3. Articles
Nouns in Spanish are preceded by an article that agrees with them in gender and in number. They come in singular and plural pairs for indefinite articles: un, unos (masculine), una, unas (feminine), and definite articles: el, los (masculine) and la, las (feminine).
EXAMPLES:
un libro – unos libros (a book – some books)
una casa – unas casas (a house – some houses)
el libro – los libros (the book – the books)
la casa – las casas (the house – the houses)
The indefinite article is used when something is mentioned for the first time, whether it is a single thing or several things.
EXAMPLE:
Tengo una falda de España.
I have a skirt from Spain.
The definite article is used when talking about something already mentioned before, specific or familiar, both in singular and in plural.
EXAMPLE:
La falda que compré en España era muy barata.
The skirt I bought in Spain was very cheap.
Unlike in English, a definite article is used in Spanish when talking about things in general.
EXAMPLE:
Los perros no deben comer chocolate.
Dogs mustn’t eat chocolate.
A definite article is also used with days of the week and times.
EXAMPLE:
The Spanish course ends on Thursday.
El curso de español se acaba el jueves.
Son las doce.
It’s twelve o’clock.
If talking about a group of mixed gender, the masculine plural forms are used.
EXAMPLE:
Tengo 3 gatos y 4 gatas. Todos los gatos son negros.
I have 3 male and 4 female cats. All the cats are black.
In Spanish, an indefinite article is not used in front of professions, unless in combination with an adjective.
EXAMPLES:
Ella es artista, not Ella es una artista.
She is an artist.
But: Ella es una artista muy famosa.
She is a very famous artist.