Log inSign up

Los sofás no son pequeños.

Los sofás no son pequeños.
The sofas are not small.
From Lesson 9:Noun gender exceptions·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about Los sofás no son pequeños.

Wait, shouldn't words ending in "a" be feminine? Why is it los sofás instead of las sofás?
Usually, yes! Words ending in -a are almost always feminine. However, el sofá is one of a few common exceptions that are actually masculine. Because it is masculine, it uses the masculine plural article los.
Since sofá ends in "a", shouldn't the adjective be pequeñas?
Adjectives must match the true gender of the noun, not just its spelling. Since el sofá is masculine, the adjective describing it must also be masculine and plural: pequeños.
Why does sofás have an accent mark on the "a"?
The accent mark tells you to emphasize the final syllable (so-FA). Without it, the natural pronunciation rule in Spanish would make you stress the second-to-last syllable (SO-fa) because the word ends in an -s.
Why do we use son instead of están to say the sofas are not small?
We use son (from the verb ser) because size is considered a permanent physical characteristic of the sofa. We use the other "to be" verb, estar, for temporary states or locations, but a sofa's size doesn't normally change!

Learn Los sofás no son pequeños 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
Start learning Spanish →