Spanish: An Essential Grammar

When the article is an integral part of a title this contraction is not made,

in writing at least:

Es reportera de El Universo. She is a reporter on El Universo.

El and un before feminine nouns

Immediately before singular feminine nouns beginning with a stressedaor

ha, the forms eland un are used. This does not change the gender of the

noun and the plural form of the noun still demands las orunas:

el ancla oxidadathe rusty anchor un águila blancaa white eagle

el aula nueva y unas aulas viejas the new classroom and some

old classrooms

Common words which fall into this category are: agua‘water’, alma‘soul’,

área‘area’, arma‘weapon’, asma‘asthma’, haba‘bean’, habla‘language’,

hambre‘hunger’.

Exceptions include La Haya ‘The Hague’, la ‘a’ andla ‘hache’‘the letter

“a” ’ and ‘the letter “h” ’, la árabe‘the Arab woman’.

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Definite and
indefinite
articles

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De/a+ él

There is no contraction before the subject pronoun él: Esta copa es

de él‘This glass is his’.

When not to use el/un before feminine words

1 Eland un are notused if the article is not immediately before the

noun: el arpa‘the harp’, but la bella arpa del siglo XVI‘the

beautiful sixteenth-century harp’.

2 Eland un are notused if initial aor haare notstressed: una

alerta‘alert’, la hamburguesa‘hamburger’.

3 Eland unare notused before other words such as adjectives or

women’s names beginning with stressed a: una alta galería‘a

high gallery’, la Ana que conozco‘the Ana I know’.