Spanish 1.6. The Articles

The Articles in Spanish are either definite or indefinite. All nouns are either masculine or feminine. There are no neuter nouns in Spanish.

Indefinite Articles

The indefinite articles in Spanish are “un” (for singular masculine) and “una” (for singular feminine). These are equivalent to “a” or “an” in English.

un	Before a singular masculine noun	e.g., un hombre (a man)
una	Before a singular feminine noun	e.g., una casa (a house)

The plural forms “unos” and “unas” are used to mean “some,” e.g., “unos momentos” (some moments), “unas palabras” (some words).

Before a singular feminine noun that starts with “a” or “ha,” “un” is used instead of “una,” e.g., “un águila.” The plural is regular, thus we use “unas,” e.g., “unas águilas.”

Definite Articles

Below are the four definite articles (equivalent to “the” in English). We have four definite articles in Spanish because the definite article has to agree with the noun in both gender and number.

el	Before a singular masculine noun	e.g., el hombre (the man)
la	Before a singular feminine noun	e.g., la casa (the house)
los	Before a plural masculine noun	e.g., los hombres (the men)
las	Before a plural feminine noun	e.g., las casas (the houses)

There are only two contractions in Spanish that involve the singular masculine definite article “el,” and, unlike in English, these contractions are not optional and must be applied:

1.	a   + el = al	e.g., “Yo voy al restaurante” (I go to the restaurant).
2.	de + el = del	e.g., “Yo vengo del café” (I come from the café).

Before a singular feminine noun that starts with “a” or “ha,” “el” is used instead of “la.” For instance, both nouns “agua” (water) and “águila” (eagle) are feminine. When singular, we use “el,” i.e., “el agua” (the water), “el águila” (the eagle). However, the plural is regular; thus, we use “las,” e.g., “las águilas” (the eagles).

Use of the Definite Article in Spanish versus English

There are cases in which Spanish uses the definite article when in English, we would omit it, such as:

1. Abstract concepts or speaking in a general sense, e.g., “La ciencia es importante” (Science is important), “Los animales son inteligentes” (Animals are intelligent).

2. Languages and nationalities, e.g., “el español” (Spanish), “los alemanes” (Germans). Exceptionally, we drop the definite article in Spanish when the language name is an object of a verb, e.g., “Yo hablo y enseño español” (I speak and teach Spanish), “Me gustaría aprender árabe” (I would like to learn Arabic), or after the preposition “en,” e.g., “escrito en italiano” (written in Italian).

3. Days of the week, e.g., “Yo trabajo el lunes” (I work on Monday), “Yo voy al gimnasio los jueves” (I go to the gym on Thursdays). An exception is when the day name comes after the verb “to be,” e.g., “Hoy es viernes” (Today is Friday).

4. Body parts and clothes are often preceded with the definite instead of the possessive pronoun if the possessor is the same as the subject of the sentence, e.g., “Levanta la mano” (Raise your hand), “Ponte los zapatos” (Put on your shoes).

5. Telling time, e.g., “Son las dos” (It’s two o’clock), “Nos encontramos a la una” (We meet at one o’clock).

6. Before a personal title, such as “señor” (Mr.), “señora” (Mrs.), “doctor” (doctor), “presidente” (president), etc., e.g., “el presidente Kennedy,” “la señora Hernández,” “el doctor Davids.” An exception is when addressing the person directly, e.g., “Señor Adams, ¿cómo está?” (Mr. Adams, how are you?).

7. Before each noun in the case of multiple nouns. For example, “el padre y la madre” (the father and mother), “los perros y los gatos” (the cats and dogs). Although you can use one definite article in English to refer to all nouns, the grammatically correct way in Spanish is to repeat the definite article for each noun.

In the following cases, we omit the definite article in Spanish:

1. Before the ordinal number describing a king or a queen. For example, “Luis catorce”(Luis the Fourteenth), “Isabel primera” (Elizabeth the First).

2. Although optional, it is common to omit the definite article before the seasons of the year. For example, “en verano” (in the summer), “en invierno” (in winter), “en otoño” (in the fall).

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