The article in Spanish: usage patterns, rules and examples

The article in Spanish is a part of speech that expresses some grammatical categories of a noun, and also reports on the presence or absence of concretization of a concept expressed by a word. The existence of grammaticalized categories of certainty and uncertainty is one of the most significant differences between the Russian and Spanish languages.

Article Functions

Since the Spanish language is characterized by a prepositive article, in a sentence or statement it precedes the noun (or parts of speech dependent on it) and is consistent with it in gender and number.

Among the main functions of the articles stand out grammatical and semantic. The first is expressed on two levels. Firstly, the article in Spanish serves to express the grammatical categories of a noun, and secondly, it transforms other parts of speech into nouns (for example, the verb poder - "can" goes into the noun el poder - "power, strength").

The semantic function of the article is to express the categories of certainty and uncertainty. This allows you to determine which subject or phenomenon of this kind is in question. The semantic function of the article is fundamental to it.

Article Types

As follows from the definition, there are two types of articles: certain and indefinite. In general, the table of articles of the Spanish language looks like this:

The article of the middle kind is used only to substantiate other parts of speech. Since it does not have formal attributes of the article, some Spanish grammarians tend to consider it a specific particle.

There are difficulties with the indefinite articles of the plural. Many linguists, given the specific meaning of the words unos and unas, classify them as indefinite pronouns.

Features of the use of the indefinite article

In Spanish, there is an extensive set of rules governing the use of a particular article. However, it should be borne in mind that these rules reflect only the most characteristic cases. Most often, the staging of a particular article is determined by the speaker's intentions.

First of all, the use of an indefinite article is necessary when an object or phenomenon is introduced into speech that was previously unknown to the listener:

• Estuvimos en un sitio precioso. - We were in a beautiful place (the listener does not know which one; he does not know the other characteristics of the place that he is being told about).

The indefinite article can be used to highlight an object or phenomenon from a number of similar ones:

• Un día subí en el coche para venir a ver a un amigo. - Once I got into a (some) car and went to visit a (some) friend. In this example, the listener does not know what kind of car in question, and he does not need this information, it is enough that he was informed about the vehicle.

The indefinite article can have a generalizing meaning when the speaker mentions some object without specifying it:

• Es inadmisible castigar a un herido. - It is unacceptable to punish (any) the wounded.

The stylistic functions of the indefinite article

Sometimes the article is used to emphasize the qualities and characteristics of an object or phenomenon called. In this case, it is understood that the noun expresses the characteristic features in their entirety. This meaning of the indefinite article is called emotionally typing:

• ¡Eres un poeta! - You (real) poet!

In the written tradition, the indefinite article is often used to enhance the meaning of a noun. Especially often, its emotional-enhancing meaning is manifested when a noun is distributed by some adjective or participle:

• Escúchame, es un pecado mortal! - Listen, this is a mortal sin!

The use of a certain article

Its main meaning is the concretization of the called subject. Because of this, the definite article is always used:

• with a one-of-a-kind item (la tierra, el cielo);
• when re-using in speech any object or phenomenon (Entré en una aula. La aula fue muy grande y luminosa. - I entered the audience. The audience was very large and bright);
• when indicating the time and days of the week.

The definite article also introduces abstract concepts (la libertad, el temor, la alegría) and the names of branches of science or art, when they fulfill the syntactic role of the subject in the sentence:

• La física es muy difícil. - Physics is very complicated.

Finally, in order to avoid tautology, the definite article in Spanish is used to replace in the speech the objects or phenomena already mentioned. In this regard, the article in its meaning approaches the demonstrative pronoun.

Steady revolutions

In the Spanish language, the definite and indefinite articles are often included in stable expressions. Their use in this case is not subject to any rules, so they need to be remembered. As such phraseological units can be called:

• dar un manotazo - give a slap in the face, estar como una sopa - get wet to the skin, ponerse hecho una furia - get furious (indefinite article)
• jugarse la vida - risk your life, tenga la bondad - be kind, según es la voz es el eco - he will come back and respond (a definite article).

Articles with proper nouns

Unlike the Spanish-related Catalan language, the rules do not require the use of articles in front of proper names. But due to the traditions of toponymy, some names carry the article.

This primarily concerns the names of such geographical objects as mountains, rivers, oceans and seas (los Pirineos, el Pacífico, los Andes, el Amazonas). An exception to this rule is the names of rivers that are included in the names of Spanish or Latin American cities (Miranda de Ebro).

Often the article in Spanish appears before the name of the most famous cities and countries. At the same time, one should not forget about the spelling tradition of writing the article when capitalizing the city and lowercase when mentioning the country: Los Angeles, La Coruña, El Havre, but el Perú, la Canadá, el Japón.

The name of the city can be fixed in the name of a sports club or any public organization. In this case, the article is used (most often masculine).

Often a certain feminine article is used with the names of famous people to emphasize that it is a woman, for example, the phrase la Bergmann shows that the speaker means actress Ingrid Bergman.

The article can be used to make it clear to the listener that this is a collection of the works of a writer. For example, in the phrase ¿Me dejas el García Lorca? the speaker asks to give him the collected works of the poet Lorca, and not the poet himself.

The omission of the article

In some cases, linguists distinguish the so-called zero article. This happens when a noun appears in a speech without an accompanying article. There are a lot of such cases, and they are difficult to regulate, since the main role in omitting the article is played by the speaker’s stylistic and linguistic preferences.

The article is not used when a noun is defined by another part of speech: possessive, demonstrative or negative pronoun (mi coche, aquella mujer, ningún hombre). The nouns appearing in the sentence as a reference do not need the article:

• Buenas días, señor Ballesteros. “Good afternoon, Senor Ballesteros.”

If a noun expressing a profession, occupation or nationality is included in the predicate, the article is also not used with it:

• Mi hermano Juan es escritor. “My brother Juan is a writer.”
• Monika es alemana. - Monica is German.

If a noun acts as a complement, introduced by the preposition de and denoting quantity, size or capacity, then the use of the article is not required:

• Me trajo un montón de caramelos. “He brought me a whole bunch of chocolates.”

If the noun in the sentence is a circumstance of the mode of action and is introduced by the preposition con, the article is not used:

• Córtalo con cuchillo. - Cut it with a knife.

Features of the use of articles in Spanish

Art culo español is one of the most difficult topics for learners of this language. The use of articles in speech most often leads to very subtle nuances of meaning that are sometimes impossible to understand. Sometimes in phrases of the same type meaning, the same noun can be used with or without a definite article or without it:

• Llegará en el avión de las diez. - Llegará en un avión de pasajeros. - Llegará en avión.

In these three sentences, the use or absence of the article is motivated by the meaning of the information that the speaker wants to convey to the listener. In the first case, he clearly identifies the plane on which the person in question will fly, as a ten-hour, therefore, a definite article. In the second case, he reports that his plane will be passenger, distinguishing it from a number of similar ones, therefore the article is indefinite. In the third case, he says that he will come by plane (not by car or train).

When studying the articles of the Spanish language, it is necessary to pay attention to the meaning of the phrase and choose the one that the logic of the phrase requires. This is the key to successful mastery of the topic.