📗 Articles in Spanish – El, La, Los, Las

 Learn Spanish and Culture – Beginner Level (A1)

By Teacher Laura de Español 🍊

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👩‍🏫 What are articles?

In Spanish, articles are little words that come before a noun (person, place, thing). In English, we use “the.”
In Spanish, we use el, la, los, las — and they must match the noun in gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural).

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✨ Definite Articles in Spanish

Article	Gender	Number	Example in Spanish	English Translation
el	masculine	singular	el café	the coffee
la	feminine	singular	la casa	the house
los	masculine	plural	los libros	the books
las	feminine	plural	las flores	the flowers

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💡 How to know if a word is masculine or feminine?

Many nouns follow this pattern:

• Words ending in -o → usually masculine → el carro

• Words ending in -a → usually feminine → la mesa

But there are exceptions! That’s why we always learn the article with the noun.

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🧠 Examples in context

• El río es bonito. → The river is beautiful.

• La profesora es amable. → The teacher is kind.

• Los niños están en el parque. → The kids are in the park.

• Las montañas son altas. → The mountains are tall.

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💞 Cultural Connection

In Colombian Spanish, people describe their surroundings with emotion. For example:

• La música es muy alegre.

• El clima de Medellín es perfecto.
  Knowing how to use articles helps you describe the beauty of Colombia — and express yourself with love.

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📝 Practice time

1. Choose the correct article:

   • ___ pan (bread)

   • ___ familia (family)

   • ___ amigos (friends – masculine)

   • ___ playas (beaches – feminine)

2. Translate into Spanish:

   • The city → ___________________

   • The books → ___________________

   • The girl → ___________________

   • The coffees → ___________________

3. Write 3 sentences using different articles and nouns. Example:

   • La comida está deliciosa.

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🌟 Tip from Teacher Laura 🍊

Articles are like little signals: they tell you how to treat the word. Is it feminine? Is it plural? Start learning nouns with their article. For example: say la ventana, not just ventana. That’s how natives learn too.

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➡️ Next article:

“Nouns and Gender – Masculine and Feminine in Spanish”

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Con cariño siempre,
Teacher Laura de Español 🍊
Learn Spanish with love and culture