Words for People and Objects

Understand that Spanish distinguishes between masculine and feminine genders. Male people or objects are often associated with the word ending -o while the female ones used the -a ending.
Realize that words for professions vary by gender, for instance ‘el médico’ for a male doctor and ‘la médica’ for a female one. But some professions have only one form, for example ‘el periodista’ can refer to a male or female journalist.
Learn about the plural forms of nouns. Most often in Spanish, you can make a noun plural by adding an -s to the word if it ends in a vowel, or -es if it ends in a consonant. For example, ‘la silla’ (chair) becomes ‘las sillas’ (chairs), and ‘el papel’ (paper) becomes ‘los papeles’ (papers).
Be aware of how articles (the, a, some) work in Spanish. Definite articles “el, la, los, las” mean “the” while indefinite articles “un, una, unos, unas” mean “a, some”. They must match the gender and quantity of the nouns they modify, so ‘the man’ would be ‘el hombre’ and ‘the women’ would be ‘las mujeres’.
Understand possessive adjectives to indicate possession: ‘mi’ (my), ‘tu’ (your), ‘su’ (his, her, its, your - formal), ‘nuestro/a’ (our), ‘vuestro/a’ (your - plural) and ‘su’ (their, your - formal and plural). Remember they agree in gender and number with the noun they modify.
Realize that to describe people or objects, adjectives are used. Spanish adjectives also have to match in number and gender with the nouns they are describing.
Familiarize with descriptive adjectives for people such as ‘alto/a’ (tall), ‘bajo/a’ (short), ‘guapo/a’ (handsome) or ‘inteligente’ (intelligent).
For objects, contextualise the use of words such as ‘grande’ (big), ‘pequeño/a’ (small), ‘bonito/a’ (pretty), ‘viejo/a’ (old), ‘nuevo/a’ (new).
Regularly practise vocabularies including people and object words, focusing on their gender, number, and use in sentences to gain more confidence in your language skills. Make use of flashcards and online resources to optimise your learning.