Learn Spanish by reading headlines: articles (I) definite and indefinite articles

 Articles are a class of words that precede the noun and indicate: 

1) If what is designated by the noun is known or unknown by the interlocutors

2) The gender of the noun (masculine or feminine)

3) The number of the noun (singular or plural)

Let's compare two newspaper headlines to explain this:

"Djokovic se convirtió en el tenista con más semanas como número 1 en la historia del tenis ranqueado" (Djokovic became the tennis player with the most weeks as number 1 in the history of ranked tennis).

"El ataque de furia de un tenista en un torneo ATP: rompió tres raquetas en 25 segundos y perdió el partido" (The outburst of fury of a tennis player in an ATP tournament: he broke three rackets in 25 seconds and lost the match).

These two headlines contain the noun "tenista" (tennis player), however the article that precedes it in each case is different ("el" in the first and "un" in the second. Why does this happen?

Note that in the first case the tennis player of which one is speaking is specified; It's Djokovic. In the second case, instead, we are told about a tennis player, but without specifying who he is. When what the noun refers to is specifically identified, we must use definite articles. "These are "el", "la", "los" and "las". Unlike what happens in Spanish, in English there is only one definite article, which is "the".

When it is not specifically identified what the noun refers to, we must use indefinite articles. These are "un", "una", "unos" y "unas". Unlike what happens in Spanish, in English there are only two indefinite articles, which are "a" and "an".

In the next references to the same noun, it will no longer be accompanied by indefinite articles but by definite ones, because once what is being talked about is introduced, it is already assumed to be known. This is the case, in effect, in the news item taken as an example where the character in question is later referred to as "el joven tenista" (the young tennis player).

"En febrero del 2020 el joven tenista afirmó en una entrevista con el periódico francés L’Equipe que odiaba el tenis con todo su corazón:" (In February 2020, the young tennis player stated in an interview with the French newspaper L'Equipe that he hated tennis with all his heart). In the underlined sentence, the noun "tenista" appears again, but this time accompanied by the definite article "el" ("joven" is just an additional adjective that does not affect what we are explaining here).

In this post we have explained when to use definite or indefinite articles. However, as we mentioned before, in the Spanish language there are four definite articles and four indefinite articles. In future posts we will learn which of them to use in each case.

Listen to the content of this post in Spanish in the following video: https://youtu.be/OubJnXGMang