Omission of the definite article with nouns in appositionIn formal Spanish, the definite article is often omitted before a second noun
which offers merely explanatory information about another one immedi-
ately preceding it:
Bogotá, capital de Colombia Bogotá, the capital of ColombiaRaúl, marcador del gol Raúl, the scorer of the goal
The article is however always retained before comparative and superlative
phrases:
La Paz, la capital más alta del mundo
La Paz, the highest capital in the worldFixed phrasesIn many set phrases like the following the article is not used:a orillas de on the banks of a corto/ in the short/
largo plazo long term
en manos de in the hands of en nombre de in the name ofThe definite article with names of languagesThere are cases both of use and omission.The definite article is usedwhenever reference is made to the language as
a whole:El vasco es una lengua de origen incierto.
Basque is a language of uncertain origin.
The definite article also occurs after de ‘from/of’ and certain other prepo-
sitions:Esa palabra viene del alemán.That word comes from German.
los problemas del ruso the problems of Russian
Lo van a traducir al español. They are going to translate it
into Spanish.3.2.3.13.2.33.2.2.4(^1111) 3.2.2.3
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20111
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The definite
article