DEFINITE ARTICLE (THE)

masculine:

singular   el

plural       los

femenine:

singular   la

plural       las

The definite article introduces the noun it precedes and it agrees with it in gender and number.
It’s important to learn that in many of the occasions where the definite article is needed in Spanish, it is omitted in English.
Exemple:
La paz es muy importante en el mundo.  (Peace is very important in the world).
La policia está buscando al ladrón. (Police is looking for the thief).

The definite article is used :
When referring to nouns in a general sense:
El tiempo es muy bueno en Andalucia. (The weather is good in Andalucia).

The days of the week. the English equivalent would be “on”.
Los lunes vamos al mercado. (On Mondays we go to the market).

With the name of a language, except when it comes directly after aprender, hablar  or saber:
El español es una lengua muy interesante. (Spanish is a very interesting language)
Yo aprendo español en el colegio. (I am learning Spanish at the school)
Él no sabe italiano pero si que habla portugués. ( He doesn´t know Italian but he knows Portuguese).

With parts of the body, personal hygiene objects and clothing:
La cabeza-  head
Los pantalones – trousers
El cepillo de dientes –  toothbrush

To tell the time:
Es la una en punto. (It is one o´clock)
Son las dos y media (It is half past two)

INDEFINITE ARTICLE (A, AN, SOME)

masculine:

singular   un

plural       unos

femenine:

singular   una

plural       unas

The indefinite article is used  to refer to one individual out of a general group. In English this articles ar “A”, “AN”.

Example: Voy a comprar un coche en este taller. I´m going to buy a car from this garage.

To express personal characteristic of a person using a noun.
Eres un sol.  You are so nice.
Los ladrones fueron unos cobardes. The thieves were cowards.

To express approximate amounts.
Tengo en el banco unos dos mil euros. I have about two thousand euros in the bank.

 

PRACTICE  EXERCISES

Write the definite article:

problema

mapa

pijama

paraguas

camisa

falda

vaso

tres en punto

cuatro y cuarto

ascensor

lunes

martes

caja

cámara

zapatillas.

Write the indefinite article in these sentences:

Estoy buscando                       libro y no lo encuentro.
Solo         niño en la clase contestó correctamente a la profesora.
Tengo solo                 hora para limpiar la casa.
Mi madre es un              ángel, la quiero un montón.
En la caja había                  cinco pares de calcetines.
Vimos mucha gente en la manifestación. Habría                  dos mil personas.

Choose which article is best. It might be that you don´t need any, be careful!

Mi hernana habla                español muy bien. Yo también.
Tengo        coche en el taller. Es               taller muy caro así que espero que me lo arrglen bien.
A               dos y media tengo que irme al médico.
Vamos a comprar                   lavadora nueva por que esta está rota.
Vimos           cinco modelos en la tienda pero no nos gustó ninguno.

As you already know, there are three verbs conjugations in Spanish (1st -ar, 2nd -er, 3rd -ir) and looking at the ending of each verb will help you know what person is doing the action and in which tense.

Some verbs follow all the same pattern, they keep the same root or stem and  add the same ending for the different persons and tenses.

These type of verbs are called “REGULAR VERBS”

Here you have some examples in Present Simpre:

COMPRAR, infinitive form:   Compr (root or stem) – ar (ending)     1st conjugation.
yo compro
tú compras
él, ella compra
nosotros compramos
vosotros compráis
ellos, ellas compran.

BEBER, infinitive form:  Beb (root or stem) – er(ending)     2nd conjugation
yo bebo
tú  bebes
él, ella bebe
nosotros bebemos
vosotros bebéis
ellos, ellas beben

SUBIR, infinitive form: Sub (root or stem) -ir (ending)    3rd conjugation
yo subo
tú  subes
él, ella sube
nosotros subimos
vosotros subís
ellos, ellas suben

These is a list of very common regular verbs:

• bajar (to step down), sumar (to add up), trabajar (to work), escuchar (to listen)….
• aprender (to learn), correr (to run), leer (to read), vender (to sell)….
• abrir (to open), recibir (to received), escribir (to write), vivir (to live)….

There are other type of verbs that  don´t follow these patterns. They either change the root, the endings or both. These kind of verbs are called “IRREGULAR VERBS”.
You´ll find lots of tips to learn the irregular verbs on different grammar books and you might feel confused at the beginning. My advice is “don’t get too stressed about it”. Use them, go over them everyday, do your exercises and slowly, slowly you’ll learn them.

In my next posts I’ll talk about some very important irregular verbs: ser, estar, hacer.