Definite Articles (El/La/Los/Las)

In English, there is only one definite article: the. In Spanish, there are four, because the article must agree with the noun in both gender and number. Mastering the definite articles is essential for building grammatically correct sentences.

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The Four Definite Articles

	Singular	Plural
Masculine	el	los
Feminine	la	las

Examples

Spanish	English
el libro	the book
la mesa	the table
los libros	the books
las mesas	the tables
el profesor	the teacher (male)
la profesora	the teacher (female)
los profesores	the teachers
las profesoras	the female teachers

Tip: Think of the article and the noun as a unit. When you learn a new noun, always learn it with its article: el agua, la casa, los niños, las flores.

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Choosing the Correct Article

The article must match the noun in two ways:

1. Gender — masculine (el/los) or feminine (la/las)
2. Number — singular (el/la) or plural (los/las)