What is an ARTICLE in Spanish language

An article It is a type of determiner that accompanies the noun and that is always positioned in front of it. It serves for always determine the noun we are talking about. For example: "take pens" is a general sentence, we don't know which pens we mean, instead "take the pens. pens "is the same sentence to which we have added an article and the interlocutor already knows which pens we are using referring.

Articles always match the noun in gender and number. In this lesson from a TEACHER we want to explain what is an article and give you examples so you can have it clear when using them.

Index

1. What is an article: easy definition
2. Definite articles - with examples
3. Indefinite articles - with examples
4. Difference of articles and pronouns
5. Examples of articles in Spanish

In linguistic morphology we speak of item as an updater, that is, a particle that is updated according to the need of the noun it accompanies.

What an article is going to do, therefore, is go from a noun that we do not know exactly what we are referring to, to a known one. For example: ride your bike / ride your bike. Both the sender and the receiver know which bicycle we are referring to.

There are two types of items according to the meaning they bring to the name:

• Defined articles or determinants: They speak of a known noun and that can be identified by both the sender and the receiver
• Undefined articles or indeterminate: They speak of a unknown noun and that it cannot be identified by either the sender or the receiver.

As we have said before, the article matches the noun in gender (masculine or feminine) and in number (singular or plural), but there is a neutral article used for everything that is abstract and therefore does not indicate gender.

Definite articles are those that we use to delimit the noun within a class and they do have the essence of individual, for example: the dog plays in the park. They also point out and specify which subject we are referring to, for example: today I have spoken with a teacher / today I have spoken with the teacher. They can also confer a generalizing meaning to the noun, for example: my aunt love the mountain (I am not referring to a specific mountain but to the mountain as a concept general).

Which are

• The: Accompanies a singular masculine noun. For example: The bus was full, so we couldn't get on.
• The: Accompanies a singular feminine noun. For example: The girl has fallen in the park and has blood on her knee.
• The: Accompanies a masculine noun in plural. For example: You have to behave well so that the kings come tonight.
• The: Accompanies a feminine noun in plural. For example: Mathematics is getting harder and harder, I think I'm going to fail.

Special features

Definite articles have some special features that must be taken into account so as not to make mistakes.

• The contractions: After the prepositions from and to, the articles will form contractions and join the previous word. For example: I would like to go to the cinema / I would like to go to the cinema. Failure to do the contraction is considered a misspelling.
• Own names: Proper names in Spanish They do not carry an article, for example: yesterday I saw Maria / yesterday I saw Maria. It is used only to name characters recognized by all, for example: I like El Greco's painting. Some place names are also preceded by an article, for example: we have planned to go on a trip to India.
• The neutral article: The neutral article is it and is used to talk about abstract objects. For example: The strange thing about this crime are the fingerprints.
• Possible confusion: At the time of writing, we must not confuse the definite article the with the personal pronoun he. To avoid confusion, a diacritical accent has been added that we must know how to use properly. While he introduces us to an object, he refers to a person. For example: the computer was broken / he had broken the computer.

Exceptions

There is an exception where definite articles they change gender. When the feminine noun that follows them cbegins with a or ha tonic the item to be used is the. For example: we are going to drink the water from the river. These words are: the water, the area, the eagle, the hunger, the fairy, the wing, the weapon, the bird and the classroom.

But at no time does it mean that the word has become masculine because when we put an adjective between the article and the noun, the first go back to your genre original. For example: we are going to drink the cold water of the river.

Also when the noun is plural we are not going to make the gender change in the article. For example: we are going to drink the waters of the river.

The indefinite articles they talk about something that unknown or unidentifiable. They are words that accompany the noun, but they do not delimit it, either because there are many of the same class or because it is simply something unknown, for example: a cousin of Lorena (Lorena has more cousins, therefore article one does not define her as an individual, but leaves her within the same group).

Furthermore, we also use it when we refer to by first time to something In a conversation, afterwards, a definite article will be used, for example: I'm going to buy a car, the car will have five doors.

Which are

• A one: Accompanies an indefinite masculine singular noun. For example: Mireia is coming with a friend, so let's try not to scare him.
• A: Accompanies a singular feminine indefinite noun. For example: When you buy a house we are going to celebrate my birthday there.
• Some: Accompanies an indefinite masculine plural noun. For example: We are going to take some logs to start making the barbecue now.
• Nails: Accompanies an indefinite feminine plural noun. For example: I want to go buy some sneakers, because these are already half torn.

Exceptions

Indefinite articles have some exceptions that we must be very clear so as not to make any mistakes when writing. As we have seen previously, when the feminine noun begins with a or ha tonic the indefinite article will also become masculine. For example: I would like to see an eagle fly.

As with definite articles, when we put a adjective in between or we pass it to plural, the article will be feminine again and agree with the noun. For example: I would like to see a large eagle fly / I would like to see eagles fly.

Another exception that must be taken into account is that, when we are talking about a masculine noun, but we didn't mention it in the sentence, instead of the article a, we must use one. For example: How much do kiwis cost? I want one. On the other hand, if we mention the noun in the sentence, it will always be a. For example: I want a kiwi.

Image: Rio & Learn

Remember that the third person pronoun It has the exact same shapes as the definite articles we've seen before (he, la, lo, los, las). In the case of the masculine singular, as we have mentioned before, it is easier, since it differs thanks to the diacritical accent, but in the case of the others, how can you tell if it is an article or a pronoun?

The difference that shows us which category is each of the words is look who they accompany. If they accompany a Name will always be a Article, for example: the round table.

On the other hand, if it is a pronoun will always be accompanied by a verb, for example: they will keep it properly. Therefore, to learn to differentiate an article from a pronoun, you should always pay attention to who accompanies them.

Next we are going to put you examples of sentences with articles that contain articles so you can see the function they do in each of the sentences.

We have marked the item in bold for you so that you can quickly identify it.

• I hung up nails shelves so you can put your reading books
• I went to the library to collect some books for my students of the literature class.
• They invited me to a costume party, but I couldn't go because it gave me a headache.
• On the house there were enough chairs, but we had to bring nails how many more so that all guests could fit.
• It The bad thing about getting older is that nobody cares about you.
• For the party outfit punch for everyone.
• I have nails nuts on the Toolbox
• By the they woke me up tomorrow some workers who went to work on my street.
• When I came out there was nails ladies talking in the door, but I didn't see anything suspicious.
• I bought a bottle of wine to celebrate the end of the career.
• The boys stayed home while the girls went to play to the soccer.
• I like them very much the dimensions of the El Greco's paintings.
• When I went hiking I did not expect that a eagle will pass me so close.
• That is the dirty gun that he used to kill to the policeman.

Now you know what is an article and have you been able to see examples practical to be able to recognize them in any situation. If you are interested in continuing to learn about this or related topics, do not hesitate to take a look at our grammar and linguistics section.

If you want to read more articles similar to What is an article - with examples, we recommend that you enter our category of Grammar and Linguistics.

• Leonetti, M. (1996). The definite article and the construction of the context. Sign and signal, (5), 101-138.
• Di Tullio, Á. (2010). The extension of the indefinite evaluative article before names of quality in function of attribute: a contrastive study. In XXVe CILPR Congrès International de Linguistique et de Philologie Romanes (pp. 2-431). By Gruyter Mouton.