Spanish: An Essential Grammar

But after verbs such as tener‘to have’ and faltar‘to lack’, the article is not

used:

¡Hay que tener paciencia para hacer esto!

You need patience to do this!

Note: The article may be omitted when nouns occur in the form of a list: Sinceridad,

franqueza, y honradez son cualidades que le faltan‘Sincerity, openness and honesty

are qualities that he lacks’.

The definite article with terms for general concepts and practices

Unlike in English, the article in Spanish is used for any noun that refers to

a general idea, phenomenon or practice. This category includes colours,

diseases, games, fields of activity and even meals:

No me gusta el rojo como I don’t like red as a colour.

color.

Casi se ha erradicado la Smallpox has almost been eradicated.

viruela.

Están jugando al béisbol. They are playing baseball.

No sigo la política. I don’t follow politics.

¿A qué hora es la cena? What time is dinner?

Note: The article is not used with colours after the prepositions deand en: El cuarto

está pintado de verde‘The room is painted green’.

The definite article with days, seasons and years

The forms eland losare used with days of the week (often corresponding

to English ‘on’). Elis used for single occasions and losfor habitual practices:

Es el lunes cuando vamos. It’s on Monday that we are going.

No abren los sábados. They don’t open on Saturdays.

Vienen del sábado al lunes.They are coming from Saturday

until Monday.

However, the article is dropped after serin sentences that merely identify

what day of the week it is, or after dein sentences that refer to routine

practices:

3.2.1.4

3.2.1.3

1111

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

1011

1

12111

3 4 5 6 7 8 9

20111

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

30111

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

40

41111

3

Definite and
indefinite
articles

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