Articles and Vowels

Start first lesson

1. Lesson 1

15 questions

2. Lesson 2

13 questions

3. Lesson 3

15 questions

Explanation

Quick Answer

Spanish has four definite articles: el, la, los, and las(all four mean the in English).

This article focuses on the pronunciation of the article el when followed by words starting with a vowel, such as águila(eagle).

Articles and Nouns in Spanish

In Spanish, nouns don't like to be alone, so they are often accompanied by articles! Spanish articles indicate the gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural) of a noun, as well as whether or not a noun is a specific noun (definite or indefinite).

There are four definite articles in Spanish, and they often all translate to the same little word in English: the. There are also cases where they don't have a direct English translation, but help to indicate the gender and number of a noun.

Definite Article Forms:

Here are the four forms that Spanish definite articles take.

Number	Gender	Form
singular	masculine	el
singular	feminine	la
plural	masculine	los
plural	feminine	las

Matching Gender and Number

A definite article always has to match both the gender and number of its noun.

If the noun is feminine and singular (like salsa, then the article also has to be feminine and singular (la salsa).
If that same noun is plural (like salsasthe article is also plural (las salsas).

Check out these examples with the different definite articles in Spanish.

examples
El libro está en el escritorio. The book is on the desk.
La literatura española es muy interesante. Spanish literature is very interesting.
Me gusta ir al cine los viernes. I like to go to the movie theater on Fridays.
Son las cinco y cuarto de la tarde. It is five fifteen in the afternoon.

Exceptions

When a feminine singular noun begins with a stressed a or ha sound, the masculine definite article is used instead of the feminine definite article.

When the same noun is plural, the regular feminine article is used.

Check out these examples of feminine words that take the masculine singular article (el) in the singular, but the feminine plural article (las) in the plural.

Singular	Plural	English
el águila	las águilas	the eagle(s)
el alma	las almas	the soul(s)
el agua	las aguas	the water(s)
el hacha	las hachas	the axe(s)

Examples of El + Words Starting With a Vowel

Check out these examples of Spanish words that are used with the masculine singular article el!

Spanish	English
el agua	the water
el águila	the eagle
el aire	the air
el ala	the wing
el alba	the dawn
el alga	the seaweed
el ángel	the angel
el árbol	the tree
el área	the area
el arpa	the harp
el arte	the art
el atleta	the athlete
el aula	the classroom
el azahar	the orange blossom
el azul	blue
el eco	the echo
el edificio	the building
el elefante	the elephant
el elemento	the element
el episodio	the episode
el erizo	the hedgehog
el esfuerzo	the effort
el espacio	the space
el espejo	the mirror
el estudiante	the student
el esqueleto	the skeleton
el equipo	the team
el éxito	the success
el idioma	the language
el imán	the magnet
el ingeniero	the engineer
el insecto	the insect
el interés	the interest
el invierno	winter
el ojo	the eye
el oro	the gold
el oso	the bear
el otoño	the fall
el ukelele	the ukulele
el unicornio	the unicorn
el uniforme	the uniform
el universo	the universe
el utensilio	the utensil