More spanish questions....?

Question

Is there a way to tell how you know wheather to use el, la, un, una, unos....etc in front of a word. I've figured out the whole masculine/fem thing, but how do you know when to use the other words?

Answer 1

el and la are the singular of the word the
los and las are the plural of the word the
for example
el gato-the cat(singular)
los gatos-the cats(plural)
la cama-the bed(singular)
las camas-the beds(plural)
for mascauline words that end in o or os you use el or los
for feminine words that end in a or as you use la or las
of course there are sone exceptions like
la radio
those you just have to memorize and there are no tricks
un and una are the singular for the word a
for examle
un carro-a car
una chica- a girl
when the word is masculine and ends in o then you use un
when the word is feminine and ends in a then you use una
of course there are exceptions again and those you just have to memorize

Answer 2

With Spanish it usually is pretty straight forward. If a word ends with o, e or a consonent it is masculine, and therefore you would use el or un.
If a word ends with "a" it is feminine, and then you would use la or una.

There are some words that are just irregular, and do not follow these patterns. Take "hand". The word for hand in Spanish is "Mano". Usually, a word ending with o would have the article el in front of it, however this is an example of an unusual case, where it is actually "la mano".

If you need to know when to use el vs. uno and la vs. una it is fairly simple

If you want to say "I took the hand." You would say "Yo tomó la mano."

But if you wanted to say "I took a hand." You would then say "Yo tomó una mano."

The same goes for el and un.

"I ate a cat" Becomes "Yo comí un gato."
"I ate the cat" Becomes "Yo comí el gato."
"I ate some cats." Becomes "Yo comí unos gatos."
"I ate the cats." Becomes "Yo comí los gatos."
Hope that helps!

Answer 3

The difference between "un, una, unos, unas" and "el, la, los, las" is the same as the difference between the word "a" in english and the word "the" in english. They are both considered articles, but "a" is an unspecific article and "the" is a specific article.

Example: When you say that you need "a table" (una mesa) you normally are asking for any table that can be found (non specific). When you say that you need "the table" (la mesa) you are referring to a specific table and the person you are talking to will normally understand which table you are referring to (specific).

So use "un, una, unos, unas" for unspecific things and use "el, la, los, las" for specific things.

Don't worry, I used to go crazy in spanish class trying to remember which one to use. Good luck.

Answer 4

Usually when it ends in an "s" it means plural. For example unos, unas, las, los, etc.

Answer 5

el - masc.-- o,... a few more
la - fem-- a... a few more

un and una is if your talking about one or more with numbers or quantities and normaly are after a noun.

If they are plural they will end in a "s"

looks at the endings they are dead give aways but watch out there are some exceptions

Answer 6

Ok, if as you say you know masculine and feminine

then la (feminine) woud be una

el (masculine) would be un

los (masculine) plural = unos

las (feminine) plural = unas