The, a, some: Articles in Spanish

by Alba Castro

You can't avoid these tiny words!

They go before most nouns, that is words that express things, places, people or concepts.

So if you can't fight them... learn them!

Defined articles- THE

We use these when we'd say "the" in English

It can help to also think of "that one" to check that we talk about something specific, something we know about or have mentioned before in the conversation.

Ex: El gato de mi madre - The cat of my mom, that one.

These are the defined articles, you'll choose it depending on the gender and number of the noun after it:

  • El – masculine singular

    Note:

    a+el = al

    de+el = del

Ex: Miraba a el sol - miraba al sol

I looked at the sun.

  • La – feminine singular

  • Los/las – plural masculine/feminine

Undefined articles- A /SOME

We use these when we'd say "a" (singular) or "some" (plural) in English.

It can help to think of it as "any" as well,because it's not specific, or it's new in the conversation.

We have four again, so that they adapt to the noun's gender and number:

  • Un – Masculine singular - also can be translated as “one”

  • Una - feminine singular

  • Unos/ Unas - plural masculine / feminine

Example of both articles in the same sentence:

Hay una planta nueva en mi casa. La planta está al lado de la ventana

There is a new plant in my house.The plant is next to the window.

When there is no article in English

When in English we wouldn’t usually have anything in front, is usually going to be the defined article (el, la, los, las).

A typical one is ver la televisión - to watch tv.

Other common cases:

Abstract concepts:

Ex: Happiness – La felicidad

Time:

(week, month, year, days of the week)

Ex: Next week – La semana que viene

On Monday – El lunes

Opinions about things in general:

Ex: I like pasta - Me gusta la pasta

Odio los disfraces - I hate costumes

Practice

Fill in the gaps with the right option choosing from the 8 articles: el, la, los, las and un, una, unos,unas.

1- Tengo __ perro que se llama Bob. Es ___ perro más mono del mundo.

I have a dog that is called Bob. he’s the cutest dog o the world.

2- En la planta baja de mi casa hay __ cocina y __ salón (masc). ___ cocina está enfrente de ____ baño. ____ baño es bastante pequeño.

In the ground floor of my house there is a kitchen and a living room. The kitchen is in front of the bathroom. The bathroom is quite small.

3- ¿Has visto ___ bolso negro?

Have you seen a black handbag?

4- Vamos a ver ___ televisión (fem) por la noche. Hacemos eso __ vez (fem) a la semana.

We’re going to watch (the) tv at night. We do that one time per week.

5- Ese es __ chico con el que salí. ¡Es __ persona super aburrida!

That’s the guy with which I went out. He’s a super boring person!

6- _____ mes(masc) que viene voy a ir de vacaciones.

Next month I’m going to go on holidays.

7- ____ vida es complicada pero bonita.

Life is complicated but beautiful.

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