Paseo, by José Donoso

Unit 12

Articles

Before dealing with the use of the Spanish articles, el/la/los/las, and un/una, note that the form el is attached to feminine singular nouns that begin with a stressed a: e.g. el ala, el hambre, el alma, el arte. In Spanish of earlier periods, however, you will commonly find forms such as "el ausencia" and "el aurora". There are exceptions: when the article is used with a woman's name, La Ana, and in the case of La Haya (The Hague) and la haz (the face); la a and la hache are letters of the alphabet.

It should also be noted that the grammarians identify two basic features in the article system in Spanish: where the article is present and where the article is absent; i.e. the absence of article is a linguistic fact as is its presence. Compare these three phrases:

  1. el gato saltó por encima de la tapia - the cat jumped over the wall
  2. el gato es un animal nocturno - the cat is a nocturnal animal
  3. pasar sobre algo como un gato - to tread softly on something /cat-like

The first refers to a specific cat, known beforehand; the second to the totality of cats which make up a species; the third refers to a class but considered essentially/qualitatively. Put another way, the first two examples imply existence; the absence of the article implies essence. this absence of the article is a particularly important resource in poetry; e.g. Reyerta Fight the title of a poem by Lorca; Estatua ecuestre Equestrian Statue, the title of a poem by J. Guillén, etc.. But it is not just poetic usage: 'El señor Fleuri era hombre afeitado y serio'; here attention falls on a quality.

The DEFINITE ARTICLE signals that the noun is known beforehand and signals objects which are already in our state of awareness. The first statement should cause no difficulty; 'En la mesa puse una taza de leche, un bollo y una servilleta. Juan tomó el bollo entre los dedos y se lo comió'. A bun, once identified, becomes 'el bollo'. But many things are assumed to exist though they have received no previous mention; such as rooms in a house, natural phenomena; 'Había nubes negras en el cielo'; la luna brillaba'; Juana limpiaba la vajilla en la cocina'.

Further examples of how the DEFINITE ARTICLE is used:

  • to GENERALISE on all of a class
  • to FOCUS on one representative of a class, to refer to a PARTICULAR, or more than one, SPECIFIC item B&B3.2.9 (R&S 2.6a,c,d)
  • with ABSTRACT NOUNS (except when partitive) B&B 3.2.6, 3.2.8,4,6 (R&S 2.8)
  • with the names of MOUNTAINS, OCEANS, SEAS, RIVERS, CARDINAL POINTS of the compass B&B 3.2.15 (R&S 2.6h,)
  • with the name of certain COUNTRIES (and ALL when qualified) and the Continents - older grammars were mandatory about the use of the definite article in an extensive list of countries. Beware of this; the use made of the article is limited, in written as well as in spoken Spanish, and usage varies B&B3.2:17 (compare with the very different statements in an older grammar, R&S 2, 21-23):
  • with the reference to LANGUAGES B&B 3.2:16 (R&S 2.13) With the verb 'hablar' a distinction can be introduced by the use of the article. Compare 'Aunque mi amigo lleva sólo un mes en Madrid, ya habla español' and 'Juana habla el español a perfección'; ' ¡Qué bien habla Vd el español' In the latter two, a command of the language is implied.
  • with TITLES, and PROPER NAMES when qualified, EXCEPT foreign titles, don, fray, santo and feminine forms, and when in direct address or apposition B&B 3.2.21; 3.2:24 (R&S 2.30). Care has to be exercised in the use of the article before a name; it may indicate notoriety, public fame, e.g. la María would indicate an actress, a singer, or a woman with some kind of public notoriety. In Latin America, it is very common to preface a forename with an article, without the connotations that exist in Castilian.
  • with sports teams;e.g. el Atlética, el Granada , el Real Madrid. see B&B 3.2.22.
  • with certain PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS

The following phrases illustrate the use of the definite article in the context of days of the week, seasons of the year and years:

  • Los lunes no hay periódicos nacionales. On Mondays there are no national papers. (This refers to habitual or repeated events).
  • El miércoles enterraron a la víctima del atraco. On Wednesday they buried the victim of the hold-up (a specific day, in the past).
  • ¿Qué día es? Hoy es lunes. What day is it? Today is Monday.
  • En el verano la sequía es muy grave. In summer the drought is very serious.
  • En invierno, alquilamos una casa en la montaña. In winter we hire a house in the hills. (Usage varies like this with all the seasons; but not in the plural; En los otoños, los madrileños salen a pasearse en los parques).

Some examples of articles and years;

  • En 1492, Colón descubrió América. BUT Las largas vacaciones del 36 The long holiday of '36.
  • En el ochocientos catorce Napoleón sufrió su última derrota. i.e.when the tens and hundreds only appear, without the thousands, the article is used.

Use of the article with the INFINITIVE (B&B 18.7). Take particular note of the article when it accompanies the infinitive in the following form: al levantarse, sintió un dolor en las costillas; when he got up, he felt a pain in the side. The same construction can have a causal meaning and to replace possessives with parts of the body and articles of clothing (B&B 8.3.4)

As a general guideline the ARTICLE is NOT used:

  • in a partitive or indeterminate sense 3.2:4,6 (2.13,33)
  • in most adjectival phrases (use de + noun) 3.2:7
  • after ser (unless predicate is qualified) 3.3:3-4,7-8
  • before cierto, otro, ciento, mil (as adjectives) 3.3:10 & 9.7,12
  • after sin, tal, medio/a, ¡qué! (what a!) 3.3:9 (2.35)
  • in enumerations 3.3:1 (2.36)
  • with nouns in apposition 3.2:12 & 3.3:5
  • with numbers used with Kings, Popes, etc... 3.2:1 or when the cardinal replaces the ordinal (position)
  • for titles of books (¡ojo!) and in contemporary headlines 3.2:9-10
  • certain idiomatic expressions and some proverbs 3.2:1 (2.37)

The INDEFINITE ARTICLE un/una has a plural, unos/unas, when not meaning a number. The indefinite article, when not referring to a number, conveys that the object is not known beforehand. There is a third category of use for un/una which grammarians call artículo indeterminado.

If you have some indefinite amount (rather than quantity, which you can count) in the singular [partitive], there is no need for an article

Use after abstract nouns, or others, that are qualifed by adjective or phrase 3.3:4

No need for article with ser/tener + unqualified noun (unless uno is the number one) 3.3:7- 8 or after phrases in apposition 3.3:35

Remember:

Some nouns have a different meaning according to whether Feminine or Singular (vocabulary). 1.3.16

It is usual to repeat the article, and preposition, before every noun 3.2:2,3:1 (2.10,12,36) unless they are closely connected in meaning (synonyms), or understood as one entity, or used with o.

Use the AL/DEL contraction when the article EL is preceded by DE or A 3.1:2

A related problem is LO B&B 7

You should practice these Articles in the relevant exercises offered on STANCALL, R & C 3.