El banco Santander = The banc of Santander ( A famous spanish banc) Ahh, sí, mira = Hm, have a look Esta calle, sigues todo recto = You go down this street hasta el fondo = till the very end y hay una iglesia = there is a church das la vuelta a la iglesia = you go round the church y la primera calle a la derecha = and at the first corner you turn to the right es la segunda calle = it is the second street a la izquierda = at the left ahí pasas una floristería = you pass a florist shop una panadería = a bakery y después está el banco Santander = and then you get to the banc of Santander Vale, de nada! Hasta luego = Ok (literally: It counts), my pleasure (literally: for nothing) ! good bye (literally: till later) ¡Anda, que cabeza! = Darn, (literally: go), what a head! Me he equivocado de banco = I confound the banks ¡Oye, espera! = Hello (literally: Listen), wait!
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.
el
vaso = the glass
un
vaso = a glass
la
vaca = the cow
una
vaca= a cow
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).
las
paredes
= the walls
unas
paredes
= some walls
los
cuchillos
= the knives
unos
cuchillos
= some knives
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
la luna
the moon
la alegría
the pleasure
el*
masculine
el bolígrafo
the pencil
el paisaje
the landscape
el destino
the destiny
PLURAL
las
feminine
las
casas
the houses
las lunas
the moons
las alegrías
the pleasures
los
masculine
los
bolígrafos
the pencils
los paisajes
the landscape
los regalos
the gifts
Indefinite
article
SINGULAR
una
weiblich
una
casa
a house
una luna
a moon
una alegría
a pleasure
un
männlich
un
bolígrafo
a pencil
un paisaje
a landscape
un destino
a destiny
PLURAL
unas
weiblich
unas
casas
some houses
unas lunas
some moons
unas alegrías
some pleasures
unos
männlich
unos
bolígrafos
some pencils
unos paisajes
some landscapes
unos regalos
some gifts
* Please note the article
el should not be mixed
with the pronoun él. The pronoun always has an
accent.
