Spanish Steps - Ordering a snack - Grammar

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Two words for 'a': un and una

Un and una are the two Spanish words that can mean a (an) or one.



un bocadillo a roll or one roll
una tortilla an omelette or one omelette.

This is because all Spanish nouns, whether referring to people, things or ideas, are either feminine or masculine.

Una goes with the feminine nouns and un with the masculine ones.

The idea of masculine and feminine is quite logical when referring to people.

un hombre a man
una mujer a woman

For omelettes and sandwiches, it's not so obvious, although you do get used to it.

Fortunately, there's a good rule of thumb: nouns ending in -o are masculine and most of those ending in -a are feminine.