zo A SPANISH REFERENCE GRAMMAR

mar, sea, are usually masculine; but these are sometimes found in the opposite genders. 80.

B. NUMBER (nzimero). Nouns are singular or plural (singular o plural). 81.

i. Nouns ending in an unstressed vowel or diphthong are made plural by adding -s: pluma, plumas; libro, libros. 82.

2. Those ending in a stressed vowel, a diphthong ending in y, or in a consonant are made plural by adding -es: rubi, ruby, rubies; rey, king, reyes; mujer, woman, mujeres. 83.

3. Those ending in a stressed -e, and a few in stressed -a, by exception form the plural by adding -s: cafe, café, cafés; pie, foot, pies; papa, father, papas. 84.

4. Those ending in unstressed -es or -is are unchanged in the plural: el lunes, Monday, los lunes ; la sinopsis, synopsis, las sinopsis. 85.

5. Family names, especially those ending in -ez or -es, are unchanged: los Gonzalez; los Torres ; los Fornio. 86.

6. Vowels of the alphabet add -es : las aes, the a's; las ees, the e's; las les, the i's. 87.

7. The stress of voice practically never shifts in pluralization. Hence, a written accent in the singular may disappear in the plural, or a written accent may be necessary in the plural when not required in the ,singular: la

NUMBER OF NOUNS   21

leccien, las lecciones; el joven, young man, los jevenes. Exceptions: el catheter, character, los caracteres; el regimen, regimen, rule, los regimenes. 88.

8. Some nouns are used only in the singular: la mortalidad, mortality. 89.

9. Some nouns are used only in the plural: albricias, good news. 90.

to. The masculine plural of some nouns may include the feminine: los padres may mean el padre y la madre; los hermanos, el hermano y la hermana; los reyes, el rey y la reina. 91.

C. CASE (el caso). A noun may be in the nominative (subject or predicate nominative), possessive, dative (indirect object), or accusative (direct object) case. 92.

1. Nominative (nominativo). All nouns used as the subject of a verb, or in the predicate after the copulative verb ser, to be, or its equivalents, such as hacerse, volverse, to become, or after a passive verb, are in the nominative case. (See 657.) When used after such verbs they are said to be predicate nominatives. El nitro es mi primo, the boy is my cousin. Los hombres se hacen ciudadanos, the men become citizens. Este senor fue elegido presidente, this gentleman was elected president. 93.

2. Possessive (posesivo). There is no 's or s'