TLE: Lesson - Los artículos: Introduction

A stylized font spells the word "The"Los artículos: Introduction

Do you know what one of the most common words is in English? It's the little word the! Next question: do you know what the grammatical term for "the" is? It's called an article.

Articles are the small words that go before a noun and help us to define our connection (or lack of connection) to that noun. In English, we use two articles:

  • Definite Article: the
  • Indefinite Article: a/an
    • English uses "a" before a consonant sound and "an" before a vowel sound.

In Spanish, there are definite and indefinite articles, just like in English, but articles in Spanish are further defined by the noun in question. At first, you might find yourself a little confused by the articles in Spanish, but don’t worry! Our simple guide will help you get to grips with which Spanish articles to use, when to use them, and why they change like they do.

Spanish Articles - Los artículos definidos y los artículos indefinidos

In Spanish, as we mentioned, there are both definite (the) and indefinite articles (a/an), just like in English. There are more forms for articles in Spanish because the articles must agree with the noun they are describing. This means that we must recall two fundamental features of Spanish nouns, which are that every Spanish noun has:

  • Gender - every noun is either:
    • Masculine
    • Feminine
  • Number - nouns can be either:
    • Singular (one)
    • Plural (more than one)

Because of this, the Spanish articles also have to show gender and number, just like the nouns they describe.

Types of Spanish Articles

So, let's explore the idea of articles having gender and number by looking at the two types of articles. Remember, we have definite articles ("the" in English) and indefinite articles ("a/an" in English). Because there are two genders (masculine and feminine) and two numbers (singular and plural), both the definite and indefinite articles in Spanish will have four forms (definite articles have an additional fifth form). These forms are:

  • Masculine singular: el, un
  • Masculine plural: los, unos
  • Feminine singular: la, una
  • Feminine plural: las, unas
  • Neuter singular: lo
    • neuter = neither masculine nor feminine and is used in special circumstances; only the definite article has a neuter form

So, let's take a look at the Spanish articles in a table. This is the easiest way to organize this information to make it clear, but we'll also explore some examples and practice these forms below.

Los artículos definidos y los artículos indefinidos
Articles Masculine Feminine Neuter
Singular, Definite
The		 el la lo
Plural, Definite
The		 los las
Singular, Indefinite
A/An		 un una
Plural, Indefinite
A few/Some		 unos unas

Ejemplos de los artículos

Use the definite articles el, la, los, las to talk about something the listener already knows:

  • El perro es negro. - The dog is black.
  • La botella es mía. - The bottle is mine.

Use indefinite articles un, una, unos, unas to talk about something new:

  • Un gato negro - a black cat
  • Unas sillas - some chairs

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