accident) Pe-ren-ne (perennial) Tem-po-ral-men-te
(temporarily) In-me-dia-to (immediate)

EXCEPTION--_bl, br, pl, pr, cl, cr, dr, fl, fr, gl, gr_ and _tr_ are not
divided, as--

A-blan-dar (to soften)
Li-bro (book)
A-pla-zar (to postpone)
A-pre-ciar (to appreciate)
De-cla-mar (to declaim)
De-cre-tar (to decree)
A-me-dren-tar (to frighten)
Con-fla-gra-cion (conflagration)
Re-fren-dar (to countersign)
A-glo-me-rar (to agglomerate)
A-gran-dar (to enlarge)
En-con-trar (to meet)

If any of these combinations occur together with a third consonant, this
of course will belong to the previous syllable, as

Em-bro-llar (to entangle).

If four consonants come together, two belong to the first syllable and
two to the next, as Obs-tru-ir (to obstruct).

_Ll_ and _Rr_, being treated as single letters, must not be divided,
as--

Ba-lle-na (whale)
Una ca-lle (a street)
A-lla-nar (to level)
Tie-rra (earth)

LESSON I.

THE ARTICLE.

The =Definite Article= in Spanish is

=El= before a masculine[7] noun singular
=La= " feminine[7] " "

[Footnote 7: Spanish nouns are all masculine or feminine. There are no
_neuter nouns_.]

as--

El hombre (the man)--La mujer (the woman)
El libro (the book)--La pluma (the pen)

El recibo (the receipt)--La cuenta (the account)

=Los= before a masculine noun plural
=Las= " feminine " "

as--

Los muchachos (the boys)--Las senoras (the ladies)
Los generos (the goods)--Las facturas (the invoices)
Los lapices (the pencils)--Las cartas (the letters).

The =Indefinite Article= is--

=Un= before a masculine noun singular
=Una= " feminine " "

as--

Un amigo (a friend)--Una amiga (a lady-friend)
Un padre (a father)--Una madre (a mother)

The Indefinite Article has no plural, but the Spanish plural forms
"unos" (masc.) and "unas" (fem.) translate the English words "some" or
"any," as Unos hermanos (some brothers), Unas hermanas (some sisters),
Unos tinteros (some inkstands), Unas mesas (some tables). (The Spanish
words "Algunos," "Algunas," are also used for the same purpose.)

NOTE 1.--Before a feminine noun _singular_ commencing with _a_ or _ha_
use =El= and =Un= instead of _La_ and _Una_ if such nouns are _stressed
on the first syllable_, as El aguila (the eagle), El agua (the water),
El alma (the soul). (The plural is regular, as Las aguilas (the
eagles).)

N