article review in spanish

Guide to Spanish Articles: The Only Lesson You’ll Ever Need

According to the Royal Spanish Academy’s most recent corpus, the articles la and el are the second and the fourth most used words in Spanish, respectively. So, if you ever wonder if articles in Spanish are important, the answer is without a doubt, yes! 

Articles are key to forming cohesive sentences in Spanish. So, if you’re looking to learn more about this essential topic, in this guide, you’ll find all the crucial information you need to understand and adequately use Spanish articles. 

Here is a quick overview of the topics covered in this guide:

• What Are Articles?
• Advanced lesson: neuter article ‘lo’

Indefinite Articles in Spanish

Difference between definite & indefinite articles.

• ​​ Spanish Articles and Spelling Considerations
• When Not to Use Articles?
• Key Points About Spanish Articles  

By the end of it, you’ll feel more confident about articles in Spanish. 

What Are Articles in Spanish?

Articles are small words that are classified as determiners . In simple terms, this means that Spanish articles are words that you place before a noun to provide certain details about the thing or person you’re talking about. When using Spanish articles, you convey the following information:

• The gender and number of the noun (feminine or masculine, singular or plural ). 
• If the people involved in the conversation already know or are aware of the specific object you’re talking about. 

Confused? Check these examples:

Siempre sí compré el celular .  I ended up buying the phone . 

Ayer compré unos celulares .  Yesterday, I bought some phones .  

If you compare example #1 vs. #2, you’ll realize that they’re talking about masculine nouns . However, #1 refers to a single phone, while #2 talks about multiple phones. 

Additionally, by using el, the first example implies that the people involved in the conversation already know which phone I’m talking about. This doesn’t happen in the second example, where people don’t know anything about the types of phones I got.  

Based on their degree of specificity , articles in Spanish are classified into:

• Definite articles : to refer to defined objects or people. 
• Indefinite articles: used to talk about undefined people or things. 

In the sections below, we’ll explore these types of articles in more detail. 

Spanish Definite Articles

As their name suggests, definite articles in Spanish work with a defined noun. This means that the people engaging in the conversation with you already know or have heard about the noun you’re talking about. 

So, in simple terms, you use definite articles to talk about particular things you previously mentioned and that you know people will be able to identify. Below is a table with definite articles in Spanish:

When to use definite articles

Identifying when you’re talking about something specific can be challenging as a new Spanish learner. So, if you still feel unsure about when to use definite articles in Spanish, here is a list of situations where you need to use these words:

• To describe specific objects or people. 
• To tell the time in Spanish .
• To emphasize that something is unique or the best of its kind.
• To talk about games, days of the week , instruments you play, ordinary numbers , body parts, dates, and sports.
• To express your likes and dislikes.
• To build superlative sentences in Spanish. 
• To refer to people’s titles or certain names of places. 
• To refer to objects that are near the speaker. 

Take Note: When the prepositions a or de come immediately before the article ‘el’, you need to contract both words (check the graphic below) to avoid awkward pronunciation. 

Examples of how to use definite articles in Spanish

Below are some examples of how to use definite articles in Spanish. Let’s see if you can identify all of the contexts listed above, shall we? Remember that these words need to agree in gender and number with the noun.

[Definite Article] + [noun]+ (complement)

No me gustó el pastel .  I didn’t like the cake . 

Tengo clase los lunes .  I have classes on Mondays . 

Tip: While we don’t do this in English, we always a masculine article (‘el’ or ‘los’) to refer to the days of the week in Spanish .

Creo que son las cinco .  I believe it is five . 

Celia se quebró el brazo .  Celia broke her arm . 

Tip: In English, you don’t use articles with the same frequency as we do in Spanish. As a result, there will be many situations that may seem weird to you. For example, body parts always work with definite articles because they’re something unique and specific . 

La casa de la esquina es azul.  The house on the corner is blue. 

¿Sabe a qué hora llega la doctora ? What time does the doctor arrive?

Tip: In this example, we know that the doctor is female. If the doctor was male, we would use ‘ el doctor’.

Juan Carlos toca la guitarra muy bien.  Juan Carlos plays the guitar very well. 

Mis primos son los más altos de la familia.  My cousins are the tallest in the family. 

Judith y Tony se mudaron a La Habana .  Judith and Tony moved to Havana . 

Pasa, Charlie, ¿puedes cerrar la puerta ? Come in, Charlie. Can you close the door ?

Ella es siempre la mujer para Sherlock Holmes.  She was always the woman for Sherlock Holmes.

Tip: In Spanish, there are many places (such as countries, rivers, cities, mountains, lakes, etc.) whose name is formed with a definite article . Some examples include:

Advanced Tip: Spanish speakers use definite articles to express possession as well. This meaning is only available when it’s more than clear that the object belongs to the speaker. In this case, you can use articles instead of possessive adjectives . 

As a result, you could say:

Me robaron el celular y la cartera.  Somebody stole my phone and my wallet. 

Neuter article ‘lo’

As you progress in your Spanish grammar , sooner or later, you’ll have to use the infamous neuter article lo. Jokes aside, many students assume that ‘lo’ is a masculine article. However, as a neuter article , ‘lo’ does not convey the gender of a noun. 

Unlike other Spanish definite articles, ‘lo’ only has this form and it doesn’t work with nouns because Spanish nouns always have a gender. As a result, the neuter article ‘lo’ is used to:

• Emphasize qualities.
• Refer to abstract concepts, such as ideas, wishes, or thoughts. 

When working as a neuter article, lo can be translated as ‘ how’ or ‘what ’. Keep in mind that we use the conjunction que to introduce ideas, wishes or thoughts. 

Lo + [adjective/adverb/que] + [complement]

No puedo creer lo rápido que comes.  I can’t believe how fast you eat. 

Lo que quiero es descansar.  What I want is to rest. 

Ojalá pudieras ver lo bonita que está la ciudad.  I wish you were able to see how pretty the city is. 

Take Note: Some people also use the neuter article ‘lo’ to refer to a person’s house or commercial business. While this application is not as common as it used to be, you may find it in books or in small towns. 

Ahorita vengo. Voy a lo de Sophie.  I’ll be right back. I’m going to Sophie’s. 

Spanish indefinite articles refer to imprecise and undefined people or things. This means that the listener or reader is not yet aware of the noun (object) you’re referring to, or he doesn’t have enough information to identify it. 

For this reason, indefinite articles in Spanish are used to introduce a person or object into the conversation. Below is a table with all the indefinite articles in Spanish:

When to use indefinite articles

Spanish indefinite articles have three main uses:

• Refer to an unspecified noun. 
• Express and emphasize the amount of a noun. 
• Emphasize the qualities or characteristics of a noun. 

Here are some examples of how to use these articles:

[Subject] + [verb conjugated] + [indefinite article] + adjective) + [noun]

Te compré un suéter .  I bought you a sweater . 

Jonathan, ¿quieres una manzana ? Jonathan, do you want an apple ?

Quiero un helado de chocolate.  I want a chocolate ice cream cone .

Tatiana es una buena hermana.  Tatiana is a good sister. 

Hay unos niños en la puerta.  There are some kids at the door.

As you can see in examples #1 and #5, we don’t have much information about the nouns. We don’t know who those kids are or what type of sweater I bought you. On the other hand, examples #2 and #3 express the quantity of ice cream and apples the person wants. Finally, the fourth example emphasizes Tatiana’s characteristics.

As you have learned so far, definite and indefinite articles in Spanish aren’t the same. The key difference between these sets of words is their degree of specificity . To put it in simple terms:  

• Definite articles accompany defined nouns that listeners can easily distinguish because they’ve heard or known about them before. 
• Indefinite articles work with undefined nouns that listeners cannot identify because they either don’t have enough information about that noun or haven’t heard about it. 

Check these simple examples:

Definite article

Quiero el pastel de chocolate , por favor.  I want the chocolate cake, please. 

Indefinite article 

Quiero un pastel, por favor.  I want a cake, please. 

Observe the sentences above. When using definite articles, I’m talking about something specific that the listeners can quickly identify. In this example, that would be the chocolate cake, and it’s implied that the person selling cakes knows what cake I’m talking about.  

However, if I use the indefinite article, aside from the quantity, I’m not giving much information about what I want. So, the clerk and I would need to have a conversation to define the type of cake I’m looking for. 

Take Note: Another key difference between definite and indefinite articles in Spanish is that definite articles never work with the verb haber. This use is only applicable to indefinite articles. 

Hay la rebanada de pizza en la mesa.   There’s the slice of pizza on the table. 

Hay una rebanada de pizza en la mesa.   There’s a slice of pizza on the table. 

Spanish Articles and Spelling Considerations

We’ve already established that Spanish nouns always have a gender and that you have to choose the article that agrees with the object’s gender. However, when it comes to Spanish articles, there’s an exception to this rule that you should know. 

When a feminine singular noun begins with a stressed ‘a’ sound, you will have to use a singular masculine article to ease the pronunciation.

Want to check it for yourself? Try to read the sentences below. Did you notice how smooth the pronunciation is with the correct examples?

This rule doesn’t apply if:

• There’s an adjective between the article and the noun. 
• The noun is in its diminutive form or other variations. 
• The article is used to establish the gender of a noun.
• The noun refers to the name of a letter or initials. 

Check these examples:

[Article] + (adjective) + [noun]

  La pequeña hada voló a su casa.  The little fairy flew to her house. 

Vimos una aguilita en la montaña. We saw a little eagle on the mountain. 

Mi comida favorita es la árabe .  My favorite food is Arabic . 

En español, la hache es muda.  In Spanish, the letter H is mute. 

When to Omit Articles in Spanish?

Although they are a common element in a sentence, articles in Spanish have to be omitted in certain situations. The following cases do not require the use of articles:

• Saying a person’s profession
• Referring to months or years
• Referring to proper nouns
• Talking about uncountable nouns or unspecified amounts

Here are some examples:

Lenny es un enfermero .  Lenny is a nurse . 

Lenny es enfermero .  Lenny is a nurse . 

Bonnie es una periodista .  Bonnie is a journalist . 

Bonnie es periodista .  Bonnie is a journalist . 

Tip: Even though in English you use articles to refer to a person’s profession, in Spanish we don’t have this application. However, you will need to add an indefinite article if you’re describing how people are in their professional life. 

Sonia es una excelente enfermera.  Sonia is an excellent nurse. 

Nací en el 1991 .  I was born in 1991 .  

Nací en 1991 .  I was born in 1991 .  

Vivo en la China .   I live in China . 

Vivo en China .   I live in China . 

Tp: As you already know, there are certain rivers, mountains, cities, and countries whose names in Spanish are formed with a definite article. In this case, you cannot omit the article because it’s part of that proper noun. 

Necesitamos la leche .   We need milk . 

¿Todavía tenemos un vino ? Do we still have a wine ?

Necesitamos leche .   We need milk . 

¿Todavía tenemos vino ? Do we still have wine ?

Tip: Articles and uncountable nouns in Spanish can be confusing. In this case, you only need to use articles if the object you’re referring to is very specific. Check the examples below. 

¿Dónde está la leche que compré? Where is the milk that I bought?  

¿Todavía tenemos el vino que nos dio Gus? Do we still have the Italian wine that Gus gave us? 

Key Points & Rules for Articles

Spanish articles can be challenging. To help you overcome this, here are some key points that you should never forget:

• Articles in Spanish are always placed before the noun. 
• Spanish articles have to agree in number and gender with the noun. 
• Articles express if the people involved in the conversation already know or are aware of the object or person you’re talking about. 
• Articles are classified as either definite or indefinite articles. 
• La, el, los, las and lo are definite articles in Spanish. 
• ‘ Al’ and ‘ del’ are mandatory contractions formed when the prepositions a or de are in front of the article ‘el’.
• Tell the time in Spanish .
• Talk about specific objects.
• Emphasize that a noun is unique or the best of its kind.
• Build superlative structures . 
• Refer to a person’s title. 
• Express your likes and dislikes. 
• Talk about days of the week , instruments you play, body parts, dates, and sports. 
• The neuter article ‘lo’ does not work with nouns . It emphasizes qualities or refers to abstract concepts. 
• Indefinite articles are un, uno, una and unas.
• Express the quantity of a certain noun. 
• Emphasize the qualities of a noun. 
• When a singular feminine noun starts with a stressed ‘a’ sound, the feminine article must be replaced by ‘el’ or ‘ un’ to ease the pronunciation.
• Articles have to be omitted in certain situations. 

Daniela Sanchez

¡Hola! Soy Daniela Sanchez, I've been studying Spanish professionally as well as teaching it in Mexico and online for over 10 years. I’ve taught Spanish to a wide array of foreigners from many backgrounds. Over the years, I've made it my mission to work hard on refining many challenging to understand grammar topics to make my students' learning experiences easier, faster and more enjoyable. Read More About Me

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10 Unusual Websites With Fascinating Spanish Articles To Read So That You Immerse Yourself In The Language

Have you ever struggled to find Spanish articles to read that you can enjoy, immerse and understand with ease?…

I’ve been there too because I struggled a lot to find stuff I enjoyed reading when I was learning English.

Today I want to make it easier for you and your Spanish learning journey in this blog post. I’ll share 10 websites with Spanish articles to read that I’m confident will be worth your time.

Whatever you like to read online, there’s something interesting in Spanish for you out there, and these sites cover topics such as:

• Health and wellness
• Entertainment

You name it!

All this content might be helpful to practice and learn more Spanish. Actually, even if you’re a Spanish teacher, these sites may come in handy for preparing your lessons.

I’ve chosen these websites after carefully thinking about different factors like personal interests, difficulty, and length.

So let’s get into it!

1. Nationalgeographicla.com

Do you still remember watching those hour-long nature documentaries on TV years back when WiFi wasn’t a thing?

Good old Natgeo had our backs during those times.

It’s not an easy task to watch an entire documentary in Spanish, but this website has written information about science-based topics.

Stuff like:

• The Universe

You may read about all that on NatGeo!

For example, they posted this article to motivate people into working out based on scientific reasons!

Also, if traveling sounds more like you then this article in Spanish may be of your interest so that you immerse your mind in discovering new places.

Genial is designed to be a platform for people to find Spanish articles to read about curiosities and DIY activities.

One thing I like about it is that it’s got always pictures all over each article, those visual aids will help you tremendously with your Spanish comprehension!

Genial even offers articles about house decoration that I’m sure you and your significant other may enjoy if you’re a fan of creating beautiful spaces at home.

You might also find wholesome real-life stories that will melt your heart while learning Spanish.

RELATED: The ultimate guide to reading Spanish more effectively so you can make the most out of your next book.

3. Semana.com

If you want to read news from Colombia as you get familiarized with Spanish articles to read that are written for native speakers, then this site will suit you perfectly.

In fact, ‘Semana’ isn’t just a website, this is actually one of the most famous magazines in Colombia.

Aside from news , they also feature articles on interesting topics like traveling or lifestyle.

For instance, are you thinking about traveling “sustainably” ? They wrote this post to give you some keys about that and do it the Colombian way.

Have you ever wondered how would it be to live in Colombia in 2023 financially wise? Here’s a Spanish post from Semana Magazine that will give you a hint about the Colombian economy right now.

4. Vogue.es

The official website of this famous beauty magazine actually contains very solid Spanish articles to read.

Not to mention that the paragraphs are nicely presented, which also helps to understand what you’re reading.

If you’re into beauty, lifestyle, and fashion, then this site is perfect to combine learning Spanish with something interesting to you.

For instance, check out this article about healthy eating , it’s got amazing Spanish redaction.

Or try reading this post, in which I learned that one of the worse morning habits we can have is checking your phone as you as you wake up.

You’d be surprised to know that this site is the most translated on the internet with over 1000 languages, now that takes work!

Even though this website is spirituality related, they offer many other non-religious articles.

From lots of super exciting, short, and illustrated Spanish articles to read and listen simultaneously to easy-to-understand approaches on subjects like history, science, animals, and so on.

Even free to watch videos with the option to turn on subtitles!

Perfect for language learning or foreign language practice in my opinion.

For example, one of the articles I enjoyed the most recently from Jw.org is about the function of cat whiskers , or “los bigotes del gato”… that’s how we call them in Spanish.

Did you know that if a cat loses his whiskers, he’ll be disabled for some time?

I was thrilled to learn that!

6. Newsinslowspanish.com

For many students, this is one of their favorite language-learning resources they’ve come across.

They offer current events narrated at a slower pace.

However, in order for you to get the most out of it, you must log in and purchase a subscription to read further the free content tho.

Now, it might not be a downside if you pay for the premium service considering that they offer features such as:

• Translations to English
• Speed control over audio
• Recording tool to help you improve pronunciation

7. LingQ.com

The reason I include LingQ is that, on this app, you can upload any Spanish articles to read from the web and use its features to go through it with:

• Dictionaries
• Translators
• And voice-overs. 

There’s also a wide variety of articles that other users uploaded from all around the internet.

In other words, you may find any kind of topic to read at LingQ!

Because of that, and because of how much it helped me learn Portuguese, I still consider LingQ the best language-learning app you can find online so far.

Here’s a review I made about the app some months ago:

LingQ Review: Is It Still Worth Your Time & Money?

It’s totally worth reading if you want to read about how I used it to learn Portuguese.

8. Muyinteresante.es

This website offers over 10 different categories of Spanish articles to read.

Many of them are written to give readers the feeling of learning something they didn’t know before rather than being informative.

Something great about it is that some articles come with youtube videos about the same subject, perfect to:

• And then listen

Or basically, read and get familiarized with the vocabulary so that you may watch the video later and understand more of the language you hear.

I personally loved this article about philosophy knowledge that includes an awesome test to see how much you know!

9. Tendencias21

This website has all the latest scientific and technological news.

In my opinion, this is perfect for those who enjoy the “nerd” side of life and would like to combine that with their skills to read in Spanish.

I feel like the level of these students should be somewhere between the B2 to the C2 level according to the CEFR, so that they can enjoy working with this kind of content.

Related: The Ultimate Guide To Reading Spanish More Effectively So You Can Make The Most Out Of Your Next Book

Something I love about this site is that there are links to the original scientific news, which gives the articles tons of credibility.

This means that you’ll be practicing your Spanish with 100% authentic material, not just some kind of text someone came up with to teach a grammar rule or vocabulary.

If you decide to read an article from this site, something you could do after reading the article is to compare the original English source with what you understood in the Spanish version.

That’d be great for testing your comprehension.

Another feature I like from Tendencias21 is the section “Breves” which literally means “Shorts” , and it will take to some short articles about science, perfect for students looking for short Spanish readings.

Here’s an article they posted that actually made me think about how close we are to futures displayed in movies like the Matrix or I, Robot: Los ordenadores están cada vez más cerca de emular el cerbro humano.

Is it really a distant future?… Find out at Tendencias21!

10. Consumer.es

One thing to highlight is how practical most of their articles are if you want to engage with day-to-day Spanish vocabulary which is something I highly recommend.

I’ve included this one here because their articles are very detailed and well-thought but also easy to skim through.

For example, the other day I came across a post about some important reminders before borrowing money.

RELATED: How to remember Spanish vocabulary

Reading will help you develop very specific skills in your Spanish learning journey.

It improves your logical understanding and reasoning of the language.

Each site we’ve covered has something particular, so make sure you pick the one that sounds more interesting to you and read some Spanish right away.

And if you feel like your reading skills are not as good as you’d like to have them right now, then make sure you read these posts:

• The Ultimate Guide To Reading Spanish More Effectively So You Can Make The Most Out Of Your Next Book

Finally, I’d like to hear from you…

Is there any site with good Spanish articles to read that we could include in today’s list?

Let me know in the comments below.

Diego Cuadros

Diego Cuadros is a blogger and a Spanish online teacher. He uses stories to help Spanish lovers understand fast-speaking native speakers, so they don't freeze and panic in conversations.

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47 Authentic News Sites for Instant Spanish Immersion

When you are learning Spanish, reading authentic news and current events is one of the best ways to improve your Spanish.

By immersing yourself in real-world Spanish, you will begin to naturally learn new words, sentence structures, and most importantly about the culture and current events in Spanish-speaking communities.

Not only will you improve your vocabulary and command of the language, you will be up-to-date on what’s going on in the world which will enhance your ability to have interesting conversations.

Thanks to the internet, authentic reading materials from around the world are available right at your fingertips.

Get the latest articles and follow these news sources on social media to stay informed and learn with new Spanish learning materials every day.

I’ve compiled an exhaustive list of Spanish news sources you can use to boost your Spanish learning.  You’ll definitely find something appropriate for your Spanish level and interests.

Traditional News for Beginners

Reading in Spanish can be overwhelming in the beginning.  For beginners, these news sites are perfect because they all have the option to switch over to the English version of the site in case you get stuck.

http://elpais.com

A global newspaper that covers news, current events, sports, television and more

• El Nuevo Herald

http://www.elnuevoherald.com/

Spanish version of the Miami Herald newspaper

• New York Times in Spanish

http://www.nytimes.com/es

If you are an avid reader of the NY Times, look no further. It’s the same news you love, only in Spanish.

http://www.bbc.com/mund

BBC news in Spanish

• CNN Español

http://cnnespanol.cnn.com/author/cnn-espanol

You can choose CNN Spain, Mexico, or US for country-specific news in Spanish.

http://es.euronews.com

Europe-based online international news and current events

• News in Slow Spanish

https://www.newsinslowspanish.com/latino

This website provides weekly news in slow, easy to understand Spanish. You can read the transcript while listening to the audio. Unfortunately, you can only access little snippets for free.

News for Spanish Learners

These websites are designed to provide news and cultural information in an easily digestable format for langauge learners:

• Los Veinte Mundos

http://www.veintemundos.com

A magazine focused on culture and life in Spanish speaking countries. The articles are labeled intermediate or advanced, offer a summary, vocabulary support and an audio version of each article.

• Spanish Audio Gazette

http://lab.chass.utoronto.ca/rescentre/spanish/

This site offers audio clips of cultural news and information categorized by the country of the speaker.

http://www.ver-taal.com

This site has sample movie trailers, reports, and cultural information with transcripts to follow along

Pop Culture News

Maybe traditional news isn’t your thing . If you keep up with pop culture and celebrity news, here are some options for you:

• Noticias Telemundo

http://www.telemundo.com/noticias

News site for the broadcasting network

http://www.univision.com

TV network website featuring pop culture and entertainment news

http:// www .rtve.es/

Live and recorded news and TV from Spain

• Radio Formula

http://www.radioformula.com.mx

This site features podcasts, music, TV and news articles based in Mexico

http://www.revistacuore.com

A typical gossip magazine

http://www.lecturas.com

A nice mixture of news and pop culture

• Revista Caras

http://www.caras.cl

News about famous Latinos from around the world

If you already have a favorite magazine, chances are, you can find the Spanish version of that same publication online.  Here are the Spanish versions of some popular magazines:

• Vogue Español

http://www.vogue.es

• People Español

http://www.peopleenespanol.com

• Cosmopolitan

http://www.cosmohispano.com

http://www.gq.com.mx

For all the sports fans out there, there is a plethora of Spanish news for you. Keep in mind that fútbol (soccer) is king in the Spanish-speaking world, so that will be the main topic of most sports sites.

• ESPN Deportes

http://espndeportes.espn.com

• Fox Deportes

http://www.foxdeportes.com

• Televisa Deportes

http://deportes.televisa.com/noticias

Traditional News for Intermediate and Advanced Spanish Learners

If you are an intermediate-level learner or higher, you can dive right in and read local newspapers. Many Latino communities in the United States have community newspapers, especially in larger cities.

You can also find national news sites based in Spain and Latin America. This is a compilation of well-known newspapers from different countries:

• La Crónica de Hoy

http://www.lacronica.com

News from Mexicali, Mexico

http://www.elmundo.es

Spanish based but very popular for online information in Spanish

• La Nación Argentina

http://www.lanacion.com.ar/

Newspaper from Argentina

• La Nación Costa Rica

http://www.nacion.com

Costa Rican national newspaper

• La Nación Colombia

http://www.lanacion.com.co

National news from Colombia

http://www.20minutos.es

Short and concise Spanish news

• El Informador

http://www.informador.com.mx

News from Jalisco, Mexico

• El Comercio

http://elcomercio.pe

Peru-based newspaper

http://www.semana.com

Colombia-based news

http://www.elcaribe.com.do

Newspaper based in the Dominican Republic

• El Nuevo Día

http://www.elnuevodia.com/

Newspaper of record in Puerto Rico

http://elvocero.com

Puerto Rican daily newspaper

http://www.clarin.com

Daily news from Argentina

Daily newspaper published in the Honduras

http://www.elheraldo.hn

Daily news from Paraguay

http://www.extra.com.py

http://www.hoy.com.ni

Pop culture news based in Nicaragua

http://www.diariolavoz.net

National news from Venezuela

• Juventud Rebelde

http://www.juventudrebelde.cu

Daily newspaper run by young people in Cuba

http://www.lapatriaenlinea.com

Daily news from Bolivia

http://lahora.com.ec

National newspaper from Ecuador

http://www.lacuarta.com

Daily Pop Culture Newsmagazine from Chile

http://peru21.pe/

Newspaper based in Lima, Peru

http://www.laprensagrafica.com

News from El Salvador

Hopefully this list will help you find reading material that keeps you engaged, interested and reading in Spanish on a regular basis.

If you have trouble understanding the articles at first, try printing them out and adding notes, translations, or summaries to help you get the hang of reading in a second language. The more you practice, the easier it will become.

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¡Hola! My name is Tamara Marie. I’m a language coach specializing in brain-friendly methods to learn foreign languages faster. I speak English (US native), Spanish (advanced), and Brazilian Portuguese (beginner). I’m a Latin music & dance addict and passionate about helping people learn languages.

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How to Use Spanish Articles Correctly – Definite and indefinite articles in Spanish 📚

In this video, I’m going to teach you the Spanish articles. In English, the articles that exist are “the” and “a”… and that’s it.

In Spanish we have these Spanish articles: • el • la • lo • los • la • un • una • unos • unas . But fear not! After reading this text, you will know exactly when to use each article!

1. The Basics of Spanish Articles

Before we take off, we should go over the basics. Did you know that definite and indefinite articles exist in English? Tada! “The” is the definite article, and both “a” and “an” are indefinite articles.

In both languages, definite articles are used when reference is being made to a specific thing, place, or person. In Spanish, the article el is used when the noun is masculine and singular, while the article la is used when the noun is feminine and singular.

Please note that el does not have an accent, because if you use an accent mark , you will change the meaning completely: instead “the” it would mean “he. So, it’s very important that you respect that rule. 

Now, let’s review some examples:

• El perro más viejo (the oldest dog)
• La clase de los artículos (the article’s lesson)

As regards the plural form:

• El becomes Los (masculine)
• La becomes Las (feminine)

2. Examples of articles in Spanish

So, let’s have a look at more examples of it:

• Los perros más pequeños (the smaller dogs)
• Las clases de español (the Spanish lessons)

How do we know if the noun is masculino or feminino ? Well, go and check out the video that I made for you to identify the gender of nouns. In that video, I provide you with useful tips that you may apply in your daily life while learning Spanish.

3. Use Neuter article for general ideas

And just when you thought that Spanish has only two articles, because there are only two genders, right? Actually, there is a third definite article called neutro (neuter), which is used for general ideas or concepts and does not make reference to any gender.

Lo is usually followed by an adjective. Let’s see some examples:

• Lo más importante (the most important) — in English we should add the word “thing” so it makes sense, i.e. the most important thing
• Lo más importante es respirar. (Breathing is the most important thing .)
• Lo mejor (the best)

4. How to use indefinite articles in Spanish

In English, an indefinite article is used to refer to a general thing; for example, an exam or a school. It could be any school or any exam.

In Spanish, un is used when the general thing we are referring to is masculino (masculine) and una if it’s femenino (femenine).

Let’s go over some examples with some phrases:

• Somos una escuela de español. (We are a Spanish school.)
• Una niña (a girl)

This is how to use them in plural:

So, in Spanish we use unos if masculine or unas if feminine. The proper translation into English would be “some”.

For example:

• Tengo unos exámenes mañana. (I have some exams tomorrow.)
• Quiero unos zapatos nuevos. (I want some new shoes.)

5. Spanish grammar summary: Definite and indefinite articles

Definite articles are used to talk about specific things, people, or places. Those articles are el and los if the thing, person, or place is masculino , and la or las if the thing, person, or place is feminine .

Indefinite articles are used to refer to unspecific things or concepts. If a thing or concept is masculine, the proper article should be un (singular) or unos (plural) and una (singular) or unas (plural).

As a reminder, the article lo is used for general things and doesn’t respond or refer to any gender, and is usually accompanied by an adjective.

6. Use articles in Spanish with FREE Spanish Training

Do not feel overwhelmed! The Spring Spanish team is here for you, so feel free to check out the videos on our channel. Additionally, we are currently offering a free Spanish training on our website. If you sign up, you will get free sample lessons that come straight from our Academy and you will also discover the method we use to teach our students to speak fluent Spanish.

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Traveler, Dog Lover and Creative, are just a few characteristics of María-Fernanda. She is from the beautiful South East Coast in Mexico where "La Bamba" song was born: Veracruz. María Fernanda is a great company if you want to spend your days laughing, learning fun facts and dancing salsa, merengue, bachata or whatever that makes you shake it! She considers herself an ambassador of her country and Spanish Language, as she loves sharing about her culture to the people of the places she has been, so far more than 50 countries in the world and lived in 5 of them while studying abroad.

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Guide To Definite and Indefinite Articles in Spanish

To speak Spanish like a native, you need to know the rules for Spanish definite and indefinite articles. 

It’s tempting to think that if Spanish has definite and indefinite articles like English does, you can simply translate them from one language to another. Unfortunately, you usually can’t. 

That’s where this article comes in handy! Read it to understand Spanish definite articles and how to use them correctly. I’ll throw in lots of examples. Take a quiz at the end to check your newly acquired knowledge.

What Are Spanish Definite and Indefinite Articles?

Let’s briefly review what Spanish definite and indefinite articles are. 

Articles are the little words that go before a noun to define it better. They’re one of the 8 parts of speech in Spanish—along with nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions, prepositions, and interjections.  

In English, the definite article is ‘the.’ Indefinite articles are ‘a’ and ‘an.’ In Spanish, gender and number come into question, so you have more options to match the noun. 

Definite Articles in Spanish

You use definite articles in Spanish, like in English, to talk about something specific. In Spanish, you have 4 forms to choose from:

• el – singular and masculine
• la – singular and feminine
• los – plural and masculine
• las – plural and feminine

Why so many? Remember that in Spanish the article needs to match the gender and number of the noun. For example, if you use a singular and feminine noun, your definite article must also be singular and feminine.

El perro de Ana ladra mucho. Ana’s dog barks a lot.

La cama de mis padres es muy vieja. My parents’ bed is very old.

Las hijas de mi tío son mis primas. My uncle’s daughters are my cousins.

Los gatos de Juan son lindos.  Juan’s cats are cute.

Watch out for the exceptions. When a feminine, singular noun starts with a stressed a or ha , you use the masculine definite singular article ( el ) instead of the feminine one ( la ). When the same noun is plural, use the feminine definite article ( las ).

Pásame el agua. Pass me the water.

Las aguas de aquí pueden ser peligrosas. The waters here can be dangerous.

Other feminine nouns that use the singular masculine definite article are el águila (eagle), el alma (soul), and el hacha (axe).

When To Use a Definite Article in Spanish

As you may have noticed in the example sentences, Spanish articles do not necessarily match up with the English translation. 

That’s why you need to learn when to use the definite articles in Spanish instead of simply trying to translate them.

You already know that you should use the definite article when talking about specific things that both you and the person you’re talking to find familiar. But let’s see other uses. 

To Talk About Things in General

Watch out, as this is opposite to English use. When you want to talk about a group of things or people in general, you need to use a definite article in Spanish.

Los mexicanos comen mucha comida picante. Mexicans eat a lot of spicy food.

Los perros no me gustan. I don’t like dogs.

Los gatos cazan de noche. Cats hunt at night.

To Talk About Days of the Week

In Spanish, you use a definite article with days of the week. (And remember to write the days of the week in Spanish with lowercase letters.)

Nos vemos el miércoles. See you on Wednesday. 

Los sábados descanso. On Saturdays, I rest.

El viernes es mi día favorite. Friday is my favorite day.

The exception to the above rule is when you have to write a day of the week after the verb ser (to be). In this case, don’t put an article before.

Hoy es domingo. Today is Sunday.

To Talk About Languages

Contrary to English, Spanish uses a definite article with names of languages when they are the subject of a sentence.

El español es muy fácil. Spanish is very easy.

El inglés y el chino no se parecen nada. English and Chinese are not alike.

Remember, that you have to omit the article if the language is the object of a verb and not the subject of the sentence.

Quiero hablar español. I want to speak Spanish.

To Talk About Body Parts

Another difference between the use of definite articles in English and Spanish is how you talk about body parts. Instead of using possessive pronouns, you must use definite articles.

Me duele la cabeza. My head hurts.

Dame la mano. Give me your hand.

To Talk About Time

If somebody asks you about the hour, answer with a definite article.

Son las tres de la trade. It’s three o’clock.

Comemos a la una. We eat at one.

To Talk About Possessions

If you talk about possessions or creations in Spanish, use the definite article.

El carro de Juan es bonito. Juan’s car is nice.

Los libros de García Márquez me gustan mucho. I really like García Marquez’s books.

To Talk About People With Tiles

When talking about people with titles, add a definite article before.

El profesor Santamaría da buenas classes. Professor Santamaria gives good classes.

El doctor Rodríguez es bueno. Dr. Rodriguez is good.

However, if you address people with their titles, omit the article.

Profesor Santamaría, ¿podría ver mi trabajo? Professor Santamaría, could you see my work?

Muchas gracias, doctor Rodríguez. Thank you very much, Dr. Rodríguez.

Indefinite Articles in Spanish

Indefinite articles refer to a person or thing that is not defined or specific. In English, you use ‘a’, ‘an,’ and ‘some’. In Spanish, again 4 options are available depending on the number and gender.

• un – singular and masculine
• una – singular and feminine
• unos – plural and masculine
• unas – plural and feminine

Quiero un helado. I want ice cream.

Me compré una chaqueta nueva. I bought a new jacket.

Necesito unos marcadores nuevos. I need some new markers.

¿Me pasas unas hojas, por favor? Can I have some sheets, please?

Watch out for the exceptions. When a feminine, singular noun starts with a stressed a or ha , use the masculine indefinite singular article ( un ) instead of the feminine one ( una ). However, when the same noun is plural, use the feminine definite article ( unas ).

Un águila pasó encima de nosotros. An eagle passed over us.

Ayer vimos unas águilas volando. Yesterday, we saw some eagles flying.

When To Use the Indefinite Article in Spanish

Although you might say that quite often if there is an indefinite article in English you can translate it to an indefinite article in Spanish, it’s not always like this. It’s better to get used to not relying on translations and know the rules instead. 

To Talk About One Thing

When there’s exactly one of something, you’ll use the indefinite article for singular feminine and masculine nouns.

Necesito un vaso. I need a glass.

Quiero una taza. I want a cup.

To Describe a Person With a Noun

When you want to describe somebody with a noun, instead of using adjectives, put an indefinite article before the descriptive noun.

Mi hermano es un monstruo. My brother is a monster.

¡Ustedes son unos genios! You guys are geniuses!

To Describe an Approximate Amount

When you don’t know the exact amount of something, or the exact number is not stated, use the indefinite article before the noun.

Necesito unos papeles más para obtener la residencia. I need a few more papers to obtain residency.

Compra unas manzanas para la ensalada. Buy some apples for the salad.

Conozco unas veinte personas que saben más de 5 idiomas. I know about twenty people who know more than 5 languages.

When Not To Use Articles in Spanish 

As in English, there are situations when you don’t need an article. In Spanish, there are 7 cases when you shouldn’t use definite or indefinite articles . Here’s a quick summary of the situations when you shouldn’t use an article in Spanish.

1. To Talk About Identity

Mi padre es ingeniero. My father is an engineer.

Tomás es argentino y budista. Tomas is Argentine and Buddhist.

2. To Talk About Dates and Months

Tu cumpleaños es en junio. Your birthday is in June.

Hoy es jueves. Today is Thursday.

3. With Proper Names

Pregunta a Andrés. Ask Andres.

Puedo ir con Juan. I can go with Juan.

4. After the Verb Haber  

Hay trabajo por hacer. There is work to be done.

Hay dinero de por medio. There is money involved.

5. With Numbers in Titles

Juan Pablo Segundo fue el papa. Juan Pablo II was the pope.

6. To Talk About Plurals

Mi mamá cose vestidos. My mum sews dresses.

Me gustan zanahorias. I like carrots.

7. With Infinitives as Nouns

See also: How to Use Spanish Infinitives as Nouns

Fumar es malo. Smoking is bad.

Spanish Definite and Indefinite Articles Summary

Before you get into some Spanish definite and indefinite articles practice, let’s wrap up what you’ve already learned:

Spanish Definite and Indefinite Articles Quiz

Now, it’s time for a quiz on Spanish definite and indefinite articles. Remember, there’s only one correct answer to each question.

1. Cómprate ______ libro, el que quieras.

2. ______ pájaro de pedro sabe hablar., 3. eres ______ genio., 4. ______ domingos no trabajo, nunca., 5. ______ gatos maullan., 6. me duele ______ alma., 7. me duele ______ estómago., 8. mi padre es ______ profesor., 9. necesito ______ cinco minutos, más o menos., 10. pásame ______ sal., study spanish definite and indefinite articles.

Practice makes perfect. Knowing the rules for Spanish definite and indefinite articles is just the first step. Now you need to use them—ideally in a conversation.

Remember, becoming bilingual is a long-term process. It takes time and motivation. However, it broadens your horizons not only geographically but also socially. Speaking fluent Spanish will open you up to nearly 41 million native Spanish speakers in the U.S., who according to CNN speak Spanish at their homes.

Sign up for a free trial class at Homeschool Spanish Academy with one of our friendly, certified Spanish instructors from Guatemala to practice Spanish definite and indefinite articles in a conversation and much more.

Ready to learn more Spanish grammar? Check these out!

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Spanish-Language Resources Online or in the Library: A Guide: Articles

• Introduction
• Language Dictionaries
• Reference Sources in Spanish
• Catalog Searching

Finding Articles in Spanish

• Academic Search Premier This broad, multi-disciplinary database provides full text for more than 8,500 journals, including full text for more than 4,600 peer-reviewed titles. PDF backfiles to 1975 or further are available for well over one hundred journals, and searchable cited references are provided for more than 1,000 titles. To choose the Spanish-language search interface , go to the top right hand side under the link "Languages" and select Español from the options.
• AltPressIndex Indexes journals covering cultural, economic, political, and social change. Coverage is international and interdisciplinary, with citations drawn from alternative, radical, and left periodicals, newspapers, and magazines. Includes selected abstracts from research journals. Subjects covered include anarchism, democracy, ecology, feminism, gay and lesbian issues, indigenous peoples, labor, national liberation, and socialism. To choose the Spanish-language search interface , go to the top right-hand side under the link "Languages" and select Español from the options.
• Ethnic NewsWatch Features newspapers, magazines, and journals of the ethnic and minority press providing researchers access to essential, often overlooked perspectives. Of the more than 1.8 million articles contained in the collection, nearly a quarter are presented in Spanish, making ENW an unmatched bilingual diversity database. To search in Spanish , click on the white portrait image in the green bar at the right, click on the displayed language (usually English) and select "Espanol" from the dropdown list.
• Factiva Provides global content,including Dow Jones and Reuters newswires. Covers 9,000 sources from 152 countries. To find articles in Spanish : from the top of the search page, click the gear icon at far right, select Languages from the dropdown list, and select "Español".
• Pascal/FRANCIS A multilingual, multidisciplinary database indexing books and journal articles in the humanities (63%), social sciences (33%), and economics (4%). It is strong in religion, the history of art, and literature, with particular emphasis on current trends in European and world literature. Updated monthly, FRANCIS covers 1984 to the present, with more than 872,000 records. To search for Spanish language sources , click on Advanced Search and change All fields in the dropdown menu to "Language" and enter Spanish.
• Google Académico This is the Spanish-language version of Google Scholar . This resource allows you to locate many full-text academic journal articles and other documents in the Spanish language covering a wide variety of topics from around the world.
• HAPI Online (Hispanic American Periodicals Index) HAPI Online contains authoritative, worldwide information about Central and South America, Mexico, the Caribbean basin, the United States-Mexico border region and Hispanics in the United States. From analyses of current political, economic, and social issues to unique coverage of Latin American arts and letters, HAPI Online contains complete bibliographic citations to articles, book reviews, documents, original literary works, and other materials appearing in more than 500 key social science and humanities journals published throughout the world from 1970 to the present. Many of the citations are linked to full text where available. On main search screen you can limit your results to Spanish by entering Spanish-language words in the search boxes.
• Historical Abstracts This index to historical journals includes annotated references to the history of the world from 1450 to the present (excluding the U.S. and Canada which are covered in "America: History and Life"). Covers over 2000 titles, including historical journals from almost every country and selections of journals in the social sciences and humanities for researchers and students of history. Covers articles published from 1954 to date. To choose the Spanish-language search interface , go to the top right hand side under the link "Languages" and select Español from the options.
• JSTOR JSTOR is a fully-searchable database containing the back issues of several hundred scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, mathematics, music, ecology and botany, business, and other fields. It includes the following collections: Arts & sciences I, II and III, General science, Ecology and botany, Business, Language and literature. To limit results to Spanish-language articles , go to "Advanced Search", and under "Narrow By" select the pull down menu by clicking on "Languages" and choose "Spanish."
• Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts LLBA contains abstracts of the world's literature in linguistics and language-related research, book abstracts, book review listings, and enhanced bibliographic citations of relevant dissertations." Related disciplines such as anthropology, education, ethnology, information science, medicine, and communications are covered. Also includes some reference to papers in published conference proceedings. To search in Spanish , click on the white portrait image in the green bar at the right, click on the displayed language (usually English) and select "Espanol" from the dropdown list.
• MLA Bibliography Provides citations for items from journals and series published worldwide. Indexes books, essay collections, working papers, proceedings, dissertations, and bibliographies. Contains in each record a bibliographic citation for a journal article, book, or other item including information about the libraries that own the library resources. Extensive coverage on Spanish language and literature found in journal articles, books, dissertations, and proceedings. To choose the Spanish-language search interface , go to the top right hand side under the link "Languages" and select Español from the options.
• PAIS International Public Affairs Information Service contains citations to public policy literature of economics, government, law, international business, political science, public administration, and other social sciences. It includes references to journal articles, books, government documents, reports and pamphlets in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese. To search in Spanish , go to Advanced search and click the Spanish box within the Language: box.
• Project MUSE Searchable database that provides access to the full text of journals published by Johns Hopkins University Press and other university presses in the humanities, social sciences, and mathematics. Covers such fields as literature and criticism, history, the visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education, political science, gender studies, and others. To limit to Spanish , go to the Filter Results column at left and click the box Spanish in the Language choices below.
• ProQuest Research Library ProQuest Research Library indexes and abstracts general interest magazines and scholarly journals in the social sciences, humanities and sciences. Full text of many articles is provided. To search in Spanish , click on the white portrait image in the green bar at the right, click on the displayed language (usually English) and select "Espanol" from the dropdown list.
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• Last Updated: Apr 12, 2024 4:41 PM
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Definite and Indefinite Articles in Spanish: A Comprehensive Guide to Using Articles Like a Pro

Articles are small but extremely common words that come before specific and general nouns—in English, they’re words like “the” and “an.”

Definite and indefinite articles in Spanish are words like  el, la, los,   las, lo, un, una, unos and unas.

In this post, you’ll learn exactly what they are, how they work, when to use them and more!

What Are Definite and Indefinite Articles?

Definite and indefinite articles in spanish, when to use definite articles in spanish, 1. to talk about likes and dislikes, 2. to tell time, 3. with days of the week, 4. to talk about general things, 5. with reflexive verbs, 6. when talking about someone’s title, 7. to say the names of languages, when to use indefinite articles in spanish, 1. to place emphasis on a word, 2. when listing one noun out of a group, 3. to describe people or things with nouns, 4. to say there’s only one, 5. to express approximate amounts, notes about using articles in spanish, omit them when talking about an unspecified quantity, omit them when talking about your profession, nationality, religion, etc., feminine nouns starting with “a” use the el article, and one more thing….

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

Articles are words that refer to nouns. The English articles are “a,” “an,” “the” and “some.”

“The” is a definite article because it refers to a specific object:

Pass me the salt.

The car is around the corner.

“A,” “an” and “some” are indefinite articles because they refer to a general object rather than a specific object:

She has an older brother.

There’s some cheese in the refrigerator.

Now that we’re clear on what articles are, let’s have a look at what they are and how they’re used in Spanish.

In Spanish, the definite article has four forms: el, la, los  and las .

When deciding which form to use, you must first identify the quantity and gender of your noun.

For a run-down of Spanish gender, click here . Likewise, here’s an overview of Spanish plurals . If you’re already familiar with these two concepts, read on.

Here are the definite articles in Spanish and examples of how they’re used:

Now, let’s look at indefinite articles.

The Spanish indefinite articles are un, una, unos  and unas . Just like the definite articles, each corresponds to a gender and a number.

In English, when talking about our likes, loves and dislikes, we don’t generally use articles (like in the sentences “I like monster trucks” or “I hate black olives.”)

But in Spanish, you must use definite articles (el, la, los, las) when talking about these general likes and dislikes.

Me gusta el arte . (I like art.)

Odio las películas de terror . (I hate horror movies.)

Times in Spanish are all feminine, and you must always include the feminine definite article (la or las) when telling time.

When learning to tell time in Spanish, there are two important phrases to remember:

Son las… (it’s)

A las… (at)

For example:

Son las ocho de la mañana. (It’s 8:00 in the morning.)

El concierto empieza a las diez y media. (The concert begins at 10:30.)

The only exception to son las and a las is when you’re talking about the hour 1:00 because one is singular. So naturally, you’d use the singular feminine article la:

Voy a llegar a la una y veinte . (I’ll arrive at 1:20.)

¡Ya es la una y cuarto! (It’s already a quarter past 1!)

El partido terminó a la una menos diez. (The game ended at 10 to 1.)

In English, we’re used to using prepositions before saying a day of the week. For example:

I hope to see you on Thursday.

She won’t be here until Friday night.

But in Spanish, when you want to talk about something happening on a specific day of the week, you must use a definite pronoun before the day.

The days of the week are always masculine, so you’ll use either el or los .

When talking about one specific day of the week, use el:

Iré a Bogotá el lunes que viene.  (I will go to Bogota next Monday.)

When talking about something habitual or that happens every week, use los:

Voy al gimnasio todos los martes . (I go to the gym every Tuesday.)

Visito a mi abuela todos los miércoles. (I visit my grandmother every Wednesday.)

In English, we’re used to dropping the definite article (“the”) when talking about nouns in general. For example, if you think all dogs are cute (generally), you’d say “Dogs are cute.”

But in Spanish, we keep the definite article.

Take a look at these sentences as examples:

Los perros son lindos. (Dogs are cute.)

La comida india es picante. (Indian food is spicy.)

Me gusta el café.  (I like coffee.)

You’ll see this all the time with reflexive verbs—actions that you do to yourself.

For example, in English we say “I wash my hands,” but in Spanish, we say “I wash the hands”:

Me lavo las manos. (I wash my hands.)

Me lavo el pelo.  (I wash my hair.)

Me duele la cabeza.  (My head hurts.)

Here’s a bit more challenging sentence that uses the reflexive verb irse (to leave):

Si tú te vas, se me irá todo el valor.  (If you leave, all my courage will leave me.)

This is a lyric from the song “Si Tú Te Vas” (If You Leave), a popular love song by Enrique Iglesias. Notice how he doesn’t literally say  my courage—he says  the courage will leave me.

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This is another deviation from English, where we simply say “Dr. Smith” or “Professor Jones.”

In Spanish, titles require a definite article before them, even when you’re not saying  the doctor or  the  professor. This also applies to titles like “Mr.” and “Mrs.”

La profesora Garcia llega a las ocho.  (Professor Garcia arrives at eight o’clock.)

El doctor Ibarra es rico.  (Dr. Ibarra is rich.)

El señor Hernandez trabaja en la empresa. (Mr. Hernandez works at the company.)

When a language is the subject of a sentence—the thing being talked about—it needs a definite article. For example:

El ruso es el más dificil idioma que he estudiado.  (Russian is the most difficult language I have studied.)

El español y el japonés son mis idiomas favoritos. (Spanish and Japanese are my favorite languages.)

However, when a language is the object, you don’t need to use the article. For example:

Yo hablo inglés.  (I speak English.)

In Spanish, we frequently use the verb tener (to have) to express states of being.

For example, tener frío (to be cold), tener calor (to be hot), tener sed (to be thirsty), tener dolor (to be hurt), tener prisa (to be in a hurry), tener suerte (to be lucky) and so on.

With many of these expressions, you can insert the correct indefinite article (un, una) to add emphasis or urgency in colloquial settings.

Tengo un frío… odio el invierno, tío . (I’m so cold… I hate winter, dude.)

You also must add the indefinite article if you want to qualify the state of being with an adjective or with more information:

Tengo un poco de calor. (I’m a little hot.)

Tengo una prisa terrible, lo siento mucho. (I’m in an awful hurry, I’m really sorry.)

Just be careful with  tener sueño (to be sleepy).

If you add the indefinite article, you can sound super inspirational instead of super tired— tengo un sueño  can mean   “I have a dream.” You’ll indicate what you mean through intonation.

We have to use the indefinite article when talking about an unspecified person or object inside a group.

This happens because we randomly pick up one item from the group as an example to represent all of the items in the group.

Un cocinero es una persona que cocina.  (A cook is a person who cooks.)

Un libro puede tener muchas páginas.  (A book can have many pages.)

We are not talking about a specific cook called Gordon who lives in Manhattan. We’re talking about an unidentified cook representing the whole group of cooks worldwide.

When describing people with a noun, you’ll need to use an indefinite article.

The majority of times, we’ll use a masculine noun (and the corresponding masculine article) even for describing women.

Eres un sol.  (You are a sweetie. Literally, “You are a sun.” This can be applied to both men and woman and it does not need a change in gender).

Son unos locos.  (You all/they are crazy people.)

We also have to use the indefinite article when we describe something or someone by using a noun and an adjective:

Ana es  una  mujer muy guapa.  (Ana is a very beautiful woman.)

Esta rosa es  una  flor delicada.  (This rose is a delicate flower.)

El cáncer es  una  enfermedad muy peligrosa.  (Cancer is a   very dangerous disease.)

Another situation when we use the indefinite article is identical both in Spanish and English—when we are talking about a single unit (one) of something (or of somebody, as you will see in the examples).

It doesn’t matter if you’re talking about something known or unknown, specified or not.

If you have only one of them, you have to use the indefinite article un/una:

He comprado tan solo  un  regalo.  (I have only bought one present.)

Hay  un  niño en la cocina.  (There is one child in the kitchen.)

Tengo  una  hermana.  (I have one sister.)

As we saw before, the Spanish indefinite article has two plural forms ( unos, unas ). With the meaning of “some/a few,” we are obviously going to use them when talking about approximate amounts of things or people!

Here you have some examples:

Necesito  unas  monedas.  (I need some coins.)

Compra  unas  manzanas.  (Buy a few apples.)

Hay  unos  gatos en el tejado.  (There are some cats on the roof.)

In English, when we talk about an unspecified quantity of something—or when we’re dealing with uncountable nouns —we generally use the qualifiers “some” or “any.”

(For example, “There isn’t any bread on the table” or “I have some green shirts in my closet.”)

Resist the urge to translate directly from English to Spanish!

In Spanish, you don’t need to use an article when talking about an indefinite amount or using an uncountable noun:

Hay leche en el vaso . (There’s some milk in the glass.)

No hay coches en el estacionamiento . (There aren’t any cars in the parking lot.)

In English, we use the indefinite articles a or an when talking about our professions, nationalities, religions and the other labels that make up our identities.

(For example, “I’m an anthropologist” or “She’s a Catholic.”)

In Spanish, you must leave those articles out:

Soy abogado. (I’m a lawyer.)

Soy brasileña . (I’m a Brazilian.)

However, if you wish to qualify that abstract concept with more information, you usually need to insert an indefinite article ( un, una ):

Soy un buen doctor . (I’m a good doctor.)

Soy un católico con mucha fe. (I’m a Catholic with a lot of faith.)

As we’ve learned, a singular, feminine noun always uses the article la .

However, the article will switch to el when the noun starts with the letter a, and the stress of the word also falls on that vowel.  This is the case with words like  agua  (water),  alma  (soul) and  arma  (weapon).

This exception exists to avoid the awkwardness of having two a ’s next to each other. For example:

(La) águila → el águila  (the eagle)

However, because this rule only exists to avoid having two a’s next to each other, if you’re using the plural form of the noun, you can switch back to the feminine article:

Las águilas  (the eagles)

Additionally, if there’s an adjective in between the article and the noun, you can use the feminine article la :

La gran águila (the big eagle)

And, of course, remember that any associated adjective must be feminine even if you use the article el :

El águila blanc a (the white eagle)

With these 12 rules in mind, you’ll be using definite and indefinite articles easily in no time.

Not to mention, you’ll also pick them up naturally when interacting with native speakers and watching Spanish media.

So don’t shy away from articles—they’re quite literally everywhere! 

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University Library

• Research Guides
• Peer-reviewed and Scholarly Articles
• Using OneSearch
• Background Information

What is a peer-reviewed article?

You've probably been told by instructors before that you need to find peer-reviewed articles for your research. But what does that mean, exactly, and how do you know if you've found one?

Peer review is the process by which new research is evaluated before it is published to ensure that it is credible. When researchers write up the results of their work, they send it to journals. Journal editors in turn send the work to peer reviewers who read the article to evaluate the research methods, the quality of the data and sources used, and to assess whether the researcher's conclusions are valid. Only after peer reviewers have evaluated the work and determined that it is high quality will it be published in a journal. This process has been used for centuries to ensure that the scholarly record is credible and that what is published can be trusted. 

Identifying a peer-reviewed article isn't always easy. One of the best ways to start is to pay attention to the journal where the article was published. You may want to google the journal title to find out whether the research they publish is peer reviewed. You will also want to look for a works cited or reference list to ensure that the authors properly cited the information used in the article. In scholarly work, authors won't provide information or make claims without citing their source or providing their data. Check the authors, too: peer-reviewed and scholarly articles will usually tell you where the author works. Researchers often work at universities or research institutes. 

As you read more scholarly articles, you'll begin go recognize the conventions and style and be more comfortable discerning when an article is scholarly and when it is not. 

Where do I find them?

Most scholarly work is not freely available on the web. Subscriptions to scholarly journals are expensive, and scholarly books usually cost more than popular books. Thankfully, the library subscribes to these resources on behalf of the entire university, so the library is your best first stop for finding scholarly materials. 

Most journals are now published online and are included in research databases. You can find research databases in the library. Some databases are subject specific and some are more interdisciplinary. Some include scholarly articles and some include popular and scholarly materials. Some include only articles and some also include ebooks and videos. There is a wide variety, so it's good to explore to see what is available. 

Most of the content in our research databases is also included in OneSearch, so it's a good place to start. But there are still some things that are only available in databases. Here are a few you might want to check out. 

Literature and Linguistics

If your research project is focused on literature or language, check out these databases: 

• MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new window Contains records for books and articles published on modern languages, literatures, folklore, and linguistics. Indexes books, essay collections, working papers, proceedings, dissertations, and bibliographies.
• Literature Online This link opens in a new window Critical essays on contemporary authors, with biographical, critical, principal works, and further study information. Includes published criticism on the works of creative writers now living or who died after 1959. Note: this database is a subset of the print version of CLC.
• Fuente Academica Plus This link opens in a new window Covering all major academic disciplines, Fuente Académica Plus provides Spanish- and Portuguese-language journals for scholarly research. It offers many quality journals from Latin America, Portugal and Spain.

Looking for critical studies of historical events and periods? Check out a few history databases. 

• Historical Abstracts This link opens in a new window Covers world history from 1450 to the present (excluding Canada and North America -- see America:History and Life). A special emphasis is placed upon the inclusion of English-language journal and book titles published throughout the world.
• JSTOR This link opens in a new window JSTOR is an archive of full-text scholarship. As such, access may not include the most recent 3-5 years of a particular publication. Content ranges from humanities to the social sciences. Limit search by discipline, such as Business.
• Oxford Academic This link opens in a new window Access to journals from arts, social science, scientific, technical, medical, professional and humanities disciplines, including open access journals. Backfiles extend to 1996.

If you're looking for information on art, film, dance, theater, or music, here are some databases dedicated to the arts.

• Art Full Text This link opens in a new window An international array of peer-selected art publications, 1929-current , with expanded coverage of Latin American, Canadian, Asian and other non-Western art, new artists, contemporary art, exhibition reviews, and feminist criticism.
• International Bibliography of Theater and Dance This link opens in a new window Indexes journal articles, books, book articles and dissertation abstracts on all aspects of theatre and performance in 126 countries. Includes key full text journals such as Dance Chronicle, Dance Teacher, PAJ, Research in Drama Education, TDR, Theater, and many more.
• Film & Television Literature Index [database] This link opens in a new window A comprehensive bibliographic and full-text database covering the entire spectrum of television and film, including film & television theory, preservation & restoration, writing, production, cinematography, technical aspects, and reviews.

Social and Cultural Issues

Your research may touch on social and cultural issues, and there are many databases you might want to explore in the fields of sociology, politics, and anthropology. There are some that specialize in Spanish-language journals. 

• Oxford Bibliographies Online - Latin American Series This link opens in a new window Expert recommendations on the best works available on various topics in Latin American Studies – whether it be a chapter, a book, a journal article, a website, an archive, or data set. Be sure to look up the book or journal title in the Library's catalog.
• SocINDEX with Full Text This link opens in a new window Covers sociology, anthropology, criminology, criminal justice, demography, economic development, ethnic & racial studies, gender studies, marriage & family, politics, religion, rural sociology, social psychology, social work, theory, sociology of education, substance abuse, urban studies, violence, welfare, and more.
• Anthropology Plus This link opens in a new window Index of bibliographic materials from the late 1800s to present in the fields of social, cultural, physical, biological, and linguistic anthropology; ethnology, archaeology, folklore, and material culture; and interdisciplinary studies.
• Westlaw This link opens in a new window Legal research including case law, state and federal statutes, law journals, law reviews, treatises and administrative codes. Additional material includes newspapers, magazines, journals and transcripts of television and radio programs. Coverage varies by source.
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• Next: Background Information >>
• Last Updated: Dec 7, 2023 3:58 PM
• URL: https://libguides.sonoma.edu/spanish

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Lesson Topics

• Show All | Collapse All
• 1. Gender of Nouns I
• 2. Gender of Nouns II
• 3. Numbers: 1-10
• 4. Plural Forms of Nouns
• 6. The Verb Form "hay"
• 7. Subject Pronouns
• 8. Reg. Verbs I
• 9. Reg. Verbs II
• 10. Reg. Verbs III
• 11. Adjectives I
• 12. Adjectives II
• 13. Days of the Week
• 14. Numbers: 11-30
• 15. Ser and Estar I
• 16. Ser and Estar II
• 17. Ser and Estar III
• 18. Ser and Estar IV
• 19. Negation
• 20. Questions
• 21. Poss. Adjectives
• 22. Tener, venir
• 23. Tener que / Hay que
• 24. Exp. with "Tener"
• 25. Weather Expressions
• 26. The Personal "a"
• 27. Contractions
• 28. Stem-Changing Verbs: o:ue
• 29. Stem-Changing Verbs: e:ie
• 30. Stem-changing verbs: e:i
• 31. Estar, Ir, Dar
• 32. "Ir a" + infinitive
• 33. Acabar de
• 34. Volver a
• 35. Ordinal Numbers
• 36. Months, Seasons, and Dates
• 37. Comparisons of Inequality
• 38. Comparisons of Equality
• 39. Superlatives
• 40. Pronouns as Objects of Prepositions
• 41. Dir. Object Pronouns I
• 42. Dir. Object Pronouns II
• 43. Dir. Object Pronouns III
• 44. Ind. Object Pronouns I
• 45. Ind. Object Pronouns II
• 46. Ind. Object Pronouns III
• 47. DO and IO Pronouns Together
• 48. Verbs Like Gustar
• 49. Present Progressive
• 50. Verbs with Irregular 1st Persons
• 51. Saber vs Conocer / Pedir vs Preguntar
• 52. Numbers: 31-1000
• 53. Telling Time
• 54. Por and Para
• 55. Irreg. Comparatives
• 56. Demonstratives
• 57. Time Expressions With Hacer
• 58. Possessive Pronouns
• 59. Reflexive Verbs I
• 60. Reflexive Verbs II
• 61. Definite Article II
• 62. Pret. vs Imp. I
• 63. Preterite I
• 64. Imperfect I
• 65. Preterite II
• 66. Imperfect II
• 67. Pret. vs Imp. II
• 68. Preterite III
• 69. Imperfect III
• 70. Preterite IV
• 71. Preterite V
• 72. Preterite VI
• 73. Pret. vs Imp. III
• 74. Pret. vs Imp. Review
• 75. "Hace ..." to mean "ago"
• 76. Formation of Adverbs
• 77. Subjunctive I: Introduction
• 78. Subjunctive II: Conjugating regular and stem-changing verbs
• 79. Subjunctive III: Verbs that change orthographically
• 80. Subjunctive IV: Irregular verbs
• 81. Subjunctive V: Desire
• 82. Subjunctive VI: Ignorance, doubt
• 83. Subjunctive VII: Impersonal Expressions
• 84. Subjunctive VIII: Actions not yet completed
• 85. Rel. Pronouns - que
• 86. Rel. Pronouns - quien
• 87. Rel. Pronouns - el que and lo que
• 88. Rel. Adjective - cuyo
• 89. Rel. Pronouns and Adjectives - Review
• 90. Formal Commands
• 91. Inform. Commands - tú
• 92. Irreg. Commands - tú
• 93. Using Object Pronouns with Commands
• 94. Commands Review I
• 95. Informal Commands - vosotros
• 96. 1st Person Commands - nosotros
• 97. Indirect Commands
• 98. Commands Review II
• 100. Past Participle
• 101. Present Perfect
• 102. Past Perfect (Pluperfect)
• 103. Future Perfect
• 104. Conditional
• 105. Imperfect Subjunctive I
• 106. Imperfect Subjunctive II
• 107. Imperfect Subjunctive III
• 108. Rules of Accentuation

Definite and Indefinite Articles: Part I

• The written lesson is below.
• Links to quizzes, tests, etc. are to the left.

The difference between definite articles and indefinite articles can be observed in the following two sentences:

Give me the chocolate chip cookie. Give me a cookie, please.

Imagine a plate full of cookies. There are peanut butter cookies, sugar cookies, gingerbread cookies, and one chocolate chip cookie.

The first sentence speaks of a particular (or definite) cookie:

Give me the chocolate chip cookie.

The second sentence speaks of any of a number of cookies (or an indefinite cookie):

Give me a cookie, please.

The difference between the definite and indefinite articles is the difference between talking about a specific cookie, or any old cookie at all.

the cookie a cookie

In English, the definite article is the word “the” regardless of whether the noun it introduces is singular or plural.

the cookie the cookies

In Spanish, the definite article has 4 forms, depending on whether the noun is masculine, feminine, singular or plural.

Note: The masculine plural definite and indefinite articles (los, unos) are also used to indicate a group of mixed sex. Thus, “los gatos” could refer to a group of 10 male cats, or it could refer to a group of 9 female cats and one male cat.

The 4 forms of the definite article are:

In English, the indefinite article is the word “a,” “an,” or “some.”

a cookie an apple some books

In Spanish, the indefinite article has 4 forms, depending on whether the noun is masculine, feminine, singular or plural.

Note: Remember, as long as the group of creatures has at least one male member, the masculine plural article is used. Thus, “unos gatos” could refer to a group of 10 male cats, or it could refer to a group of 9 female cats and one male cat.

The 4 forms of the indefinite article are:

Here are the definite and indefinite articles together:

Each of the following has a different meaning:

“Un” and “una” can mean “one,” “a,” or “an.”

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How to say “como hacer un review” in spanish, introduction, step 1: understanding the basics, step 2: format and structure, step 3: useful phrases and expressions, step 4: practice and improve.

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The Definitive Guide to Spanish Definite and Indefinite Articles

Spanish definite and indefinite articles are great because in most situations you’ll use them in the same way as English articles.

But, there are several situations such as talking about transport, dates, the time, or referring to someone’s identity where Spanish articles don’t behave as you would expect.

While Spanish articles tend to cause fewer headaches than other topics such as ser and estar , por and para , or direct and indirect objects , if you want your Spanish to sound more natural, then you will need to develop a strong knowledge of these frequently occurring Spanish words, especially the exceptions.

In this post, you’ll learn everything you need to know about Spanish definite and indefinite articles including what they are, when to use them, and most importantly when not to use them.

Printable Version: Download this PDF version of the rules for Spanish definite and indefinte articles to use as a study reference.

An introduction to Spanish definite and indefinite articles

A perfect place to start is to think of the most frequently occurring word in the English language, the definite article: ‘the’.

The translation of this word into Spanish also happens to be the most frequently occurring pair of words in the Spanish language, the Spanish definite articles: el and la .

In both languages, we need definite articles to refer to specific things or people in a group or class.

But, where Spanish articles differ from English articles , if you want to refer to a specific thing or person, you’ll need to match the article with the gender and plural of the noun.

This leads to four possibilities for the translation of ‘the’: el , la , los , and las .

Here are some examples of Spanish definite articles in action:

English: The table. Español: La mesa.

English: The fact. Español: El hecho.

English: The bottles.  Español: Las botellas.

English: The workers. Español: Los trabajadores.

Of course, you’ll need to be careful with the gender of Spanish nouns . But, apart from the exceptions discussed later in the article, you can simply choose one of  el , la , los , and las  as the translation of ‘the’.

In contrast, if you aren’t referring to specific things or people, but instead you want to generalise, you’ll need to use an indefinite article.

The Spanish indefinite articles are: un , una , unos , and unas , which are possible translations of the English articles ‘an’ or ‘a’ in singular, or ‘some’ or ‘a few’ in plural.

Also, if we are talking about numbers in Spanish , we can use the singular Spanish articles un and una to describe a quantity of ‘one’.

Here are some examples of Spanish indefinite articles in action:

English: A school. Español: Una escuela.

English: One moment. Español: Un momento.

English: A few things.  Español: Unas cosas.

English: Some details. Español: Unos detalles.

As you can see, once you’ve got gender and number sorted, you can translate Spanish articles fairly simply from English articles.

But, of course, there is more to the story…

Spanish definite articles vs indefinite articles

Before I get to the exceptions for Spanish articles, I want to give you a few example situations to demonstrate the contrast between Spanish definite and indefinite articles.

As mentioned above, you’ll need a definite article to talk about a known item or place, and an indefinite article to talk about an item or place in a general way.

Here are some examples to demonstrate the difference:

English: I need a spoon. (Could be any spoon) Español: Necesito una cuchara. vs English: Pass the spoon please. (That specific spoon over there) Español: Pásame la cuchara por favor.

English: Where does Diana work? Español: ¿Dónde trabaja Diana? English: In an office. (Could be any office) Español: En una oficina. vs English: Where is Diana? Español: ¿Dónde está Diana? English: She is at  the office. (That specific office she always works in) Español: Ella está en la oficina.

As you can see, these examples are fairly logical. But, I just wanted to make the difference as clear as possible before we dive into the exceptions.

When to exclude Spanish articles: Identity

In this section, and for the rest of the post, I’m going to talk about where you need to be careful with Spanish articles because they could be different from English.

The most important area to avoid the temptation to translate directly from English is when talking about identity.

If you are discussing someone’s profession, religion, nationality, political ideology, or other roles such as ‘being a parent’, you need to drop the article in Spanish.

Here are some examples:

English: I’m an atheist. Español: Soy ateo.

English: She is studying to be a lawyer. Español: Ella estudia para ser abogada.

English: He is a Canadian. Español: Él es canadiense.

English: Pablo Iglesias was a socialist. Español: Pablo Iglesias era socialista.

English: Are you a teacher? Español: ¿Eres profesor? 

English: What’s it like to be a father? Español: ¿Cómo es ser padre?

Of all of the areas I’m going to cover in this post, this is the one where we hear Spanish students making the most errors. So, make sure you practice these a lot!

When to include Spanish articles: Identity

After getting used to dropping Spanish articles when talking about identity, there are a few scenarios where you need to include them.

If you are going to add a descriptive adjective with the noun, you have to include the Spanish article:

English: I’m going to be a great journalist. Español: Voy a ser un gran periodista.

English: She is an incredible doctor. Español: Ella es una médica increíble.

English: He is the best realtor in town. Español: Él es el mejor agente inmobiliario de la ciudad.

Note the location of the Spanish adjective is also an important consideration here.

In addition, if you are referring to someone by their profession, then you need to include an article:

English: Who is Marisol? Español: ¿Quién es Marisol? English: She is a singer. Español: Es una cantante.

English: Who is Carla? Español: ¿Quién es Carla? English: She is an engineer that works with me. Español: Es una ingeniera que trabaja conmigo.

While these examples translate a lot better between English and Spanish, they can be difficult after you have adjusted to the rules from the previous section.

When to exclude Spanish articles: Things

When you are talking about things (just stuff in general), you don’t need to use an article if you are talking about the things in a general way, especially if quantity is not important.

English: I don’t have a car. Español: No tengo coche.

English: Do you have a girlfriend?  Español: ¿Tienes novia?

English: We need meat and cheese for tonight’s dinner. Español: Necesitamos carne y queso para la cena esta noche.

  English: Juan sells computers.  Español: Juan vende ordenadores.

English: Felipe doesn’t eat meat. Español: Felipe no come carne.

As you can see, when quantity doesn’t matter, sometimes you can think like you do in English and sometimes not.

When to include Spanish articles: Things

In contrast to the previous section, you’ll have to include a Spanish article when referring to specific things.

English: Do you have the tickets for the concert? Español: ¿Tienes las entradas para el concierto?

English: What are you looking for? Español: ¿Qué buscas? English: The house keys, I don’t know where I have left them.  Español: Las llaves de la casa, no sé dónde las he dejado.

Also, if want to spell out a specific quantity of items such as ‘one’ or ‘a few’, then you’ll need to include an article:

English: Alexa sold a car on her first day. Español: Alexa vendió un coche en su primer día.

English: I bought some vegetables for lunch.  Español: Compré unas verduras para la comida.

When to exclude Spanish articles: Transport

When you are talking about a mode of transport in a general way then you need to omit the Spanish article.

Moreover, there are no specific rules for different types of transport. In other words, you can treat each of autobús , avión , coche , metro , tren etc. in the same way.

Also, if you are talking about people using a mode of transport, then you need to use the preposition en . If you are talking about things going in a mode of transport, then you need to use por .

English: We would rather go in a car than fly. Español: Preferimos ir en coche que volar.

English: I sent the package by boat. Español: Envié el paquete por barco.

English: How much does it cost to go by train? Español: ¿Cuánto cuesta ir en tren?

English: I don’t like long trips in a plane.  Español: No me gustan los viajes largos en avión.

When to include Spanish articles: Transport

In contrast, instead of talking about a general method of transport, we can also refer to the mode of transport as a physical space. E.g. I’m physically on the bus, or in the car, etc.

When you are talking about the car or the train as a physical location, then you need to include an article.

For example:

English: I left my wallet on the train. Español: Dejé mi cartera en el tren.

English: We are still on the bus. Español: Todavía estamos en el autobús.

English: It’s not a good idea to take your shoes off on a plane. Español: No es una buena idea descalzarte en un avión.

Note  descalzarse is a fun Spanish verb that means ‘to take off one’s shoes’, it is kind of like ‘to de-shoe’.

When to exclude and include Spanish articles: Places

This section on places is going to be a little annoying because there isn’t a general rule.

Instead, we’ll take a look at a few common places and how they behave with Spanish articles in a few common expressions.

1. Clase, casa

Firstly let’s look at  clase  and  casa .

When you are going to or you are physically located ‘at home’ or ‘in class’, you should drop the article.

English: I’m at the house (I’m at home). Español: Estoy en casa.

English: We have to go to class. Español: Tenemos que ir a clase.

As an exception to this, when you aren’t talking about these places in terms of their physical location, you should include the article:

English: How many students are there in the class?  Español: ¿Cuántos estudiantes hay en la clase?

If you are sick, or you have been in an accident, then you should describe your time in bed without an article:

English: Adrian’s in bed with a fever. Español: Adrian está en cama con fiebre.

Note the bonus expression in this example, ‘with a fever’ drops the Spanish article too ‘ con fiebre’ .

In contrast, if the context doesn’t involve being sick, you should use an article:

English: My wife is in bed reading a book. Español: Mi esposa está en la cama leyendo un libro.

3. El Colegio, la iglesia, el cine, la universidad

In comparison with clase if you have to go to ‘school’ ( el colegio ) or ‘university’ ( la universidad ), you should include the article regardless of whether you are talking about the physical location or not:

English: Isabel is going to college next year. Español: Isabel va a ir a la universidad el año que viene.

English: Where are you? Español: ¿Dónde estás? English: I’m at school. English: Estoy en el colegio.

Most Spanish locations fall into this third group, so if you remember how to use cama , casa , and  clase , you can safely assume that any other location will behave like el colegio or el cine .

When to include Spanish articles: Date and time

When it comes to talking about date and time, you generally need an article in Spanish.

This takes particular care since we rarely use articles with time in English.

Moreover, in English we often opt for prepositions (on, at, by, etc.) with date and time, whereas in Spanish we need to use the Spanish definite articles ( el , la , los , las ).

Here are some examples for talking about the time:

English: What time is it? Español: ¿Qué hora es? English: It’s 3:15. Español: Son las tres y cuarto.

English: She usually exercises in the afternoons. Español: Ella suele hacer ejercicio por las tardes.

English: The train is leaving at 2:30 pm. Español: El tren sale a las dos y media.

When it comes to the days of the week and dates, if you are talking about fixed plans or commitments, you need to use the definite article:

English: I’m going to the mountains on Sunday. Español: Voy a las montañas el domingo.

English: We are leaving Spain on August 10th. Español: Salimos de España el diez de agosto.

English: We have to finish the project by Wednesday. Español: Tenemos que terminar la tarea para el miércoles.

English: They see each on Fridays. Español: Se ven los viernes.

In the last example, you could also say ‘ cada viernes’ ( every Friday ) , which is important to note because you need to omit the article in this phrase.

When to exclude Spanish articles: Date and time

In contrast to the last few examples in the previous section, if you aren’t talking about fixed plans but instead you are talking about the date in general, you should drop the article.

English: Today is the 3rd of June.  Español: Hoy es tres de junio.

English: Tomorrow is Thursday.  Español: Mañana es jueves.

English: What day is it today? Español: ¿Qué día es hoy? English: It’s Tuesday. Español: Es martes.

In the last example, you can even drop the es and simply say martes .

Also, when you are talking about the months, even if you are talking about fixed plans, you need to exclude the article:

English: We’re going to Peru in May. Español: Vamos a Perú en mayo.

Last thing for date and time, when it comes to talking time and you aren’t talking about a specific time between 1 and 11, instead of an article, you need to use a preposition ( a , or  de ).

English: I fell asleep at midnight. Español: Me dormí a medianoche.

English: The truck goes by in the middle of the night (early morning). Español: El camión pasa de madrugada.

When to include Spanish articles: Verbs like gustar

When you use the Spanish verb structure ‘ verbs like gustar ’, you generally need to include a Spanish article.

This is because you need to think a little differently about the way sentences using verbs like gustar differ from their English equivalent.

For example, it is better to think of the following sentence:

I like football.

Instead as:

The football is pleasing to me.

And, note that when you change ‘football’ from the object of the sentence to the subject, it sounds better with ‘the’ at the start.

The same thing also happens in Spanish:

English: The football is pleasing to me (I like football).  Español: Me gusta el fútbol.

Here are some more examples:

English: My head hurts. Español: Me duele la cabeza.

English: I’m worried about work. Español: Me preocupa el trabajo.

Since there are lots of situations where Spanish definite and indefinite articles translate really well between Spanish and English, Spanish students tend to use them well.

But, of course, there are some important exceptions.

To help your Spanish sound more natural, pick a few exceptions you didn’t know before reading this article, then try to use them in your next Spanish class, language exchange, or any opportunity to use your Spanish.

How else can you use Spanish definite and indefinite articles?

Reader Interactions

August 9, 2019 at 11:11 am

I just want to say THANK YOU FOR WRITING THIS!! I live around Spanish-speakers and I’d often hear or read things with these minor differences between Spanish and English. I never understood completely what particular situations were right to use or omit articles. This is really helpful!

August 9, 2019 at 10:21 am

I’m trying to give corrective feedback to one of my students, and I know that they don’t need to use the indefinite article in the following example, but I don’t know why – other than it sounds funny. Can you please help me?

Here is the sentence” Tengo una familia que es más o menos de un tamaño medio.” I think it should just be “de tamaño medio”, but I can’t for the life of me figure out the reason why.

August 9, 2019 at 11:03 am

Hola Clarrish, great question!! The rule is that we don’t use articles in the second part of a compound noun with the following formula: (nombre) + (preposición) + (nombre). For example: – She is a university professor – Ella es profesora de universidad. Instead of “profesora de una universidad. – He has a collection of baseball cards – Tiene una colección de tarjetas de béisbol. Again in this example we can’t say “de unas tarjetas” or “de un béisbol”. I hope that helps!!

A great article – very informative

January 30, 2020 at 1:43 pm

I have seen the phrase “amante del queso” in a situation where I found it to be cheese in general, so I would think “amante de queso”. I know this is completely taken out of context.

This was a useful article. First I need to rethink my instincts and use or not use an article. Second I need to learn to better identify the “noun + de + noun” compound noun thing.

January 30, 2020 at 9:42 pm

Thanks for the feedback Maryjane!! Sometimes, as in the example you gave, “amante del queso” and “amante de queso”, both options are possible.

August 29, 2020 at 3:02 pm

It would have been nice to have included why articles are not used before explicit quantities.

In English: Can you give me “a” thousand dollars.

In Spanish the article is dropped, why? ¿Me puedes dar mil dólares?

August 29, 2020 at 4:30 pm

Hola Drz, yes, it’s a good question. In English, we have this strange phenomenon that for the first of a group of numbers we can use “one” or “a”: 1. I want one book vs a book 2. I want one thousand dollars vs a thousand dollars But, of course, we don’t say “I want ‘a two thousand’ dollars”. So, we should avoid thinking about the ‘first’ quantity as an article and instead we should think of it as an unusual substitution for the number “one”. If we just focus on the versions with “one” in them, they become easier to translate into Spanish: 1. I want one book – Quiero un libro 2. I want one thousand dollars – Quiero mil dólares Note that we also don’t need to say “un mil” since “mil” = “one thousand”. I hope that helps!

September 26, 2020 at 2:00 am

Great article (I’m still struggling with knowing when to include the article – there’s a lot to remember!)

September 26, 2020 at 9:47 am

Thanks Christopher! The key to remembering all of these situations is to spread your learning out over time. Try not to memorise everything at once. Take one example, situation or rule and master it!! Then come back later and find something else to master.

January 6, 2021 at 12:51 am

I thought I was onto something, when I read somewhere that you always use an article when the noun is the subject of the sentence. Well, that has failed for me, in the following sentence: “No quiero desayuno hoy.” I thought it should have been “el desayuno”. Are you able to explain why?

Thank you so much! Alison

January 6, 2021 at 8:26 pm

Thanks for the question Alison. As you can see from the article, it is difficult to come up with a simple rule that covers all scenarios. Just like English, Spanish has a lot of subtlety with different nouns in different situations (e.g. estoy en clase vs estoy en el colegio). The key is to keep practising and refining our skills over time as we get used to different nouns in different contexts.

January 5, 2022 at 12:29 pm

Thank you for this great guide to articles. But I have to question your reply to Allison, Jan. 6, 2021 and the sentence “No quiero desayuno hoy”. Shouldn’t the sentence say “No quiero desayunar hoy”. The infinitive is used when there are two consecutive verbs and there is no need for an article. I’m still a newbee at Spanish, so perhaps I am also missing something. Would appreciate your comments. Thanks

January 5, 2022 at 1:33 pm

Hola Louise, over the years I have learned it’s best to never say something is 100% correct or 100% wrong because there are always exceptions in language learning. So we have 3 potential Spanish sentences in question here: “no quiero desayuno”, “no quiero el desayuno” and “no quiero desayunar”. All 3 of these statements are possible in Spanish and we could hear a native using any of them. Of course, the first option is more like English, so English natives probably prefer it, but Spanish natives would probably use the second two options more often.

August 18, 2022 at 3:35 pm

Andrew, great write up. I live in Mexico and was hoping you could explain why when referring to a person by name an “el” or “la” is often inserted. Is there some guidance or rule surrounding this. EX: La Marisol

Gracias Kevin (or El Kevin?)

August 20, 2022 at 3:36 pm

Hola Kevin, this is a really intriguing question because I haven’t seen this before and I had to speak with one of the teachers in our school from Mexico to get the answer. She said that this use of articles with people’s names usually only occurs in the north of Mexico, specially in Sonora, Sinaloa and Monterrey. This use sounds strange in other parts of Mexico and the rest of the Spanish-speaking world. Our teacher said that it would sound really weird to hear her name with a “la” before it in her region of the country where she is from.

October 7, 2023 at 4:42 pm

Outstanding article. Thanks for taking the time to explain the exceptions.

October 9, 2023 at 6:42 pm

Thanks for the feedback Adele! 🙂

October 9, 2023 at 9:38 am

I always look forward to your emails.

In this one, I have one small point – I thought I understod the ways in which the indefinite article is used, but I’m puzzled by the example Who is Marisol? – ¿Quién es Marisol? She is a singer. – Es una cantante.

But I’m sure that I’ve come across many examples of the type – Marisol es cantante.

Perhaps you could clarify.

Thanks David

October 9, 2023 at 6:47 pm

Yes, please go back and read that section again, there is a subtle point to think about here. Usually when we refer to someone’s identity we drop the article but we will sometimes include the article again in certain situations, here when we are “referring to someone by their profession”.

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How to use Definite Articles in Spanish

There are two main categories of articles in Spanish: definite and indefinite articles.  Definite articles in Spanish are some special words used the same way as “THE” in the English language. In this grammar lesson, we will learn to make sentences using definite articles. Moreover, you will be able to practice grammar with an interesting quiz.

Introductory video: Definite Articles in Spanish

We will begin the lesson by watching a short video explaining what definite articles in Spanish are and providing some interesting examples so that you can understand this topic more easily. We will develop more on how to use Spanish definite articles later, but for now, please watch the video and try to figure out how they work.

Making sentences using definite articles in Spanish

Definite articles are often called  ARTÍCULOS DEFINIDOS or DETERMINANTES. They are words like  LA, LAS, EL, LOS, plus a fifth article called  LO . These words usually accompany nouns in the language, and they are essential to determine the gender and number of a noun in the language. For example, the article “EL” will be used before masculine, singular nouns like PIANO, just like in these examples:

• E l gato está sentado en el conjín. (The cat is sitting on the cushion.)
• Compré el piano que vimos en la tienda. (I bought the piano we saw in the store)

As shown in these two sentences, definite articles will always be placed before the noun they modify. The main difference between English and Spanish definite articles is that we must use a different article depending on the noun’s number (how many objects we are talking about) and gender (masculine or feminine) . In real life situations, we will use definite articles to point out objects or people from a group, especially with the help of adjectives . To illustrate this, here are some basic examples:

• El carro rojo es mío. (The red car is mine – Perhaps there are many cars, but the red one is mine)
• El libro de españo l está sobre la mesa (The Spanish book is on the table – Maybe there are other books too)

Sentences using Spanish definite articles

Here are some examples of sentences for different types of nouns in language. Pay close attention to how each article must agree with the noun it goes with.

When to use Spanish definite articles and common mistakes

Don’t use definite articles before names.

First, it is impolite to use Spanish definite articles before names or nicknames . It is also a grammar mistake to say something like “La Ana”, being ANA a name. As a cultural fact, using articles this way may be acceptable in some countries in specific situations, but it is always better to omit the definite article when referring to people who are not close to you.

• Incorrect: La Ana vive cerca de la playa.
• Correct: Ana vive cerca de la playa. (Ana lives close to the beach.)

Use definite articles before abstract nouns

Second, we use definite articles before abstract nouns in Spanish . Abstract nouns refer to things that do not have a material existence, such as TIEMPO (time) or AMOR (love). Unlike English, it is a mistake to omit the definite article before these nouns, just like this: 

• Correct : El amor es compartir, aprender y disfrutar . ( Love is sharing, learning and enjoying)
• Incorrect : Amor es compartir, aprender y disfrutar .
• Correct: El tiempo es oro . (The time is gold)
• Incorrect: Tiempo es oro.

Following this pattern, we will always say “El dinero” (money) or “El arte” (art), especially when these words are the subject of a sentence, e.g. “ El dinero no lo es todo ” (Money is not everything).

Definite articles before names of places

Third, it is not frequent to use definite articles before the names of cities or countries. This means it is better to say “ Vivo en China” than “ Vivo en la China” . In some countries, you could hear both of them, but you shouldn’t add an article if it is not part of the country’s name. Keep in mind that in some cases, the article will be a part of the name of the country  as in “El Salvador” and “El Reino Unido”, thus omitting EL would be a mistake.

• Correct : Marcos vive en España . (Marcos lives in Spain.)
• Incorrect: Marcos vive en la España.
• Correct : El Salvador es un país centromericano. (El Salvador is a Central American country.)
• Incorrect : Salvador es un país centromericano. (“EL” is part of the country’s name)

In addition, Spanish definite articles will be used before languages (El español), parts of the body (La cabeza) , days of the week (El lunes), dates (EL trece de diciembre), seasons (La primavera), time (La una de la tarde), weights and measures (El kilo de arroz…). We also use them to talk about specific places, e.g. “El Mo nte Everest” and “ La ciudad de Barcelona”  and for superlatives and comparatives in Spanish.

The prepositions A + El and De + El

When the preposition “A” comes before the article EL as in “A EL”, we will replace both words for the contracted article AL, just like this:

• Correct : A veces voy al cine . (Sometimes I go to the cinema.)
• Incorrect : A veces voy a el cine .

Likewise, when the preposition DE comes before EL, we use the contracted article DEL, as illustrated in these sentences:

• Correct : El restaurante está cerca del hotel. (The restaurant is near the hotel.)
• Incorrect: El restaurante está cerca de el hotel.

The neuter article LO

The neuter article LO, the fifth definite article in Spanish, will be used before adjectives in singular form to emphasize a quality or make a point. Some examples using the article LO are:

• Lo malo es que no encontramos el tesoro. (The bad side is that we didn’t find the treasure)
• Lo interesante es que él no estaba cuando eso ocurrió. (What’s interesting is that he was not there when that happened.)
• Lo bueno es que ya te sientes mejor. (The good thing is that you feel better now.)

The article LO will also be used   before the word “Qué” (What) when this word acts as the subject of a clause, e.g. “Lo que dije es…” ( What I said is …) and  ¿Sabe lo que significa esto? (Do you know what this means ?).

Interactive quiz: Practicing definite articles in Spanish

It is time to practice this topic with this short quiz. Read the instructions to solve each exercise and then check your answers. ¡Buena suerte!

We got to the end of this lesson. Hopefully you will be able to remember a few of these rules. You will probably acquire some of them naturally as you move forward in learning the language. For now, you can always check this lesson as a reference. ¡Hasta pronto!

Related Spanish Worksheets:

• Indefinite Articles in Spanish – PDF Worksheet
• Definite Articles in Spanish – PDF Worksheet

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Guest Essay

Some Words Feel Truer in Spanish

By Natalia Sylvester

Ms. Sylvester is the author of the forthcoming children’s book “A Maleta Full of Treasures” (“La Maleta de Tesoros”).

My earliest relationship with language was defined by rules. As an immigrant who came to this country from Peru at age 4, I spent half of my days in kindergarten occupied with learning the rules of the English language. There was the tricky inconsistency of pronunciation to navigate and, once I learned to speak it, the challenge of translating what I’d learned into reading skills.

At home, my mom would often create games to help my sister and me preserve our Spanish and improve our grammar. Driving around our neighborhood in Miami, she’d point at a traffic light, hold up four fingers and say, “Se-ma-fo-ro — on which syllable do you put the accent?”

Each language had its defined space: English in school, Spanish at home. But as my parents became more fluent (and my sister and I more dominant) in English, the boundaries became blurred. Being bilingual empowered us to break barriers beyond the rules and definitions attached to words. Some things were simply untranslatable, because they spoke to this new space we were living in — within, between and around language. We were making a new home here, same as so many immigrants who end up shaping language as much as it shapes us.

It became evident as the phrase “Cómo se dice?” or “How do you say?” became a constant in my home. Sometimes, it’d be my parents who asked, “How do you say” followed by a word like “sobremesa” or “ganas.” It seemed simple enough in theory, but proved nearly impossible for us to translate without elaborating using full sentences or phrases. After all, to have a word to describe a long conversation that keeps you at the table and extends a meal, you’d have to value the concept enough to name it. Some ideas are so embedded in Latin American and Spanish cultures that they exist implicitly. Of course “ganas” can be something you feel but also give, and be at once more tame yet more powerful than “desire.” (If you know, you know.)

Other times, it’d be my sister and I who were curious about a word’s Spanish counterpart. Was there really no differentiating in Spanish between the fingers (dedos) on our hands, and those on our feet we call toes? When we wanted to say we were excited about something, the word “emocionada” seemed to fall short of capturing our specific, well, emotion. Sometimes we would blank on a word. But sometimes, we would find that the perfect word isn’t necessarily in the language we’re speaking.

What I’m describing, of course, has its own word: code switching. The act of shifting from one language or dialect to another, particularly based on social context, is often framed as something that so-called minorities do to fit into more mainstream spaces. It’s true that code switching can be a form of assimilation, a way of shielding ourselves from the prejudices rooted in racism, classism and xenophobia that can arise when we freely express our culture and language in spaces not designed to embrace them. But what I seldom see discussed is how code switching isn’t solely a reactionary response to feeling unwelcome. Within our own communities, it can signal comfort and belonging.

Take the Spanish word “maleta,” or “suitcase” in English. This year, I was at a writing conference and met up with two Mexican American authors, one of whom brought her suitcase to the venue because she had already checked out of the hotel. We walked the halls and offered to help with her maleta, making several jokes and references to it, but never once using the word “suitcase,” despite speaking mainly in English.

This was an entirely natural and unspoken decision. There are some words that simply feel truer in Spanish than they do in English. I call these home words and heart words because I associate them with the place I most grew up using them: at home, among family. Though the words might share a literal definition with their translation, one version carries emotional depth that enriches its meaning. To code switch this way among friends implies we share not only a language, but an intimate understanding of where we come from.

A suitcase is for clothes and possessions when someone travels, but to me, a maleta meant family had arrived from Peru, carrying flavors, textures and memories of my birthplace. Language is rooted in context, which is another way of saying that language is driven by memory. In this way, what we do or don’t choose to translate is another way of telling stories about our past.

Last year, a study on the specific way that Miamians use direct Spanish translations to form English phrases called the practice an emerging dialect. It’s a form of borrowing between languages that results in what is known as calques. For decades, expressions like “get down from the car” and “super hungry,” which are translated from Spanish, have made their way into regional speech, even in the case of non-Spanish speakers.

When I shared the article on social media, my DMs were flooded by friends and family — not only in Miami but also in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas and in Southern California — who joked that they’ve been using these phrases since they were children, and their parents had, too. The novelty was not in their usage but in their validation (whether or not we sought that validation). My friends and I grew up being told to speak a certain way and respect the rules of both languages. We, in turn, didn’t so much break the rules as we simply played with them, swirling bits of English and Spanish together until it resembled something new yet familiar, our fingerprints proudly planted in its mess.

This is one of my greatest joys as a writer. I love language not only for all it can do but also for all it can’t and all the space it leaves in the gaps for creation. It is empowering that something as supposedly fixed as the meaning of a word or phrase is actually alive and evolving. It means we don’t have to lose parts of ourselves to assimilation; we can expand language to include the full breadth of our experiences.

Words are just sounds and letters until we collectively give them meaning through story. When we use language to connect, it’s one of the most beautiful things that make us human.

Natalia Sylvester is the author of the forthcoming children’s book “A Maleta Full of Treasures” (“La Maleta de Tesoros”).

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

Follow the New York Times Opinion section on Facebook , Instagram , TikTok , WhatsApp , X and Threads .

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How to Write an Article Review

Last Updated: September 8, 2023 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Jake Adams . Jake Adams is an academic tutor and the owner of Simplifi EDU, a Santa Monica, California based online tutoring business offering learning resources and online tutors for academic subjects K-College, SAT & ACT prep, and college admissions applications. With over 14 years of professional tutoring experience, Jake is dedicated to providing his clients the very best online tutoring experience and access to a network of excellent undergraduate and graduate-level tutors from top colleges all over the nation. Jake holds a BS in International Business and Marketing from Pepperdine University. There are 13 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 3,090,561 times.

An article review is both a summary and an evaluation of another writer's article. Teachers often assign article reviews to introduce students to the work of experts in the field. Experts also are often asked to review the work of other professionals. Understanding the main points and arguments of the article is essential for an accurate summation. Logical evaluation of the article's main theme, supporting arguments, and implications for further research is an important element of a review . Here are a few guidelines for writing an article review.

Education specialist Alexander Peterman recommends: "In the case of a review, your objective should be to reflect on the effectiveness of what has already been written, rather than writing to inform your audience about a subject."

Things You Should Know

• Read the article very closely, and then take time to reflect on your evaluation. Consider whether the article effectively achieves what it set out to.
• Write out a full article review by completing your intro, summary, evaluation, and conclusion. Don't forget to add a title, too!
• Proofread your review for mistakes (like grammar and usage), while also cutting down on needless information. [1] X Research source

Preparing to Write Your Review

• Article reviews present more than just an opinion. You will engage with the text to create a response to the scholarly writer's ideas. You will respond to and use ideas, theories, and research from your studies. Your critique of the article will be based on proof and your own thoughtful reasoning.
• An article review only responds to the author's research. It typically does not provide any new research. However, if you are correcting misleading or otherwise incorrect points, some new data may be presented.
• An article review both summarizes and evaluates the article.

• Summarize the article. Focus on the important points, claims, and information.
• Discuss the positive aspects of the article. Think about what the author does well, good points she makes, and insightful observations.
• Identify contradictions, gaps, and inconsistencies in the text. Determine if there is enough data or research included to support the author's claims. Find any unanswered questions left in the article.

• Make note of words or issues you don't understand and questions you have.
• Look up terms or concepts you are unfamiliar with, so you can fully understand the article. Read about concepts in-depth to make sure you understand their full context.

• Pay careful attention to the meaning of the article. Make sure you fully understand the article. The only way to write a good article review is to understand the article.

• With either method, make an outline of the main points made in the article and the supporting research or arguments. It is strictly a restatement of the main points of the article and does not include your opinions.
• After putting the article in your own words, decide which parts of the article you want to discuss in your review. You can focus on the theoretical approach, the content, the presentation or interpretation of evidence, or the style. You will always discuss the main issues of the article, but you can sometimes also focus on certain aspects. This comes in handy if you want to focus the review towards the content of a course.
• Review the summary outline to eliminate unnecessary items. Erase or cross out the less important arguments or supplemental information. Your revised summary can serve as the basis for the summary you provide at the beginning of your review.

• What does the article set out to do?
• What is the theoretical framework or assumptions?
• Are the central concepts clearly defined?
• How adequate is the evidence?
• How does the article fit into the literature and field?
• Does it advance the knowledge of the subject?
• How clear is the author's writing? Don't: include superficial opinions or your personal reaction. Do: pay attention to your biases, so you can overcome them.

Writing the Article Review

• For example, in MLA , a citation may look like: Duvall, John N. "The (Super)Marketplace of Images: Television as Unmediated Mediation in DeLillo's White Noise ." Arizona Quarterly 50.3 (1994): 127-53. Print. [10] X Trustworthy Source Purdue Online Writing Lab Trusted resource for writing and citation guidelines Go to source

• For example: The article, "Condom use will increase the spread of AIDS," was written by Anthony Zimmerman, a Catholic priest.

• Your introduction should only be 10-25% of your review.
• End the introduction with your thesis. Your thesis should address the above issues. For example: Although the author has some good points, his article is biased and contains some misinterpretation of data from others’ analysis of the effectiveness of the condom.

• Use direct quotes from the author sparingly.
• Review the summary you have written. Read over your summary many times to ensure that your words are an accurate description of the author's article.

• Support your critique with evidence from the article or other texts.
• The summary portion is very important for your critique. You must make the author's argument clear in the summary section for your evaluation to make sense.
• Remember, this is not where you say if you liked the article or not. You are assessing the significance and relevance of the article.
• Use a topic sentence and supportive arguments for each opinion. For example, you might address a particular strength in the first sentence of the opinion section, followed by several sentences elaborating on the significance of the point.

• This should only be about 10% of your overall essay.
• For example: This critical review has evaluated the article "Condom use will increase the spread of AIDS" by Anthony Zimmerman. The arguments in the article show the presence of bias, prejudice, argumentative writing without supporting details, and misinformation. These points weaken the author’s arguments and reduce his credibility.

• Make sure you have identified and discussed the 3-4 key issues in the article.

Sample Article Reviews

Expert Q&A

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://writing.wisc.edu/handbook/grammarpunct/proofreading/
• ↑ https://libguides.cmich.edu/writinghelp/articlereview
• ↑ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4548566/
• ↑ Jake Adams. Academic Tutor & Test Prep Specialist. Expert Interview. 24 July 2020.
• ↑ https://guides.library.queensu.ca/introduction-research/writing/critical
• ↑ https://www.iup.edu/writingcenter/writing-resources/organization-and-structure/creating-an-outline.html
• ↑ https://writing.umn.edu/sws/assets/pdf/quicktips/titles.pdf
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_works_cited_periodicals.html
• ↑ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4548565/
• ↑ https://writingcenter.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/593/2014/06/How_to_Summarize_a_Research_Article1.pdf
• ↑ https://www.uis.edu/learning-hub/writing-resources/handouts/learning-hub/how-to-review-a-journal-article
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/editing-and-proofreading/

About This Article

If you have to write an article review, read through the original article closely, taking notes and highlighting important sections as you read. Next, rewrite the article in your own words, either in a long paragraph or as an outline. Open your article review by citing the article, then write an introduction which states the article’s thesis. Next, summarize the article, followed by your opinion about whether the article was clear, thorough, and useful. Finish with a paragraph that summarizes the main points of the article and your opinions. To learn more about what to include in your personal critique of the article, keep reading the article! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Using the Definite Article in Spanish

Relevant lesson:, explanation.

Spanish nouns are often accompanied by a definite article , and they are often used in instances in which an article would not be used in English.

Spanish vs. English Usage

A lot of the time, the inclusion or omission of a definite article in Spanish matches up with the English translation.

For example:

However, there are also times that you will use the definite article in Spanish, but not in the English translation. Below you will find a some helpful guidelines for remembering when to use the definite article in Spanish. Though this list is not exhaustive, it gives you a good idea of some uses of Spanish definite articles that don't match up with English usage.

When to Use the Definite Article

1. to talk about things in general.

When talking about something in general, such as a type of food, music, book, etc. or a group of some sort, you'll use the definite article in Spanish.

2. Days of the Week

In Spanish, definite articles are used with the days of the week.

When a day of the week follows a form of the verb ser , the article is often omitted.

3. Names of Languages

Definite articles are used with names of languages in Spanish when the language is the subject of a sentence.

When a language is the object of a verb, the definite article is not used.

4. Body Parts and Clothing

Definite articles are often used with body parts and articles of clothing in Spanish.

5. Telling Time

Definite articles are used before numbers when telling time.

The definite article used for telling time is always feminine since it references la hora ( the hour ).

6. Long-Form Possession

Definite articles are used when talking about things possessed or created by someone.

7. Titles Used When Talking about Someone

Definite articles are also used when giving someone's title.

Articles aren't used before titles when you are talking to someone or with titles like San, Santo/a, Don , and Doña .

Want to learn more about Spanish articles? Check out our article on Spanish indefinite articles.

Want to learn more about nouns? Take a look at these articles!

• Noun-Adjective Agreement
• Parts of Speech in Spanish
• Definite Articles in Spanish
• Indefinite Articles in Spanish
• Adjective Placement
• Noun Suffixes in Spanish
• Using Adjectives as Nouns in Spanish

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Articles – Free Exercise

Write in the indefinite article and the definite article for each noun.

Type in the prepositions with the definite article. When it’s possible, combine the preposition and article into one word.

• No te olvides (de)     café! de + el = del Don’t forget the coffee!
• Debes devolver el dinero (a)     padre de Luis. a + el = al You have to give the money back to the father of Luis.
• Es el director (de)     escuela. The feminine article cannot be combined with prepositions. He is the director of the school.
• El verano pasado me fui de viaje (a)     Estados Unidos. The plural article cannot be combined with prepositions. Last summer, I travelled to the United States.
• ¿Por qué no vienes (a)     teatro con nosotros? a + el = al Why don’t you come to the theatre with us?

Choose the correct article. If no article is needed, select the dash (-).

• Mi primo es   el la lo los las un una - cantante muy conocido. He is one of many well-known singers → indefinite article|masculine: un My cousin is a well-known singer.
• ¿Hablas   el la lo los las un una - español? With hablar, escribir, leer, entender un idioma (to speak, write, read, understand a language), we don’t use an article. Do you speak Spanish?
• ¡Patricia! ¡   El La Lo Los Las Un Una - paella se está quemando! something specific, known to the addressee → definite article|feminine: la Patricia! The paella is burning!
• Viajamos en   el la lo los las un una - tren. For means of transport with the preposition en, we don’t use an article. We’re going by train.
•   El La Lo Los Las Un Una - bueno es que no cuesta nada. Before nouns made from adjectives, participles, or numerals, we use the definite article lo. The good thing is that it doesn’t cost anything.

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• Open access
• Published: 10 April 2024

Cultural adaptation and validation of the caring behaviors assessment tool into Spanish

• Juan M. Leyva-Moral 1 ,
• Carolina Watson 1 ,
• Nina Granel 1 ,
• Cecilia Raij-Johansen 1 &
• Ricardo A. Ayala 2 , 3  

BMC Nursing volume  23 , Article number:  240 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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The aim of the research was to translate, culturally adapt and validate the Caring Behaviors Assessment (CBA) tool in Spain, ensuring its appropriateness in the Spanish cultural context.

Three-phase cross-cultural adaptation and validation study. Phase 1 involved the transculturation process, which included translation of the CBA tool from English to Spanish, back-translation, and refinement of the translated tool based on pilot testing and linguistic and cultural adjustments. Phase 2 involved training research assistants to ensure standardized administration of the instrument. Phase 3 involved administering the transculturally-adapted tool to a non-probabilistic sample of 402 adults who had been hospitalized within the previous 6 months. Statistical analyses were conducted to assess the consistency of the item-scale, demographic differences, validity of the tool, and the importance of various caring behaviors within the Spanish cultural context. R statistical software version 4.3.3 and psych package version 2.4.1 were used for statistical analyses.

The overall internal consistency of the CBA tool was high, indicating its reliability for assessing caring behaviors. The subscales within the instrument also demonstrated high internal consistency. Descriptive analysis revealed that Spanish participants prioritized technical and cognitive aspects of care over emotional and existential dimensions.

Conclusions

The new version of the tool proved to be valid, reliable and culturally situated, which will facilitate the provision of objective and reliable data on patients beliefs about what is essential in terms of care behaviors in Spain.

• This paper provides a culturally translated, adapted, and validated version of the Caring Behaviors Assessment tool in the Spanish context, which can be used to obtain reliable and culturally adapted data on essential aspects of patient care.

• The findings of this study contribute to the wider global clinical community by demonstrating the importance of considering cultural factors when assessing and evaluating patient care from patients’ own perspective, and also emphasizes the need for culturally sensitive approaches in healthcare settings.

• This validated instrument facilitates the measurement of caring behaviors in the Spanish context, allowing for objective evaluation and improvement. Use of the Caring Behaviors Assessment tool could thus serve as a valuable resource for both future research and clinical practice.

Peer Review reports

Caring,  as a complex culturally derived phenomenon, encompasses recognition of individuals’ uniqueness and includes moral, emotional, and cognitive dimensions [ 1 ]. Within the field of nursing, the professional act of caring is defined as an interpersonal process characterized by nurses’ expertise, competencies, personal maturity, and interpersonal sensitivity. The ultimate aim is to meet patients’ bio-psycho-social needs, ensuring their protection, emotional support, and overall satisfaction [ 2 ]. Furthermore, caring has been understood as the pivotal element that patients expect and should encounter to feel satisfied with nursing services [ 3 ]. Therefore, the concept of caring is dynamic, requiring adaptation to diverse sociocultural contexts.

Drawing on humanistic, transformative, integrative, and complex ontological and epistemological perspectives, various nursing theories have been developed that focus on promoting human-centred care [ 4 , 5 ]. One such perspective is the theory of human-to-human relationships proposed by Travelbee [ 6 ], which emphasizes the unique and irreplaceable nature of anyone who has lived or will live in this world. In this perspective, therapeutic human relationships evolve through a series of interactive steps, including the emergence of identities and the development of empathy (and later sympathy) until finally establishing rapport with persons receiving care [ 7 ].

Similarly, Watson [ 8 , 9 ] has elaborated a care process consisting of the following ten steps (caritas process): 1) consciously practising kindness and honesty while providing care; 2) being authentically present in a facilitative manner; 3) cultivating spirituality by transcending the self; 4) developing and maintaining a relationship of trust; 5) supporting the expression of both positive and negative feelings; 6) using creativity to obtain information during the care process; 7) engaging in genuine teaching and learning that take a global view of phenomena, while considering the perspective of the other; 8) creating healing environments that enhance integrity, comfort, dignity, and peace; 9) consciously and intentionally assisting with basic needs while enhancing the mind, body, and spirit; 10) remaining open to the experience of life and death, including care of both the professional and the patient’s soul. In short, caring is the essence of nursing and is a fundamental element for establishing effective nurse-patient relationships and achieving high-quality health outcomes.

The quality of nursing care is directly related to patients’ general experience and satisfaction. Evidence shows that patient experience with nursing care is a crucial predictor of patient satisfaction [ 10 , 11 ]. Studies indicate that providing expert and integrated care contributes to patients’ sense of safety and feeling embraced [ 12 ]. Conversely, professional nursing practice based on the biomedical model has been associated with low patient satisfaction and limited professional fulfilment among nurses [ 13 ].

Nevertheless, measuring nursing care plays an essential role in assessing its effectiveness and quality. By measuring nursing care, healthcare organisations and policymakers can identify areas for improvement and make evidence-based decisions to enhance patient outcomes. While caring cannot be reduced to a mere collection of actions and behaviours, this step is crucial in systematising the components of care that impact patients’ experiences [ 14 ] and in determining the contribution of nursing to health systems [ 15 ]. Watson [ 9 ] argues that, without engaging in philosophical contradictions, the use of quantitative instruments to assess care is necessary to provide scientific evidence. Such evidence helps managers and researchers to evaluate the complex and unique role of nursing and its effects on health.

The presence of an adequate number of well-trained nurses is known to reduce the risk of patient mortality, with outcomes similar to those achieved by physicians [ 16 ]. Nevertheless, nursing care extends beyond numerical values and clinical outcomes. It is well-established that discrepancies exist between the perceptions of nurses and patients regarding what constitutes care, primarily due to the uniqueness of each individual; hence the application of individualized care is promoted and takes into account the sociocultural context [ 17 ]. Moreover, humanised care is associated with high levels of patient and family satisfaction in various contexts [ 18 ].

One of the oldest and most widely used tools for assessing nursing care is the Caring Behaviours Assessment (CBA) tool, developed by Cronin and Harrison [ 19 ]. The authors were concerned about the exclusion of patients’ perspective in care settings and sought to identify which behaviours communicated care and how their effectiveness could be evaluated. Consequently, they created and validated the CBA, which comprises 63 items, grouped into seven subscales based on Watson’s ten carative factors. The instrument has been translated and validated in several languages, including Chilean Spanish [ 15 ]. However, the Spanish spoken in Spain exhibits distinct differences to the Chilean variety in word usage, meaning and cultural nuances, influenced by other languages spoken in the country such as Catalan or Galician. Consequently, despite extensive debate in recent years, there are currently no reliable assessment instruments available in the Spanish context that adequately consider cultural nuances in patients’ experiences. Therefore, using the CBA in an apparently similar but different language variety could lead to misinterpretation [ 20 ].

The aim of this study is to report the process of cultural translation, adaptation, and validation of the CBA in Spain, which to the best of our knowledge is the only culturally grounded version available. This new version of the CBA will provide a reliable means to obtain objective, tangible, and culturally adapted data on patients’ perceptions of the elements they deem to be essential in their care.

Approval was obtained from the relevant Ethics Committee on 2020 ( ethics committee name, hidden for blinding purposes ). Then, a study organised in three phases was undertaken on 2021–2022. The phases were as follows: 1. Transculturation. 2. Training. 3. Administration.

A previous publication reported the process of creating a version of the CBA in Latin-American Spanish, namely in Chile. The authors of that publication suggested several steps for obtaining a transculturally adapted version, which we used here. These steps were as follows:

Translating the CBA from English to Spanish : one translation (draft 1) was done by a non-nursing translator, and another one (draft 2) by two bilingual nurses, who were familiar with Watson’s theory. The two drafts were then contrasted, leading to an agreed translation (draft 3).

Back-translation from Spanish into English : A bilingual nurse who was familiar with the subject but unfamiliar with the CBA, back-translated draft 3 into English (draft 4).

Refining the Spanish draft prior to the pilot test : the authors reworked a refined version (draft 5) by contrasting the back-translation with the original CBA in English.

Pilot-testing the translated version : Once satisfactorily refined, the translated version was tested with 36 volunteers. This step included interviewing them to identify their understanding of each item.

Linguistic and cultural adjustment: draft 5 was further adjusted by analyzing the volunteers’ responses and using three linguistic criteria: semantic disambiguation, morpho-syntax, and language. This step aimed to ensure one of the key traits of the CBA: plain language. As in the Latin-American version by Ayala and Calvo [ 15 ], conjugation was adjusted (i.e., use of the subjunctive tense instead of the present tense), so that the items reflected hypothetical situations. Otherwise, it would be all too easy for patients to misconstrue that they were being asked to assess the actual care provided by specific nursing staff. Equally, the order of the Likert-type scale was maintained from 1 to 5, left to right. Lastly, grammatical structures and words that sounded natural in spoken Spanish were double-checked with a linguistic consultant. This process led to the preliminary version of the CBA in Spanish.

A team of research assistants was trained in the application of the instrument to ensure a standardised administration process. The training included, for example, that informed consent had to be obtained from all participants before they were given a copy of the questionnaire, that the instructions had to be read aloud to the participants clearly and calmly, that the instrument had to be completed privately, and that the assistants had to remain nearby and attend to participants’ queries. This phase was crucial to minimize the risk of inducing an observer effect on responses.

We administered the transculturally-adapted version of the CBA to a non-probability sample ( N  = 402). To test its psychometric properties [ 21 ], the preliminary version was applied to a sample of adults (between 5 and 10 per item; with a mean age of 39.5 years [SD = 16.5]), who had been hospitalised within the previous 6 months (mean = 2.75 times). This phase aimed to assess the CBA with users of similar characteristics and under similar conditions to those of the final intended users: the CBA is specifically designed to be used in hospital settings.

The procedure yielded 402 observations, providing a significant amount of data for the analysis of item/scale and subscale/scale consistency, as well as the overall reliability of the CBA in measuring a single construct. Of the 402 observations, 120 were excluded from the analysis as they were from health practitioners. As a result, the final sample size was for the analysis was N  = 282.

Statistical analysis

Our objective was to analyse the single items and item‐scale consistency, as well as explain potential differences in perceptions based on demographic data. In addition to assessing the validity of the scale, we also aimed to determine the relevance of diverse caring behaviours within the particular cultural setting of the study. To achieve this, we used correlation analyses to examine the associations between caring behaviors and relevant cultural factors.

Analyses were performed by examining mean and SD (± 1SD) values per item to identify the highest‐ and the lowest‐ranking behaviours. In addition, a Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO) factor adequacy and Bartlett’s test for sphericity were used to know if our dataset could be factored. Afterwards, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was used to find common structure in data. The final number of factors was obtained using a parallel analysis. The factorial method employed was minimum residual with Varimax rotation.

Finally, Cronbach’s alpha as well as McDonald’s omega were used to estimate internal consistency and reliability respectively. All statistical analyses were performed using R statistical software (v4.3.3) [ 22 ] and the package psych (v2.4.1) [ 23 ].

As previously mentioned, 120 out of the 402 participants were health professionals. Our initial intention was to retain them in the sample, but their responses made the items markedly redundant, likely due to their familiarity with philosophies of care or a self-validating effect. Therefore, these participants were excluded from the sample. The paragraphs below report the results of the validation tests.

Scores by items

As per descriptive statistics, we calculated mean scores ± 1SD for each of the 63 items of the CBA. The five highest‐ranking and five lowest‐ranking behaviours are listed below (Tables  1 and 2 ). The means ranged from a maximum of [4.87] (± 0.44) for item 3 “Know what they’re doing” to a minimum of [2.88] (± 1.06) for item 25 “Visit me if I move to another hospital unit.”

Cronbach’s alpha and MacDonald’s omega scores by subscales

To calculate the mean ± 1SD per subscale, the items were grouped into their respective subscales. Table 3 shows the scores by subscales alongside their reliability coefficients (ω). As expected, the subscale “Existential/phenomenological/spiritual forces” was the lowest-ranking subscale (3.76 ± 0.34), while “Human needs assistance” was the highest-ranking subscale (4.49 ± 0.23). Nevertheless, both Cronbach’s alpha and McDonald’s omega were 0.8 or higher in all subscales. Importantly, Cronbach’s alpha for the overall scale was 0.96, indicating that the instrument shows a high internal consistency, while McDonald’s omega showed high reliability (0, 97).

Consideration of scale purification

After running the statistical tests, we were dissatisfied with some of the results and deliberated on the need for scale purification [ 24 ]. We found that the items correlating less highly with the overall scale, typically those carrying some existential meaning, were not automatically associated by the respondents with nursing care, and some even considered they were not pertinent to nurses’ work.

Additionally, numerous participants informed us that some items were confusing or sounded redundant. This result had already been detected during the linguistic phase of the study (phase 1), when participants often pointed out that some questions were being asked twice, although differently, which they found somewhat tiresome or repetitive (see Table  4 ).

The decision to perform scale purification for the sake of simplicity required some debate among the listed researchers, as our aim was to have a very high correlation in all of the items. Naturally, this is not the aim of validating an instrument per se. More problematic still were the items that had relatively lower correlations but were meaningful from a theoretical perspective [ 25 ].

We thus aimed to combine personal judgement and statistical criteria, as keeping those items could allow changes in perception to be assessed across time. Furthermore, when removing the items in question, the overall Cronbach’s alpha increased only minimally (from 0.960 to 0.963). Therefore, we decided to keep all 63 items, as in the original CBA [ 19 ], resulting in the validated version of the CBA questionnaire in Spanish. The final version and the item-by-item translation are provided in the Supplementary material .

Exploratory factor analysis

Interestingly, EFA showed that while subscales 1, 2 and 5 are conceptually linked (Humanism/Faith-hope/Sensitivity, Helping/trust, Supportive/protective/corrective environment), these were also strongly associated in the dataset. Similarly, subscales 4 and 6 (Teaching/learning, Human needs assistance) and 3 and 7 (Expression of positive/negative feelings, Existential/phenomenological/spiritual forces) formed somewhat 4 separate groupings on their own. This was also highlighted by the parallel analysis, which showed that 5 factors were found. The latter was reassuring in terms of how well structured the CBA tool is. Additionally, EFA enabled us to identify that the highest loadings (L, see Table  5 ) were item 17 “Really listen to me when I talk” (L = 0.71); item 36 “Ask me what I want to know about my health/illness” (L = 0.70); item 37 “Help me set realistic goals for my health” (L = 0.69); item 06 “Encourage me to believe in myself” (L = 0.69); item 07 “Point out positive things about me and my condition” (L = 0.67); and item 28 “Encourage me to talk about how I feel” (L = 0.67).

KMO and Bartlett’s sphericity test showed that our data set was able to be factorized. KMO overall was 0.93, while Bartlett’s sphericity test (X 2  = 11126.8, p  < 0.05) also suggested that our dataset could be used in EFA. This analysis was done using 5 factors, as shown by the parallel analysis. Table 5 shows the item loadings higher than 0.5 for each factor, while the results for the EFA are shown on Table  6 . The first 3 factors explain 30% of observed variability, while adding factors 4 and 5, completed the 45% of variability explanation (see Table  6 ).

The variability explained after the EFA clearly demonstrates how complex the observed variability becomes following the application of the CBA tool.

How respondents answered the open‐ended question

Some carefully selected examples of the participants’ responses are shown in Table  7 . Additionally, in Phase 1 participants seemed surprised by the items relating to existential/phenomenological/spiritual dimensions. The participants disagreed that these dimensions pertained to nursing care (i.e., “What have nurses become now? Psychologists?”).

Discussion of cultural adaptation and validity of the CBA

The steps taken to ensure accurate cultural adaptation of the Spanish version of the CBA were essential to creating a version tailored to Spanish users, considering the specific features of a region influenced by several languages. Cronbach’s alpha for overall reliability was high (0.96), and all its subscales were 0.8 or higher. The overall Chronbach’s alpha is reassuring as it mirrors that of the Chilean Spanish CBA validated by Ayala and Calvo in 2017 [ 15 ], although in our study there was more dispersion across the subscales. Equally, McDonald’s omega showed high reliability.

Research studies conducted in different regions have also validated CBA versions for patients in the USA [ 26 ], Saudi Arabia [ 27 ] and Jordan [ 28 ]. These studies consistently reported overall Cronbach’s alpha values above 0.8, adding cumulative evidence in support of the CBA as a valid instrument to measure nurses’ caring behaviours.

Moreover, a descriptive analysis was conducted to identify the caring behaviours receiving the highest and lowest ranking. As expected, some items showed weaker correlations with the overall scale, and some participants even considered them “irrelevant” or unrelated to nurses’ duties. When we compared our study to that performed by Ayala and Calvo [ 15 ] and the original by Cronin and Harrison [ 19 ], similarities were found in the results for most of the items. However, differences were found in the item “consider my spiritual needs”, which was rated lower by the Spanish sample. This discrepancy may be related to cultural and contextual factors influencing perceptions and expectations regarding caring behaviours.

Emergence of a 5-dimensional factorial solution for the CBA scale in the Spanish context

Our study presents evidence for a 5-dimensional factorial solution for the CBA scale in the Spanish healthcare context. The convergence of findings suggests that the identified dimensions capture meaningful variance in the dataset and reflect underlying patterns of caring behaviors within the Spanish healthcare context.

Our findings suggest a strong theoretical coherence among certain dimensions within the CBA (Caring Behavior Assessment) scale, reflecting interconnected clusters of caring behaviors. For instance, subscales 1, 2, and 5 demonstrate conceptual linkage, forming a cohesive first dimension that encompasses ‘Humanism/Faith-hope/Sensitivity, Helping/Trust, and Supportive/Protective/Corrective Environment’. Specifically, our analysis reveals an expanded understanding within the first dimension, encompassing not only the initial three carative factors as in the original version but also incorporating two additional factors. These include the formation of a humanistic-altruistic system of values, the installation of faith-hope, the cultivation of sensitivity to oneself and others, the development of a helping-trust relationship, and the provision for a supportive, protective, and corrective environment. This expanded dimension highlights the interconnectedness of empathy, compassion, trust, and reliability within caregiving relationships, reinforcing the foundational principles outlined in Watson’s Theory of Transpersonal Care [ 8 ] and also supported by established theories of patient-centered care [ 29 ]. Additionally, this dimension highlights the importance of providing a supportive, protective, and corrective mental, physical, sociocultural, and spiritual environment, aligning closely with Watson’s emphasis on creating conducive environments for healing and growth. By recognizing this evolution in our analysis, we underscore the ongoing refinement and adaptation of theoretical frameworks to specific contexts better capture the complexities of caregiving dynamics and promote holistic patient care.

While subscales 1, 2, and 5 form a single cohesive dimension, subscales 3, 4, 6 and 7, form separate groupings, resulting in a total of five dimensions, each representing specific facets of caring behaviors. The second dimension, ‘Teaching/Learning’, focuses on the educational aspects of caregiving and skills training. This dimension aligns with the principles of transpersonal care, emphasizing the importance of nurturing the growth and development of both caregivers and recipients through shared learning experiences. The third dimension, ‘Human Needs Assistance,’ emphasizes the importance of fulfilling the fundamental needs of people receiving care, reflecting the humanistic approach to caregiving that prioritizes the preservation of dignity and autonomy. The subscale ‘Expression of Positive/Negative Feelings’ captures the acknowledgement and validation of the emotional experiences of patients receiving care, resonating with the empathetic and compassionate aspects of transpersonal care. Lastly, the dimension ‘Existential/Phenomenological/Spiritual Forces’ addresses the existential, phenomenological, and spiritual aspects of caregiving. This dimension emphasizes the interconnectedness of mind, body, and spirit, echoing the holistic perspective of transpersonal care, which acknowledges the spiritual essence and interconnectedness of all beings. This comprehensive framework illuminates the multifaceted nature of caregiving, addressing diverse aspects essential for holistic patient care and well-being.

Relevant findings and preferences of Spanish individuals

The highest-ranking items among the Spanish participants mainly related to technical and cognitive components, such as competence in clinical procedures and the handling of equipment. Conversely, the lowest-ranking behaviours related to emotional and existential dimensions, such as talking about life outside the hospital, understanding patients’ experiences, and considering spiritual needs. These results may indicate that, within the Spanish context, these components are perceived by patients as less important than technical competencies, thus highlighting their priorities in terms of their care, even though the respondents were not hospitalised. These results suggest that clinical skills and technical competencies play an important role in patients’ perceptions of the quality of nursing care in Spain [ 30 ]. This finding is supported by a prior study [ 31 ] comparing nursing practice in Spain with that in the UK.

The prioritization of technical competencies over emotional and existential dimensions in nursing care may be explained by people’s prioritizing. Individuals usually prioritize basic needs and gradually move to more complex ones after basic needs are met. The perception of care may follow a similar pattern. The primary focus may thus be on safety and meeting the standard of performance required to guarantee this basic need, with less emphasis on the overall experience of wellbeing and being looked after. This approach also tends to be used in healthcare delivery, where the main focus is usually placed on survival-related outcomes [ 32 ]. However, as healthcare evolves toward value-based and person-focused approaches, there is growing awareness of the need to expand services and prioritize broader aspects of care. Expectations may thus be informed by factors such as recovery and quality of life, and become aligned with patients’ priorities, expectations and desire for comprehensive care and enhanced overall quality of life. By understanding this dynamic, healthcare professionals can better navigate the complexities of patient expectations and ensure the delivery of care in accordance with diverse needs and preferences.

However, to ensure comprehensive nursing care aligned with the expectations of individuals in Spain, it is essential to have a deep understanding of their individual needs and priorities. Validation studies conducted for specific populations may shed light on the elements of healthcare that are highly valued and contribute to humanisation. For example, research focusing on transgender populations has shown that being asked about their preferred form of address is highly valued [ 33 ] but does not seem to be a priority for the general population in our setting. Similarly, individuals in end-of-life processes place great importance on the ability of nurses and clinicians to show compassion and empathise with their feelings, while these qualities were not prioritised in the participants in our sample [ 34 ]. Equally, women going through challenging experiences, such as miscarriage, stressed that a key element of the care they required was being helped to cope with the future and understand their feelings [ 35 ].

In a similar vein, another study focused on how the general population perceived the quality of nursing services. The findings of that study revealed that various dimensions of quality, such as psychological, physical, and communication components, were rated at a moderate level, suggesting that there was room for improvement in meeting patients’ expectations [ 36 ]. This finding emphasises the importance of tailoring nursing care to specific populations to address the complexity of individual preferences, and highlights the need to focus on the multidimensional aspects of care to enhance the overall quality of nursing activity.

An awareness of contemporary nursing training and the scope of nurses’ work in society could fruitfully contribute to shifting such expectations away from a focus on technical and knowledge-related issues. As stated by López-Verdugo et al. [ 37 ], society often relies on misinformation when referring to nursing work, which is also often based on widely disseminated myths and stereotypes. A stereotyped image of nursing work, and of nurses themselves, may well lie beneath the reaction of some of the Spanish participants in our study when asked about the importance of emotional and spiritual needs in nursing care. Participants may not always fully appreciate the importance of integrated care, just as contemporary nursing remains largely unknown in Spain [ 37 ]. Therefore, a change in perspective is needed to foster greater appreciation of the profession for more rewarding experiences during periods of health and illness, both for users and for healthcare providers.

Previous research has emphasised human care as a driving force in nursing practice, highlighting that quality care relies on a holistic view of care that extends beyond technical proficiency [ 38 ]. Several studies have underscored that human care, which encompasses emotional support, effective communication, and attention to patients’ psychosocial needs, is essential for promoting patient satisfaction and achieving favourable health care outcomes [ 39 ].

A drawback of the CBA is its relatively long length, leading to a risk of tiring respondents. This limitation has been acknowledged in previous literature [ 15 ]. In addition, during the cultural adaptation phase of the present study, participants reported that some items were somewhat repetitive. To address this concern, future research could focus on validating abbreviated versions of this and other instruments. This approach would allow more streamlined integration of theoretical perspectives into routine assessments in clinical practice. Similarly, exploring the perspectives of specific population groups could provide a more nuanced understanding of their unique expectations regarding healthcare.

As patient-centered care gains recognition as a fundamental aspect of quality healthcare, understanding and measuring caring behaviors become necessary for healthcare organizations and professionals, highlighting the importance of tools like the CBA scale.

The interplay between theory and practice has gained prominence in nursing care over the past two decades. This dynamic encompasses various dimensions, ranging from abstract concepts like human sensitivity and emotional engagement to more tangible factors such as clinical skills. In this context, the use of tools to assess and translate nursing care into workable data have gained importance in healthcare policy and management. Indeed, such objective data can be useful for decision-makers in higher-level management, as nurses’ work is key to user satisfaction and the transformation of the biomedical paradigm in health care. Adapting and validating instruments can thus contribute to these processes.

Similarly, implementing ‘tooling up’ strategies can be a useful way of rendering nurses’ often invisible work visible, which, in the process, could incentivise a humane approach, which is perceived to have been lost in the evolutionary loop of healthcare in the industrialised world.

To support this endeavour, this article provides a validated version of the CBA for users in Spain. This version remains true to the original CBA but incorporates certain modifications into the Spanish version for respondents’ ease of use. Through a process of translation, cultural adaptation and statistical analysis, this new version has been demonstrated be a valid and culturally-appropriate instrument, which provides reliable, objective, comparable and culturally-sensitive data on patients’ perceptions of the most essential elements of care during hospitalization.

All authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest. The individuals who participated in this study were research participants and were not involved in the design, conduct, or preparation of the manuscript.

Relevance for clinical practice

The study addressed the problem of the lack of a culturally translated, adapted and culturally validated version of the Caring Behaviors Assessment (CBA) tool in the Spanish context. This was a significant issue as it hindered the collection of objective and culturally sensitive data on essential aspects of care.

The research will have an impact on several groups. First, it will benefit healthcare professionals and providers, policymakers and managers by providing them with a reliable instrument to evaluate and improve patient care. This instrument could enhance their understanding of patient needs and preferences, enabling them to identify areas for improvement and promote person-centered care.

Second, the research could directly benefit the Spanish-speaking population. Through the CBA tool, individuals will be able to ask for care that aligns more closely with their personal values and preferences, thus promoting a shift towards person-centered care.

Availability of data and materials

The datasets used and/or analyzsed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

Caring Behaviors Assessment

Exploratory Factor Analysis

Standard Deviation

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Acknowledgements

We would like to express our gratitude to all the participants who took part in the study. We also wish to thank Dr Pedro Hervé (U. Magallanes, Chile) for providing statistical support. Lastly, we would like to thank Dr Sherill N. Cronin (Bellarmine University, USA) for giving us permission to use and translate the CBA tool into Spanish.

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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Juan M. Leyva-Moral, Carolina Watson, Nina Granel & Cecilia Raij-Johansen

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Ricardo A. Ayala

Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

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Contributions

JM.LM. and RA.A. made substantial contributions to the conception and design of the project. including the development of survey instruments and strategic planning for project dissemination. C.W. and N.G. played a key role in data acquisition, overseeing survey implementation and managing outreach efforts. JM.LM. and RA.A analyzed and interpreted data. C.W., C.RJ., and N.G. were involved in drafting and revising the manuscript. JM.LM and RA.A critically reviewed it for significant intellectual content. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Carolina Watson .

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All ethical principles of biomedical research advocated in the Declaration of Helsinki were respected. This study has been reviewed and approved by the UAB Research Ethics Committee in accordance with ethical standards and guidelines. Approval reference number: (approval reference number CEEAH 5194). Participants were provided with a thorough explanation of the study procedures before accessing the questionnaire, ensuring their voluntary participation, with a commitment to maintaining the anonymity of the collected data. Informed consent was obtained from each participant before the completion of the questionnaires.

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Leyva-Moral, J.M., Watson, C., Granel, N. et al. Cultural adaptation and validation of the caring behaviors assessment tool into Spanish. BMC Nurs 23 , 240 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-024-01892-2

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Generative AI can turn your most precious memories into photos that never existed

The Synthetic Memories project is helping families around the world reclaim a past that was never caught on camera.

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Maria grew up in Barcelona, Spain, in the 1940s. Her first memories of her father are vivid. As a six-year-old, Maria would visit a neighbor’s apartment in her building when she wanted to see him. From there, she could peer through the railings of a balcony into the prison below and try to catch a glimpse of him through the small window of his cell, where he was locked up for opposing the dictatorship of Francisco Franco.

There is no photo of Maria on that balcony. But she can now hold something like it: a fake photo—or memory-based reconstruction, as the Barcelona-based design studio Domestic Data Streamers puts it—of the scene that a real photo might have captured. The fake snapshots are blurred and distorted, but they can still rewind a lifetime in an instant.

“It’s very easy to see when you’ve got the memory right, because there is a very visceral reaction,” says Pau Garcia, founder of Domestic Data Streamers. “It happens every time. It’s like, ‘Oh! Yes! It was like that!’”

Dozens of people have now had their memories turned into images in this way via Synthetic Memories , a project run by Domestic Data Streamers. The studio uses generative image models, such as OpenAI’s DALL-E, to bring people’s memories to life. Since 2022, the studio, which has received funding from the UN and Google, has been working with immigrant and refugee communities around the world to create images of scenes that have never been photographed, or to re-create photos that were lost when families left their previous homes.

Now Domestic Data Streamers is taking over a building next to the Barcelona Design Museum to record people’s memories of the city using synthetic images. Anyone can show up and contribute a memory to the growing archive, says Garcia. 

Synthetic Memories could prove to be more than a social or cultural endeavor. This summer, the studio will start a collaboration with researchers to find out if its technique could be used to treat dementia.

Memorable graffiti

The idea for the project came from an experience Garcia had in 2014, when he was working in Greece with an organization that was relocating refugee families from Syria. A woman told him that she was not afraid of being a refugee herself, but she was afraid of her children and grandchildren staying refugees because they might forget their family history: where they shopped, what they wore, how they dressed.

Garcia got volunteers to draw the woman’s memories as graffiti on the walls of the building where the families were staying. “They were really bad drawings, but the idea for synthetic memories was born,” he says. Several years later, when Garcia saw what generative image models could do, he remembered that graffiti. ”It was one of the first things that came to mind,” he says.

The process that Garcia and his team have developed is simple. An interviewer sits down with a subject and gets the person to recall a specific scene or event. A prompt engineer with a laptop uses that recollection to write a prompt for a model, which generates an image.

His team has built up a kind of glossary of prompting terms that have proved to be good at evoking different periods in history and different locations. But there’s often some back and forth, some tweaks to the prompt, says Garcia: “You show the image generated from that prompt to the subject and they might say, ‘Oh, the chair was on that side’ or ‘It was at night, not in the day.’ You refine it until you get it to a point where it clicks.”

So far Domestic Data Streamers has used the technique to preserve the memories of people in various migrant communities, including Korean, Bolivian, and Argentine families living in São Paolo, Brazil. But it has also worked with a care home in Barcelona to see how memory-based reconstructions might help older people. The team collaborated with researchers in Barcelona on a small pilot with 12 subjects, applying the approach to reminiscence therapy—a treatment for dementia that aims to stimulate cognitive abilities by showing someone images of the past. Developed in the 1960s, reminiscence therapy has many proponents, but researchers disagree on how effective it is and how it should be done.

The pilot allowed the team to refine the process and ensure that participants could give informed consent, says Garcia. The researchers are now planning to run a larger clinical study in the summer with colleagues at the University of Toronto to compare the use of generative image models with other therapeutic approaches.

One thing they did discover in the pilot was that older people connected with the images much better if they were printed out. “When they see them on a screen, they don’t have the same kind of emotional relation to them,” says Garcia. “But when they could see it physically, the memory got much more important.”    

Blurry is best

The researchers have also found that older versions of generative image models work better than newer ones. They started the project using two models that came out in 2022: DALL-E 2 and Stable Diffusion, a free-to-use generative image model released by Stability AI. These can produce images that are glitchy, with warped faces and twisted bodies. But when they switched to the latest version of Midjourney (another generative image model that can create more detailed images), the results did not click with people so well.

“If you make something super-realistic, people focus on details that were not there,” says Garcia. “If it’s blurry, the concept comes across better. Memories are a bit like dreams. They do not behave like photographs, with forensic details. You do not remember if the chair was red or green. You simply remember that there was a chair.” 

The team has since gone back to using the older models. “For us, the glitches are a feature,” says Garcia. “Sometimes things can be there and not there. It’s kind of a quantum state in the images that works really well with memories.”

Sam Lawton, an independent filmmaker who is not involved with the studio, is excited by the project. He’s especially happy that the team will be looking at the cognitive effects of these images in a rigorous clinical study. Lawton has used generative image models to re-create his own memories. In a film he made last year, called Expanded Childhood , he used DALL-E to extend old family photos beyond their borders, blurring real childhood scenes with surreal ones.

“The effect exposure to this kind of generated imagery has on a person's brain was what spurred me to make the film in the first place,” says Lawton. “I was not in a position to launch a full-blown research effort, so I pivoted to the kind of storytelling that's most natural to me.”

Lawton’s work explores a number of questions: What will long-term exposure to AI-generated or altered images have on us? Can such images help reframe traumatic memories? Or do they create a false sense of reality that can lead to confusion and cognitive dissonance?

Lawton showed the images in Expanded Childhood to his father and included his comments in the film: “Something’s wrong. I don’t know what that is. Do I just not remember it?”

Garcia is aware of the dangers of confusing subjective memories with real photographic records. His team’s memory-based reconstructions are not meant to be taken as factual documents, he says. In fact, he notes that this is another reason to stick with the less photorealistic images produced by older versions of generative image models. “It is important to differentiate very clearly what is synthetic memory and what is photography,” says Garcia. “This is a simple way to show that.”

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