2.6 Indefinite articles |
Beside
the definite articles there are - as also in English
- indefinite articles. In English there is (as also
applies to the definite article) only one indefinite
article a(n). Spanish
has two because there is one needed for the feminine
nouns and on for the masculine nouns.
Therefore there is una
as indefinite article for feminine nouns and un
for masculine ones.
Things get clearer when we play a mind game: A
man who crosses the street is a friend of my mother.
This sentence means that all men that cross the street are friends
of my mother. And even if they had known my mother for
20 years they would not be friends unless they cross
the street. In comparison: The
man who crosses the street is a friend of my mother.
This sentence seems quite clear. There is a man (one
certain man) crossing the street, and exactly this man
is befriend with my mother.
Actually there are no differences in the logic of using
the indefinite articles between the Spanish and English.
The only challenge here is to remember that for feminine
nouns (the ones with the ending -a)
get una. The others get
un.
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There are also plural forms of indefinite articles
unas and unos.
They are translated as some
and also used the same way the little word some
is used in English when meaning an indefinite quantity
of something that can be counted. For substances that
can not be counted (sand, milk or cream there is another
word to be used in Spanish for meaning some. But we
will get to this).
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Let's have an overview on all the articles! Even though
on first glance it seems a bit strange it's not that
difficult as you will see:
Definite article |
SINGULAR |
la | feminine | la casa | the house |
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la luna | the moon |
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la alegría | the pleasure | ![]() |
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el* | masculine | el bolígrafo | the pencil |
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el paisaje | the landscape |
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el destino | the destiny | ![]() |
PLURAL |
las | feminine | las casas | the houses |
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las lunas | the moons |
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las alegrías | the pleasures | ![]() |
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los | masculine | los bolígrafos | the pencils |
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los paisajes | the landscape |
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los regalos | the gifts | ![]() |
Indefinite article |
SINGULAR |
una | weiblich | una casa | a house |
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una luna | a moon |
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una alegría | a pleasure | ![]() |
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un | männlich | un bolígrafo | a pencil |
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un paisaje | a landscape |
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un destino | a destiny | ![]() |
PLURAL |
unas | weiblich | unas casas | some houses |
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unas lunas | some moons |
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unas alegrías | some pleasures | ![]() |
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unos | männlich | unos bolígrafos | some pencils |
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unos paisajes | some landscapes |
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unos regalos | some gifts | ![]() |
Example: |
él = he |
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él trabaja = he works | ![]() |
el hombre = (the) man | ![]() |