Questions & Answers about El hermano es el profesor.
Why do we use el before hermano?
In Spanish, nouns have a gender. The word hermano ends in -o, which usually means it is a masculine noun. Because it is masculine and singular, we use the masculine word for the, which is el.
The word profesor does not end in -o. How do we know to use el with it?
How would this sentence change if we were talking about a sister?
You would change the masculine words to feminine words and use the feminine article la. The sentence would become La hermana es la profesora. Notice that to make a profession ending in a consonant feminine, you simply add an -a to the end.
I remember learning that we drop the article before professions. Why is el used before profesor here?
It is true that when simply stating what someone does for a living, you leave out the article, like in El hermano es profesor (The brother is a professor). But here, we are identifying him as a specific person: he is the exact professor we are talking about. When you say the professor, you must include el or la.
Learn El hermano es el profesor and more in Spanish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free