1. ARTICLES
THE
(la, el, las, los)
The definite article ‘the’ is the same for all genders in singular and in plural.
Examples:
the house la casa the dog el perro
the girls las niñas the toys los juguetes
Use ‘the’ when talking about a common noun and when there is only one of a particular thing, public
building, organization or institution. Also, use ‘the’ for family names.
For example:
She has a boy and a girl. The boy is blonde. The apple you ate was rotten.
(Ella tiene un niño y una niña. El niño es rubio.) (La manzana que te comiste estaba podrida.)
The Empire State Building is tall. The Pérez are our neighbors.
(El edificio del Empire State es alto.) (Los Pérez son nuestros vecinos.)
Use ‘the’ to talk about geographical points on the globe, rivers, oceans, seas and countries when they
indicate multiple areas or contain the words: state(s), kingdom, republic or union.
For example:
the North Pole el Polo Norte the Pacific Ocean el Océano Pacífico
the Nile River el Río Nilo the Mona Passage el Canal de la Mona
the United Kingdom el Reino Unido the Dominican Republic la República Dominicana
the Soviet Union la Unión Soviética the Philippines las Filipinas
Don’t use ‘the’ when talking about countries, cities, states and towns.
For example:
Puerto Rico, Italy, Mexico, Bolivia, Japan, Orlando, New York, Guaynabo.
Don’t use ‘the’ when talking about uncountable nouns in general, sports and when you are referring to a
common place.
For example:
Inflation is rising. Baseball is America’s national pastime.
(La Inflación está en aumento.) (La pelota es el pasatiempo nacional de América.)
I am going home. She went to church.
(Voy para casa.) (Ella fue a la iglesia.)

2. ARTICLES
A / AN
(un, una)
‘A’ and ‘An’ are indefinite articles used before nouns that refer to something or someone you have not
mentioned before. Use ‘a’ and ‘an’ also when talking about a profession or occupation.
For example:
I am an English tutor. You are a lawyer.
(Yo soy tutor de inglés.) Tú eres abogado.
Use ‘a’ when the noun you are referring to begins with a consonant.
Examples:
a purse una cartera a policeman un policía
Use ‘an’ when the noun you are referring to begins with a vowel.
Examples:
an apple una manzana an ice cream un mantecado
Pronunciation changes these rules. It is the sound that matters, not the spelling.
If the next word begins with a consonant sound, use ‘a’ instead.
For example:
Vowel sound Consonant sound
an umbrella una sombrilla a university* una universidad
* We say ‘university’ with a "j" sound at the beginning.
If the next word begins with a vowel sound, use ‘an’ instead.
For example:
Consonant sound Vowel sound
a horse* un caballo an hour** una hora
*We say ‘horse’ with a “h” sound as if it were spelled “jorse”.
**We say ‘hour’ with a silent h as if it were spelled "our".
Don’t use ‘a’ and ‘an’ before plural nouns.
For example:
schools escuelas universities universidades