Articles in Spanish

Spanish articles are the small words that come before nouns. They usually correspond to the, a, an, and some in English.

Articles must match the noun’s gender and number.

Definite articles: el, la, los, las

Definite articles mean the.

	Singular	Plural
Masculine	el	los
Feminine	la	las

Use a definite article when you are talking about something specific, known, or already mentioned.

• El parque está cerca. — The park is nearby.
• La cafetería está cerrada. — The café is closed.
• Los libros están en la mesa. — The books are on the table.
• Las ventanas son grandes. — The windows are large.

Indefinite articles: un, una, unos, unas

Indefinite articles usually mean a, an, or some.

	Singular	Plural
Masculine	un	unos
Feminine	una	unas

Use an indefinite article when something is new, non-specific, or one of many possible things.

• Tengo una hermana. — I have a sister.
• Hay un supermercado cerca. — There is a supermarket nearby.
• Hay unos libros en la mesa. — There are some books on the table.
• Compré unas camisetas. — I bought some T-shirts.

Definite vs indefinite articles

Compare:

• Hay una cafetería en mi calle. — There is a café on my street.
• La cafetería está al lado del banco. — The café is next to the bank.

The first sentence introduces the café. Once we know which café we mean, we can use la.

Gender and number

The article must agree with the noun:

• el libro → los libros
• la casa → las casas
• un libro → unos libros
• una casa → unas casas

This is why it is useful to learn new nouns together with their articles: el libro, la casa, la mesa.

See noun plurals for how singular nouns become plural.

Articles with adjectives

When an adjective describes the noun, it normally agrees with the noun too:

• el libro nuevo — the new book
• la casa nueva — the new house
• los libros nuevos — the new books
• las casas nuevas — the new houses

See adjective agreement for more details.

Articles with hay

With hay, you often use an indefinite article when introducing something:

• Hay un restaurante aquí. — There is a restaurant here.
• Hay unas tiendas cerca. — There are some shops nearby.

You normally do not say hay el restaurante when simply introducing something.

Quick rule

Use el / la / los / las for the, and un / una / unos / unas for a, an, or some. Always match the article to the noun’s gender and number.