Definite and Indefinite Articles

Definite and Indefinite
Articles
Definite articles refer to nouns that are specific.
In English, we only have one definite article: the. Spanish has four different definite
articles to help us know if there is more than one thing being described, and if that thing
or those things are masculine or feminine. The Spanish definite articles are el, la, los
and las.
If you have one masculine item, (like libro), we use el libro to say “the book.” If we
have more than one book, we have to use the plural masculine article los to say “the
books” (los libros).
The same is true for feminine nouns. We use la to talk about one feminine noun la silla
(the chair), and las if there is more than one: las sillas (the chairs).
Examples:
el libro
the book
los libros
the books
la silla
the chair
las sillas
the chairs
Indefinite Articles
Indefinite articles refer to nouns that are not specific.
In English, we have three indefinite articles: a, an, and some. Spanish has four
indefinite articles to help us know if there is more than one non-specific thing being
described and if that thing or those things are masculine or feminine. The Spanish
indefinite articles are un, una, unos, and unas.
If you have one masculine item, (like libro), we use un libro to say “a book.” If we have
more than one book, we have to use the plural masculine article unos to say “some
books” (unos libros).
The same is true for feminine nouns. We use una to talk about one feminine noun- una
silla (a chair) - and unas if there is more than one- unas sillas (some chairs).
Examples:
un libro
a book, one book
unos libros
some books
una clase
a class, one class
unas clases some classes
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Definite and Indefinite
Articles
Let’s look at a few more examples of definite and indefinite articles.
la mochila
las mochilas
una mochila
unas mochilas
the backpack
the backpacks
a backpack, one backpack
some backpacks
el cuaderno
los cuadernos
un cuaderno
unos cuadernos
the notebook
the notebooks
a notebook, one notebook
some notebooks
Definite and Indefinite Articles
© 2012 Middlebury Interactive Languages.
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