The article shows the gender of the noun it precedes. As is the case in English, there are two types of articles types of articles: definite and indefinite. Definite articles (in English ‘the’) are used with nouns we already know, that is, nouns that have already been mentioned, while indefinite articles (in English ‘a/an’) introduce a noun that has not been mentioned before.
Definite articles
Indefinite articles
masculine singular
El(the)
Un(a/an)
feminine singular
La(the)
Una(a/an)
masculine plural
Los(the)
Unos(some)
Feminine plural
Las(the)
Unas(some)
What are definite articles in Spanish
First, let’s go with definite articles. Remember that they are the equivalents of “the”, and we are going to use them when we are talking about something specific, rather than a general kind of thing. (For example, I love the car you bought last month).
Masculine singular noun
The
El
Let’s go with some examples of masculine nouns in singular, each of the nouns is preceded by the article “el”.
It is very common that even native Spanish speakers confuse this article when writing it and instead of writing the definite article “el”, they write the masculine personal pronoun “él”, both words sound the same, but they are two totally different things.
I will buy the car from you tomorrow
Yo te compraré el auto mañana
Grab the glass that’s on the floor
Agarra el vaso que está en el suelo
The child goes to school.
El niño va a la escuela.
Masculine plural noun
The
Los
Now let’s go with the plural definite article for masculine nouns. It is as simple as it sounds, we are going to use this article when talking about various masculine nouns.
I want to buy the video games
Quiero comprar los videojuegos
The phones are malfunctioning
Los teléfonos están funcionando mal
All the dolls have fallen out of the closet
Se han caído todos los muñecos del closet
Feminine singular noun
The
La
Let’s go with some examples of feminine nouns in singular, each of the nouns is preceded by the article “la”.
The cherry is very sweet.
La cereza está muy dulce.
Pass me the orange that is in the fridge
Pásame la naranja que está en el refrigerador
I can’t hear the song well
No puedo escuchar bien la canción
Feminine plural noun
The
Las
In the following examples we are going to mention several feminine nouns at the same time, so we will use the article “las”.
The houses are white.
Las casas son de color blanco.
The students of the faculty must come tomorrow for biology class.
Las alumnas de la facultad deben venir mañana para clase de biología.
All the light bulbs in the house are burned out.
Se fundieron todas las bombillas de la casa
What are indefinite articles in Spanish
Indefinite articles are those that speak of something we do not know or cannot identify. They are the equivalents of the articles “a” and “an” in English.
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