Notes from ¿Qué tal? – Basic Rules

Use ¿qué? to mean what? when you are asking for a definition or an explanation. Use ¿cual? To mean what? in all other circumstances.

Que without an accent mark means that or which.

Nouns that refer to male beings and most nouns that end in -o are masculine (masculino) in gender: hombre, libro.
Nouns that refer to female beings and most nouns that end in -a, -cion, -tad, and -dad are feminine (femenino): mujer, mesa, nacion (nation), libertad (liberty), universidad (university).

A common exception is the word día, which ends in -a but is masculine in gender: el día. Many words ending in -ma are also masculine: el problema, el programa, and so on.

Nouns that have other endings and that do not refer to either males or females may be masculine or feminine. Their gender must be memorized: el lápiz, la clase, la tarde, la noche, and so on.

Many other nouns that refer to people have a single form. Gender is indicated by the article: el estudiante, la estudiante; el cliente (the male client), la cliente (the female client). A few nouns that end in -e have a feminine form that ends in -a: el dependiente (the male clerk), la dependienta (the female clerk).

¿Deseas infinitive? – Do you want to verb?
¿Te gustaria infinitive? – Would you like verb?

Nouns that end in the consonant –z change the –z to –c before adding –es: lapiz ⇒ lápices.

Unos and unas mean some, several or a few.
In Spanish, the masculine plural form of a noun is used to refer to a group that includes both males and females: los amigos (male and female friends), unos profesores (some professors, both male and female)

An expression used to ask for a translation is: perdón, ¿qué significa _____ en inglés?

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