Articles in Spanish – with audio!

The, a, an 
El, la, los, las, un, unos, unas…

We know, we know this is a new topic for you but in order to learn Spanish and master it, you need to know how the articles work. You know in English there are only 3 of them but in Spanish, oh boy, we have 9 articles you will use all the time. We don’t mean to scare you, this is really simple if you know the structure and the rules we have for each of them. 

This article will guide you through it and at the end of it, you will notice how your life changes… for good, of course.

In this article we will cover: 

• What are the articles in Spanish?
• Definite or indefinite articles?
• Feminine or masculine articles?
• Plural or singular articles
• Practice time 
• Final words
• Answers 

Now you will learn the difference between spanish articles and when to use them correctly, we got you covered! 

Let’s start! 

What are the articles in Spanish?

When we talk about articles in Spanish, we mean those small words that accompany the noun and it helps us know what the gender is and the number of it. 

Let’s take a look at definite and indefinite articles we have and a small example before we jump to the explanation of it specifically. 

Singular

Masculine Definite article	Masculine Indefinite article
El	Un
El elefante The elephant	Un elefante An elephant
Feminine Definite article	Feminine Indefinite article
La	Una
La mariposa The butterfly	Una mariposa A Butterfly
Neutral Definite article	Neutral Indefinite article
Lo	–
Lo especial  The special

Plural

Masculine Definite article	Masculine Indefinite article
Los	Unos
Los elefantes  The elephants	Unos elefantes  Elephants
Feminine Definite article	Feminine Indefinite article
Las	Unas
Las mariposas The butterflies	Unas mariposas Butterflies

Feminine or masculine articles?

The articles in Spanish are categorized in two genders (feminine and masculine), we know in english is completely different and we don’t really need to know the gender of the nouns, nevertheless in spanish is almost mandatory and we will need to know when do we use feminine and masculine. 

Let us explain a little bit better about this: 

Masculine Ending	Nouns
O, or, on, aje, an, ma	El carro El amor El avión El equipaje El pan
Feminine Ending	Nouns
A, ión, e	La casa La canción  La calle

For example:

• La casa

• El Mercado 

• El elefante

• El carro 

• La música

• El restaurante 

• El amor 

Definite or indefinite articles?

In Spanish as in English we use the articles to talk about something definite or indefinite. So if we want to talk about something that is specific or specifically known to the speaker or to the person you are talking to, we use the definite articles in spanish, such as el, los, la, las.

Let’s take a look at this: 

• The car is so fast 
  El carro es muy veloz

• The apples are delicious 
  Las manzanas están deliciosas

• The plane is so big 
  El avión es muy grande 

• The dogs are beautiful 
  Los perros son hermosos

On the other hand we have the indefinite articles in Spanish, we use them similar to when we use a/an in english, when we want to talk about something that isn’t specific, to talk about physical characteristics of a person using a noun or an adjective. For instance: 

• Stephanie is a friend of Lauren
  Stephanie es una amiga de Lauren

• This boy is an angel 
  Este niño es un ángel 

• ¿Would you buy me a sweet? 
  ¿Me compras un dulce?

• I want to buy some pants 
  Quiero comprar unos pantalones 

Plural or singular articles?

Another really important thing about the articles in Spanish is that they need to follow the number of the noun, in other words the plurality they refer to. So you need to be very careful and check if they are talking about singular or plural nouns (don’t forget the gender). 

This one is really easy, if you compare this to English, we just add the S at the end of the word in case we are talking about plural nouns. I know you are wondering… how about the articles?

Plural Masculine	Plural Masculine
Los	Unos
Los elefantes  The elephants	Unos elefantes  Elephants
Plural Feminine	Plural Feminine
Las	Unas
Las mariposas The butterflies	Unas mariposas Butterflies

Check out these examples: 

• The flowers
  Las flores

• The cakes 
  Los pasteles

• The bees 
  Las abejas

• The grapes
  Unas uvas

• The men 
  Unos hombres

Practice time 

It is time to practice how you master the articles in Spanish. 

• Fill in the blanks with the right article (don’t forget to check gender and number of each noun) 
  • I want to eat an apple
    Yo quiero comer _____ manzana
  • The oranges are sour 
    _______ naranjas son ácidas 
  • The hamburgers are delicious
    ______ hamburguesas son deliciosas
  • The black cat is mine
    ______ gato negro es mío 
  • The house is so old
    ______ casa está muy vieja 
  • A unknown man called me on my cellphone
    ______ hombre desconocido me llamó al celular 
  • The women are selling fruit
    ______ mujeres están vendiendo fruta 
  • The fruit is really good for the health
    ______ fruta es muy buena para la salud

• Use the right definite article for the following nouns
  1. _____ cajas 
  2. _____ pizza
  3. ______ manzanas 
  4. _____ casas
  5. _____ Padre
  6. _____ perros cafés
  7. _____ lapices 
  8. _____ telefono 
  9. _____ mujer 

• Use the right indefinite article for the following nouns
  1. ____ tijeras
  2. _____ pasteles
  3. _____ caballos 
  4. _____ aves
  5. _____ cuadros
  6. _____ platos
  7. _____ puertas
  8. _____ perro 
  9. _____ problema
  10. _____ cuarto

Final words

And there you have it! This is a really crucial topic for you to learn spanish and it is mandatory to start studying it as soon as possible. We really recommend you practice as much as you can the gender and the number of each of the nouns we have, since it will be even better for you and the others when you talk about daily stuff with the right gender and the right number… Once you master it you will rock!! 

Check out our series of Complete Spanish Grammar articles – everything you’ll ever need to know about Spanish grammar.

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Answers 

Fill in the blanks with the right article (don’t forget to check gender and number of each noun):

• I want to eat an apple
  Yo quiero comer una manzana 

• The oranges are sour 
  Las naranjas son ácidas

• The hamburgers are delicious
  Las hamburguesas son deliciosas

• The black cat is mine
  El gato negro es mío

• The house is so old
  La casa está muy vieja

• A unknown man called me on my cellphone
  Un hombre desconocido me llamó al celular 

• The women are selling fruit
  Las mujeres están vendiendo fruta

• The fruit is really good for the health
  La fruta es muy buena para la salud

Use the right definite article for the following nouns 

1. Las cajas

2. La pizza

3. Las manzanas

4. Las casas

5. El Padre

6. Los perros cafés

7. Los lápices

8. El teléfono

9. La Mujer 

Use the right indefinite article for the following nouns

1. Unas tijeras

2. Unos pasteles

3. Unos caballos

4. Unas aves

5. Unos cuadros

6. Unos platos

7. Unas puertas

8. Un perro

9. Un problems

10. Un cuarto

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