Another / other in Spanish

by Alba Castro

This will be an easy and quick one, how to say "other" or "another" in Spanish, and what to bear in mind when using them!

Let's start with...

Another

This is the singular form, to use before a singular noun.

In Spanish this would be: otro or otra, agreeing the gender with the noun after. There is no neutral forms, only masculine and feminine.

  • ¿Quieres otro trozo de tarta? - Do you want another piece of cake?
  • Tenemos otro plan ese día, lo siento - We have another plan that day, sorry.

Other

This is the plural form in English, that goes of course with a plural noun.

In Spanish this is the plural version of what we saw: otros and otras.

  • Vamos a buscar otras alternativas - We're going to look for other alternatives.

  • ¿Tienes otros proyectos listos? - Do you have other projects ready?

What not to do

One mistake people tend to make is to use the undefined article un or una in front of these: "un otro" or "una otra", but the correct way is to only choose otro/otra.

When they go alone - pronouns

These can go by themselves as well, functioning as pronouns, referring to a noun that was mentioned before, translated as "another one", "others" or "other ones".

  • Tú arreglas este ordenador y yo arreglo otro - You fix this computer and I fix another one.

  • ¿Os gustan estas canciones o preferís otras? - Do you guys like these songs or do you prefer others/other ones?

El otro, la otra, los otros, las otras

We can also add el/la/los/las before it in this situation, and that would translate as other specific nouns: the other one, the other ones.

  • Ellos traducen este texto y yo traduzco el otro - They translate this text and I translate the other one.

  • Tú conoces a estas chicas y él conoce a las otras - You know these girls and he knows the other ones.

And that's it!

Practice

Fill in the gaps in the sentences with the right option:

Otro, el otro, otra, la otra, otros, los otros, otras, las otras.

  • Me gusta más esta compañía que ______ - I like this company more than the other one.

  • No tengo ____ mañana para ir al dentista - I don't have another morning to go to the dentist.

  • Queremos encontrar _____ destinos de viaje - We want to find other trip destinations.

  • Ellos vienen a esta costa y nosotros vamos a _____ - They come to this coast and we go to another one.

  • El primer plato era sano pero _______ era bastante graso - The first dish was healthy but the other one was quite greasy.

  • ¿Has escuchado ________ audios? - Have you listened to other audios?

  • He encontrado uno de los zapatos, estoy buscando _______ - I have found one of the shoes, I'm looking for the other one.

laotra/otra/otros/otra/elotro/otros/elotro

¡Hasta pronto! :)