Published on September 28, 2023
What are the definite articles in Spanish?
Maybe you’re already thinking, “Definite articles in Spanish sound like complicated grammar.” Surprise! English has them, too, so you should already be familiar with definite articles and how to use them in sentences. The main difference is that definite articles in Spanish are gendered, so you’ll need to match the correct definite article to the gender of the noun.
El, la, los and las are the four definite articles in Spanish. Maybe you’ve already learned a bit about them, but Spanish definite articles can cause Spanish language learners trouble all the way up through intermediate levels of Spanish.
Here are some tips and tricks to help you understand and use definite articles in Spanish.
Consider these two sentences in English:
In the first sentence, both the listener and the speaker know which specific cake is being talked about. Maybe they’re even looking directly at it. In this sentence, “the” is the definite article because the identity of the noun is specific and known.
In the second sentence, the speaker is talking more generally about cake. It could be any cake; in any case, there is no specific cake in question. In this sentence, “a” is used as an indefinite article because the identity of the noun is not specific enough to be considered “definite.”
The definite article in Spanish is much the same as English:
Both the speaker and the listener know which cake is being referred to.
There are four definite articles in Spanish, and which one you use depends on the gender of the noun and whether it’s plural or singular:
Now that we’ve explained what the definite articles in Spanish are, let’s explore how to use them.
Most nouns in Spanish need their definite article:
These are typical uses of the definite article in Spanish.
When a feminine noun begins with “a” or “ha,” we use the male definite article. This prevents the vowels from mixing and helps make speech clearer. Something similar happens in English with indefinite articles, when we turn “a” to “an” if the noun following the article starts with a vowel (for example: an eagle, an orange).
However, this exception doesn’t extend to the plural form, because the “s” prevents the vowels from mixing. In these cases, the noun’s definite article stays feminine:
Unlike in English, your body parts don’t experience the sensation themselves in Spanish. Instead, they make you experience them.
Because of this, we don’t use possessive pronouns to talk about body parts. We use definite articles instead.
So, in English we’d say:
But in Spanish, it’s:
In Spanish, we normally use definite articles with all body parts.
When using honorifics in Spanish, you also need to use definite articles:
Some country names in Spanish require definite articles, as well::
Some cities’ official names in Spanish include the definite article, although this is rarely the case in English. Since the article is part of the name, it needs to be capitalized:
And lastly, you may also see definite articles before toponyms even when it’s not strictly necessary. Though rare nowadays, it’s a traditional, intellectual and somehow poetic way to refer to some countries, historical regions or cities:
Let’s apply what we’ve learned! See if you can select the right definite article in Spanish for the following four sentences:
Answer key: 1. el 2. la, 3. la, 4. el
The use of the four definite articles in Spanish isn’t so different from what you’re used to in English. Although some unique uses are not found in English, you should be able to quickly pick up the most common uses of these definite articles. And once you get the unique uses and changes down, you may be surprised by how using definite articles starts to become second nature.
