Articles and Determiners

An article is the little word before a noun. Spanish has two kinds, and each has four forms so it can agree with the noun in gender and number.

The definite article means the — a specific, known thing:

	Masculine	Feminine
Singular	el libro	la casa
Plural	los libros	las casas

The indefinite article means a, an or some — a non-specific thing:

	Masculine	Feminine
Singular	un libro (a book)	una casa (a house)
Plural	unos libros (some books)	unas casas (some houses)

Because the article carries the gender, choosing el or la correctly is the first step to correct agreement across the whole sentence.

When the preposition de (of / from) or a (to / at) is followed by the masculine article el, the two words must join together.

de + el = del and a + el = al. These are the only two contractions in Spanish, and skipping them is a mistake.

Full form	Contracts to	Example
de + el	del	Vengo del cine. (I'm coming from the cinema.)
a + el	al	Voy al parque. (I'm going to the park.)

The contraction only happens with masculine singular el. All other combinations stay separate:

• de + la → de la casa
• a + la → a la playa
• de + los → de los chicos
• a + las → a las tiendas

Note that el meaning "he" (the pronoun él, with an accent) never contracts: el regalo es de él (the present is from him).

Spanish uses the definite article in several places where English uses no word at all. This is one of the most common differences to master.

Use the article for…	Spanish	English
general or abstract ideas	Me gusta el café.	I like coffee.
languages	Estudio el español.	I study Spanish.
days of the week (= "on")	Voy los sábados.	I go on Saturdays.
titles when talking about someone	El señor García es profesor.	Mr García is a teacher.
parts of the body / clothes	Me lavo las manos.	I wash my hands.

Notice los sábados means on Saturdays — Spanish uses the plural article instead of the word on. For body parts and clothes, Spanish uses the article, not a possessive: me duele la cabeza (my head hurts).

The reverse also happens with the indefinite article. After the verb ser, Spanish omits un/una before an unqualified profession, nationality or religion.

Spanish	English
Soy profesor.	I am a teacher.
Mi madre es médica.	My mother is a doctor.
Es español.	He is a Spaniard.

But if you add an adjective to describe the profession, the article comes back:

• Soy un profesor estupendo. (I am a great teacher.)
• Es una médica famosa. (She is a famous doctor.)

Spanish also drops the indefinite article after certain words such as sin (without) and con (with): Salí sin abrigo (I went out without a coat).

Demonstratives point out which noun you mean. They agree in gender and number with the noun that follows.

Distance	Masculine sing.	Feminine sing.	Masc. plural	Fem. plural
this / these (near me)	este	esta	estos	estas
that / those (near you)	ese	esa	esos	esas
that over there	aquel	aquella	aquellos	aquellas

Worked examples:

• este libro (this book) — estas casas (these houses)
• ese coche (that car) — esos chicos (those boys)

(Higher tier) The aquel set means "that one over there", further from both speaker and listener. Foundation students only need este and ese.

The neuter forms esto and eso refer to an idea rather than a named noun: ¿Qué es esto? (What is this?).

Determiners also include words that tell you how much, how many or whose.

Quantifiers — watch which ones change form:

Word	Meaning	Notes
cada	each / every	invariable: cada día
mismo/a	same	agrees: el mismo problema, la misma idea
otro/a	other / another	never with un: otro café, not un otro café
todo/a/os/as	all / every	agrees: todos los días, toda la clase
algún / alguna	some	algún día (some day)
ningún / ninguna	no / none	ningún problema (no problem)

Possessive adjectives agree with the thing owned, not the owner:

Owner	Form(s)
my	mi / mis
your (informal)	tu / tus
his / her / your (formal) / their	su / sus
our	nuestro / nuestra / nuestros / nuestras
your (plural, Spain)	vuestro / vuestra / vuestros / vuestras

Examples: mi hermano (my brother), mis hermanos (my brothers), nuestra casa (our house), sus libros (his/her/their books).

1. Forgetting del and al

Voy a el parque is wrong. The contraction is compulsory: al parque. The same goes for del: la puerta del coche.

2. Dropping the article before general nouns

English says "I like music" with no article, but Spanish needs one: Me gusta la música. Use the definite article for general ideas, languages and abstract nouns.

3. Adding un/una before a plain profession

After ser, say Soy estudiante, not Soy un estudiante. The article only returns when you add a describing word.

4. Writing un otro

Another is simply otro or otra — never un otro. Say otro día (another day).

5. Making the possessive agree with the owner

Su covers his, her, their and formal your; it agrees with the thing owned, so sus libros means his/her/their books. Only nuestro and vuestro change for gender.