El artículo: ¿qué es un artículo?

The article (el artículo) is a special type of adjective. As such, it mirrors the noun's gender and number. It is placed before the noun.

There are two types of articles: definite (definido or determinado) and indefinite (indefinido or indeterminado).

The indefinite articles are:

In English: a/an (singular); some (plural)

In Spanish: un (singular, masculine), una (singular, feminine); unos (plural, masculine), unas (plural, feminine)

The definite articles are:

In English: the (both for singular and plural)

In Spanish: el* (singular, masculine), la (singular, feminine); los (plural, masculine), las (plural, feminine)

*Note 1: do not mistake the definite article "el" (the) for the personal pronoun "él" (he). One little accent makes a big difference!

Note 2: the definite article "el" (the) contracts with the prepositions "a" (to) and "de" (of):


A + EL = AL
DE + EL = DEL

We use the indefinite articles to:

1. Talk about someone or something that belongs to a category:

Es un futbolista brasileño.
He is a Brasilian football player.

2. Indicate the quantity of something:

Tengo una hermana.  
I have a/one sister.

We use the definite articles to:

1. Talk about something unique:

La madre de Andrés es alemana.  
The mother of Andrew is German.

2. To talk about something general:

El perro es el mejor amigo del hombre.
The dog is man's best friend.

3. To talk about something specific, that has been introduced to us before:

Hay un perro en el jardín. El perro es negro. 
There is a dog in the garden. The dog is black.