Today will help you understand the articles in Spanish (definite and indefinite articles), and enables you to use real examples shown below. If you have any question let us know by clicking on the comments below, this lesson is very important since it covers a very widely used element in Spanish which is the definite and indefinite article.
The English language has only one definite article, “the”, but in Spanish has 4 definite articles, depending on gender (masculine/feminine) and number (singular/plural):
| Spanish Definite Articles | ||
| Singular | Plural | |
| Masculine | el | los |
| Feminine | la | las |
El chico (the boy)
Los amigos (the friends)
La chica (the woman)
Las Chicas (the girls)
El coche es rojo (the car is red)
La casa es pequeña (the house is small)
Los hermanos de mi padre (the brothers of my father)
Las chicas guapas (the pretty girls)
Generally you can use the Spanish definite articles like you use it in English, but there are exceptions, here are some examples:
Spanish is the official language of Chile = el español es la lengua oficial de Chile.
President Pedro Sánchez lives in Madrid = El presidente Pedro Sánchez vive en Madrid.
Jorge segundo = George the second
The exceptions are not very common, and they can be learned with practice, so no worries!
¡Important! When the definite article “el” has before the preposition “a” both words fusion in “al” (a + el)
In English we have (a / an / some) as indefinite articles, in Spanish, we have 4 articles, un/ una.unos/ unas and like in the definite articles depending in gender and number.
In general, un or una are the English equivalent of “a” or “an“.
Un coche = a car
Una silla = a chair
Unos coches = some cars
Unas sillas = some chairs
The table below shows when they should be used according to the gender and number:
| Spanish Indefinite Articles | ||
| Singular | Plural | |
| Masculine | un | unos |
| Feminine | una | unas |
Sometimes Spanish avoids the indefinite articles in many places but in English does not in occupations, affiliation, religion, usually after tener (have)/ llevar (wear). Here you have some examples:
Soy profesor = I’m a teacher
¿Eres musulmán? = Are you a Muslim?
Es abogado = he is a lawyer
Me compré otro libro = I bought another book
Escribo con boli = I write with a pen
Trabajo sin parar = I work without a stop
No tengo ordenador = I don’t have a computer
Ella lleva un pantalón negro = She wears a black trousers
¿Tienes hijas? = Do you have a daughter?
I hope you benefited from this post, please check our other post entries to take advantage of the other useful information they may contain.
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