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 Article | Noun | Feminine or Masculine | Singular or Plural |
| el | carro | Masculine | Singular |
| los | carros | Masculine | Plural |
| la | manzana | Feminine | Singular |
| las | manzanas | Feminine | Plural |
INSERT INDEFINITE ARTICLE GRAPHIC
| Indefinite Article | Noun | Feminine or Masculine | Singular or Plural |
| un | carro | Masculine | Singular |
| unos | carros | Masculine | Plural |
| una | manzana | Feminine | Singular |
| unas | manzanas | Feminine | Plural |
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 |
| Quiero | un | carro. |
| carro is singular and masculine |
Quiero _____ empanada.
| Quiero | _____ | empanada. |
| empanada is singular and feminine |
| Quiero | una | empanada. |
| empanada is singular and feminine |
Quiero _____ carros.
| Quiero | _____ | carros. |
| carros is plural and masculine |
| Quiero | unos | carros. |
| carros is plural and masculine |
Quiero _____ empanadas.
| Quiero | _____ | empanadas. |
| empanadas is plural and feminine |
| Quiero | unas | empanadas. |
| 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:
| Noun | Feminine or Masculine | Singular or Plural | un
una unos unas |
| helado | Singular | un | |
| helados | Masculine | ||
| niña | Feminine | ||
| niñas | Plural | unas |
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