A noun collective partitive represents only a part of the whole object; such are una cantidad a quantity, una caterva a crowd, el mayor numero the most part.

N.B. See the use of substantives, rule 19 and following, in the Syntax.

SECTION II.

Of the declension of nouns,-cases, &c.

Although the Spanish nouns do not change their termination in the same number, they have, however, cases as well as the Latin, as the following declensions will show.

Declensions,

Declension of a noun masculine with the definite
article el.

Sing. Nom. el rey, the king.

Dat.

Acc.

á los reyes,

para los reyes, for the kings.

los reyes, the kings.

Voc. o reyes, o kings.

Abl.

de los reyes, from the kings.

Declension of a noun feminine with the article la.

Sing. Nom. la muger, the woman.

Gen. de la muger, of the woman.

C

Dat. para la muger, for the woman.
Acc. la muger, the woman,

Plur. Nom. las mugeres,
Gen. de las mugeres,
Dat. á las mugeres,

Dat. para las mugeres,

of the women.

to the women.

for the women.

Acc. las mugeres, the women.

Voc. o mugeres, o women.

Abl. de las mugeres, from the women.

Declension of a noun feminine with the article el.

Sing. Nom. el alma, the soul.

but

Observe, that all nouns which begin with a vowel or h mute do not admit of any elision as other languages; the article or preposition is written at large, as you may see in the above and following example. This is a general

rule.

Declension of a noun feminine beginning with an ǹ.

Sing. Nom. la hermandad, the fraternity.

Gen. de la hermandad, of the fraternity.

Dat.

á la hermandad, to the fraternity. Dat. para la hermandad, for the fraternity. Acc. la hermandad, the fraternity.

Abl. por la hermandad, by the fraternity.
(It has no plural.)

Declension of an adjective used substantively, by putting the article lo before it.

S. Nom. lo hermoso, that which is handsome.
Gen. de lo hermoso, of that which is handsome.
Dat. para lo hermoso, for that which is handsome.
Dat. á lo hermoso, to that which is handsome.
Acc. lo hermoso, that which is handsome,

Voc.

...(caret.)

Abl. por lo hermoso, by that which is handsome. (It has no plural)

Observe, that all adjectives in the Spanish language become substantives by adding to them the article lo. This is also a general rule.

Observe, again, that all proper names of men and women are never declined with the foregoing articles.

SECTION III.

How to distinguish when a noun is masculine or feminine.

The distinction of substantives into two genders comes from the distinction of sexes: by imitation the masculine or feminine gender has been given to all substantives,

though they have no reference to any sex: thus for instance pan bread, cuchillo knife, grano grain, &c., are masculine: cuchara a spoon, mesa a table, vela a candle, &c., are feminine.

General rule.

The nouns which have reference to males are of the masculine gender; and those which have reference to females are feminine. Thus hombre a man, caballo a horse, are masculine; muger a woman, yegua a mare, are feminine.

All nouns ending in e, o, n, or r, are masculine: as lumbre fire, barcote a kind of boat, blanquero a tanner, lodegon a cook's shop, bordador an embroiderer, labrador a labourer; except la madre the mother, la mano the hand, which are feminine.

Observation.

We have observed, page 8, that all nouns ending in ad, and in English in ty or y, are of the feminine gender: we must further observe, that all nouns ending in a are feminine, except dia a day, diadema a diadem, diafragma diaphragm, and some others coming from the Greek, which are masculine.

All nouns ending in cion, and in English in tion or ction, are feminine, as diccion diction, edicion edition, participacion participation, &c.

All nouns ending in ud and ex are feminine, though they end in English in ue, de, or ness, as virtud virtue, prontitud promptness, pulidez neatness, &c.

All nouns ending in a form their plural by the addition of an s: those ending in cion or ud, by adding es to the singular; as virtud virtue, virtudes virtues: those ending in ex make their plural by changing z into ces, as felix happy, felices happy, &c.

These rules extend themselves to the adjectives as well as to the substantives.

Of Augmentatives.

Augmentatives are very few in the Spanish language. They are used to express something extraordinary in the size as well as the extent of things spoken of, and add to the positive the signification of big, large, tall, and stout, and are formed by adding to the nouns the syllables on or ozo for the masculine, and ona or oza for the feminine. Example: hombre a man, hombron a tall big man, muger a woman, mugerona a tall and stout woman; perro a dog, perrazo a large dog.

Of Diminutives.

There are two sorts of diminutives. 1st, One to express tenderness, or the genteel carriage of any object whatever; but little or short, and their terminations, are ito, ico, masc. ita, ica, fem. added to the nouns either substantives or adjectives without any alteration, when terminating by a consonant, and suppressing the vowel if there is one at the end of the word. Example: páxaro a bird', paxarito a pretty little bird; casa a house, casita a pretty little house. We must except from this rule bueno, buena, whose diminutive is bonito, bonita, which very often has no other meaning than pretty.

2d. The other denotes either contempt or pity, without giving the idea of pretty, and terminates in illo, according to the above rules: as perro a dog, perrillo a little ugly dog; muger a woman, mugercilla a little ugly woman; hombre a man, hombrecillo a little ugly man.