2. Aprendamos los artículos definidos

As you remember, we studied the nouns in Unidad Dos ¿Quiénes somos? We defined a noun as a word that can be the name of a person, animal, place, thing, event or idea. We can have common nouns and proper nouns. All nouns have a gender: masculine or feminine. All nouns can be identified as singular or plural, known as the number of the noun. The articles are the word placed before a noun. We use articles more in Spanish than in English.

For example:

I sing the song that you love →it is a specific song.

Yo canto la canción que tú amas.

I like cats (in general) and dogs (in general).

Me gustan los gatos y los perros.

Keep in mind that a proper noun doesn’t use a definite article.

Felix is my cat → Félix es mi gato.  Or  Rachael is my mom → Raquel es mi mamá

I like Spain→Me gusta España.

I like the capital of Mexico→Me gusta la capital de México.

I like cats→Me gustan los gatos.

I like Felix→Me gusta Félix.

Common nouns don’t begin with a capital letter, unless it is the first word in the sentence. A noun that is the name of a specific person, place, thing, etc. is called a proper noun and always begins with a capital letter.

As an aside, a beginning student of the Spanish language should focus on the above rules but in some regions of the south of Spain, it is the opposite! They use the definite article with a proper name of a person to show a close relation.

El Noé es mi sobrino→Noah is my nephew.

La Marimar es mi hija→Marimar is my daughter

You’ve learned how to say “the” (the definite articles) before a noun, however, there is another type of article, the indefinite article, which translates as “a” in the singular and “some” in the plural.

Indefinite articles work in the same way as definite articles in terms of agreement in gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular and plural): un, unos, una, and unas.

Practiquemos

In Spanish we use the definite and indefinite articles the same as English. The only difference is that in Spanish we have number and gender. Translate the following sentences to English:

Tengo un libro. ______________

Tengo el libro. __________________

Tengo una novela. ___________

Tengo la novela. _________________

Tengo unos libros. _______________

Tengo los libros. _______________

Tengo unas novelas. ______________

Tengo las novelas. ________________

Complete the sentences in Spanish with the correct article. You will use both definite and indefinite articles as you need it:

1. Yo tengo ________ gato. _________ gato es negro.

I have a cat. The cat is black.

2. Hay ____ libro en mi mochila. _____ libro es muy grande.

There is a book in my backpack. The book is very big.

3. Me gustaría ______ galleta de chocolate. Yo solo tengo _______ galletas de vainilla.

I’d like a chocolate cookie. I have only some vanilla cookies.

4. María tíene _______ perro. ______perro se llama “lucky”.

Mary has a dog. The dog is called “lucky”.

Translate the following examples:

un libro →_________________________

las novelas →______________________________

unas plumas →__________________

unos profesores →_____________________________

el doctor → __________________________

la dentista →____________________________