (the lorry) not la camión
- el análisis (the analysis) not la análisis
- el guion (the script) not la guion
Forming the plural
To form the plural of these feminine nouns simply add -es, except for nouns ending in -itis or -sis which keep the same form in singular and plural.
Have a look and listen to these examples:
Mis dos canciones preferidas son del mismo grupo.My two favourite songs are by the same band.
Algunas ciudades españolas son bastante modernas.Some Spanish cities are quite modern.
Now look at this example for words ending -tis or -sis:
Javier ha hecho una tesis sobre un tema difícil de biología.Javier has written a dissertation about a difficult topic in biology.
Algunos alumnos han presentado sus tesis esta mañana.Some students gave a presentation on their dissertations this morning.
Note on nouns ending in -itis
Most nouns ending in -itis are related to medical terms. For example: la celulitis (cellulitis), la apendicitis (appendicitis), la artritis (arthritis), la faringitis (pharyngitis), etc
More examples:
El médico tuvo que operar a un paciente por una apendicitis.The doctor had to operate on a patient because of appendicitis.
Hay mucha crueldad en algunas partes del mundo.There is a lot of cruelty in some parts of the world.
Me encanta la amabilidad del personal en este hotel.I love the kindness of the staff in this hotel.
Mi hijo detesta las legumbres.My son hates pulses.
No era nada grave. Solo era una faringitis.It was nothing serious. It was just pharyngitis.
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