Use Definite, Indefinite and Zero Articles in Spanish

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Video: Use Definite, Indefinite and Zero Articles in Spanish

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Hello! Welcome to VisiHow and to the series of videos on the Spanish language. In this video, we are going to show you how to use the definite, indefinite, and zero articles.

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   In English, the definite article is "the"; and the indefinite articles are "a" and "an"

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   "Some" is a determiner that we can use instead of the zero article. In Spanish, it is a little bit more complicated as there are four articles based on gender and number. They are used according to the noun to which they are referring.

   

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2. 2
   In this example, the nouns that we will use are "chico" ("boy") and "chica" ("girl")

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   We have definite articles:

   • el: the (masculine) - el chico: the boy;
     in English, that would be "the boy", "the girl", "the apples", "the dogs", "the house", and "the cars". We just use "the" all of the time. It is very easy. In Spanish, it is not that simple.
   • Los: the (masculine, plural) - los chicos: the boys;
     we change "el" (for "the", single) to "los" (for "the", plural). Those two are just for the masculine.
   • La: the (feminine) - la chica: the girl;
   • las: the (feminine, plural) - las chicas: the girls.
     As we can see we have four different ways to use "the" in Spanish: "el", "los", "la", and "las".
     

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3. 3
   Then, we have the indefinite and zero articles

   :

   • un: a, an (masculine) - un chico: a boy;
   • unos: zero article (masculine, plural) - unos chicos: boys;
   • una: a, an (feminine) - una chica: a girl;
   • unas zero article (feminine plural) - unas chicas: girls.
     

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4. 4
   "Un" and "una" can also mean "one"

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   • "Una manzana": "one apple".
     

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5. 5
   We have to remember that in Spanish the definite, indefinite, and zero articles change according to whether the noun is masculine, feminine, single, or plural

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   We can ask ourselves: "When do I use 'el'?" and, "When do I use 'la'?" We know when to use the articles when we have the noun. In our example, "chico" is the noun. It ends in "o" (masculine), so we must use "el". If we see a noun like "chica" or "casa", then we see that it ends in "a" (feminine), so we must use "la".

   

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Follow the same rules from the tutorial and create some sentences using what you've learned from the video. Leave those sentences in the comment section below, so that we can see how you do it. You can share them with us. We like that idea. Make sure that you check out other videos on the Spanish language. You can find them on the VisiHow site. We'll help you to explore and expand your Spanish knowledge. This concludes our tutorial on how to use the definite, indefinite, and zero articles in the Spanish. If you have any questions, comments, or queries regarding this video or about the process that you have witnessed in this video, then please leave them in the comment section below. We shall answer them for you.

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