Definite & indefinite articles Los artículos Definite & indefinite articles

What are articles? In English, there is a definite article “the” and an indefinite article “a, an.” If you say, “Hand me the book,” you have a definite book in mind. (definite article) If you say, “Hand me a book,” you don’t care which one – any book will do. (indefinite article)

Definite articles in Spanish Spanish has definite and indefinite articles too, but the Spanish articles have number (singular and plural) and gender (masculine and feminine). For example: el muchacho. What does it mean in English? How many are there? Is the person or thing masculine or feminine? What about la muchacha? That means that the articles tell you for sure what the gender is of the noun you are looking at! And how many there are, too! Because of this, there are more articles in Spanish than in English!

Singular definite articles When we wish to refer to a definite or specific person or thing we use the DEFINITE ARTICLE “THE” in English. In Spanish, there are two singular definite articles and two plural definite articles. The singular definite article EL is used with masculine words to mean “the”. The singular definite article LA is used with feminine words to mean “the”. Look at the examples below:   el muchacho la muchacha el alumno la alumna el colegio la escuela

Articles must be used with NOUNS The name of a person, place or thing is a noun. In Spanish, every noun has a gender, either masculine or feminine. Almost all nouns that end in –O are masculine. Almost all nouns that end in –A are feminine. BUT NOT ALL

Which definite article do you use? el muchacho guapo la muchacha guapa el amigo bueno la amiga buena el colegio mexicano la escuela americana el alumno ambicioso la alumna ambiciosa

The exceptions to the rule When learning nouns in Spanish, it is best to learn the definite article with the noun. That way, you can be sure of the gender of the noun. This is especially true if a noun ends in a letter other than an – o or an – a, or if they happen be an exception to the rule. What gender are these nouns? El coche – the car el agua – water El examen – the test el águila – eagle La clase – the class un alma – soul La lección – the lesson un hacha – axe

Here are the singular definite articles

Singular definite articles

Plural definite articles

Plural definite articles

Plural definite articles If a noun ends in a vowel, just add an S and it’s plural! BUT everything must match. If we want to make the NOUN plural, we must use a PLURAL ARTICLE too! We even have to make the adjectives match!   los muchachos las muchachas los alumnos las alumnas los colegios las escuelas

Which definite article do you use? los muchachos guapos las muchachas guapas los amigos buenos las amigas buenas los colegios mexicanos las escuelas americanas los alumnos ambiciosos las alumnas ambiciosas

Indefinite articles When we wish to refer to any person or thing, not a specific one, we use an INDEFINITE ARTICLE; “A or An” in English. In Spanish, there are four indefinite articles to refer to non- specific people or things. UN is singular and used with masculine nouns to mean “A or An”. UNA is feminine and used with feminine nouns to mean “A or An”. Look at the examples below: un muchacho una muchacha un amigo una amiga un libro una pluma

Which indefinite article do you use? un muchacho guapo una muchacha guapa un amigo bueno una amiga buena un colegio mexicano una escuela americana un alumno ambicioso una alumna ambiciosa

Here are the indefinite articles

Indef. feminine singular

Indef. masculine plural

Indef. Feminine plural

Which indefinite article do you use? unos muchachos guapos unas muchachas guapas unos amigos buenos unas amigas buenas unos colegios mexicanos unas escuelas americanas unos alumnos ambiciosos unas alumnas ambiciosas