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Indefinite Article in Spanish Made Easier

In order to know what indefinite articles are, we need to do a quick review:

  • Nouns are people, places and things.
  • Adjectives are words that describe nouns. They have a gender and match in number or quantities. They can either be feminine or masculine. Usually nouns that end in -o are masculine and ones that end in -a are feminine. It’s not an absolute rule but a good rule to know.

What is the difference between definite and indefinite articles? 

  • Definite Articles: definite, specific
  • Indefinite Articles: not definite, not specific

Indefinite Articles video lesson




Definite ArticleNounFeminine or MasculineSingular or Plural
elcarroMasculineSingular
loscarrosMasculinePlural
lamanzanaFeminineSingular
lasmanzanasFemininePlural

INSERT INDEFINITE ARTICLE GRAPHIC

Indefinite ArticleNounFeminine or MasculineSingular or Plural
uncarroMasculineSingular
unoscarrosMasculinePlural
unamanzanaFeminineSingular
unasmanzanasFemininePlural




DEEP DIVE! What is the focus from this lesson?

We are going to learn how to say the feminine singular and feminine plural and the masculine singular and masculine plural. 

Let’s look at this example together:

Quiero _____ carro.

Quiero_____carro.
  carro is singular and masculine
Quierouncarro.
  carro is singular and masculine

Quiero _____ empanada.

Quiero_____empanada.
  empanada is singular and feminine
Quierounaempanada.
  empanada is singular and feminine

Quiero _____ carros.

Quiero_____carros.
  carros is plural and masculine
Quierounoscarros.
  carros is plural and masculine

Quiero _____ empanadas.

Quiero_____empanadas.
  empanadas is plural and feminine
Quierounasempanadas.
  empanadas is plural and feminine




What are indefinite articles?

  • So now we have learned that you have to choose between four definite articles: un, una, unos, unas
  • You select the correct definite article depending on the noun that it follows that can be either masculine or feminine (i.e. their gender)

Independent Practice:

NounFeminine or MasculineSingular or Pluralun

 

una

unos

unas

helado Singularun
heladosMasculine  
niñaFeminine  
niñas Pluralunas

What did we learn?

  • How to make nouns singular or plural? If it ends in a vowel add-s. If it ends in a consonant add -es.
  • How to determine if nouns are feminine or masculine? Most that end in -o are masculine. Most that end in -a are feminine. The others have to memorized.
  • How to add indefinite articles to nouns? Basically ‘a, an, some’ in English or a specific item like a car or an empanada. There are four are: un, una, unos, unas