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Definite and Indefinite Articles in Spanish

The Spanish Articles

The Spanish articles you are already familiar with are el and la. Both of these mean "the."

Ex. el lapicero = the pen

la regla = the ruler

DON'T DO THIS!!!

Ella es una la chica ordenada.

What is an article?

Examples

Once you have "un" or any of it's other forms, you don't need the "el" or "la" or "los" or "las." You just don't use those at the same time.

Indefinite Articles

Plural Forms

2. Maria es una chica inteligente.

1. Carlos tiene un lápiz.

Carlos has a pencil.

Maria is an intelligent girl.

I have some pencils.

- You will also remember that both el and la have plural forms to be used when talking about more than one thing.

El --> Los La --> Las

An article is a kind of adjective which is always used with and gives some information about a noun. The important ones in English are "a / an" and "the."

"The" is what is called a Definite Article. It points out a specific thing or things.

"A" and "an" are Indefinite Articles. They do not point to a specific thing or things.

Ex. "Get me a pencil." is different than "Get me THE pencil."

3. Yo tengo unos lapices.

Ex. el lapicero --> los lapiceros

la regla --> las reglas

4. Mis amigas son unas chicas inteligentes.

My friends are some intelligent girls.

Even in plural form they still mean "the."

Spanish has four indefinite articles, which can be translated as "a," "an" or "some."

Un, una, unos, unas

Singular

Plural

When talking about one thing, you will use "un" or "una."

Un = masculine Una = feminine

They can both be translated as "a" or "an."

If you are talking about more than one thing, you will use "unos" or "unas."

Unos = masculine Unas = feminine

Both words can be translated as "some."

A book = un libro

A house = una casa

Unos libros = some books

Unas reglas = some rulers

If you are used to seeing "el" in front of a word, it will now be "un."

If you are used to seeing "la" in front of a word, it will now be "una."

If you would normally put "los" in front of a word, you will now put "unos."

If you would normally put "las" in front of a word, you will now put "unas."

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