Definite Articles

01

The Four Basic Forms

There are four main forms of the definite article:

• el for singular masculine nouns.
• la for singular feminine nouns.
• els for plural masculine nouns.
• les for plural feminine nouns.

• El cotxe és vermell.

  The car is red.

• La casa és gran.

  The house is big.

• Els llibres són a la taula.

  The books are on the table.

• Les cadires són còmodes.

  The chairs are comfortable.

02

The Apostrophe: l'

When a singular noun begins with a vowel or a silent h, both el and la contract to l'. This is known as elision. The plural forms els and les do not change.

• L'home menja una poma.

  The man eats an apple. (from el home)

• L'aigua de l'ampolla és freda.

  The water in the bottle is cold. (from la aigua)

• L'aeroport és a prop d'aquí.

  The airport is near here. (from el aeroport)

03

Exceptions to the Apostrophe

The feminine article la does not contract to l' when the following word begins with an unstressed syllable starting with i-, u-, hi-, or hu-.

This prevents two weak vowel sounds from merging. Compare the following:

• La universitat és antiga.

  The university is old. (The stress is on -tat, so u- is unstressed).

• La història és interessant.

  The history is interesting. (The stress is on -tò-, so hi- is unstressed).

However, if the initial i- or u- is stressed, the contraction l' is used as normal.

• L'illa és molt bonica.

  The island is very beautiful. (The stress is on the first syllable, i-).

04

Contractions with Prepositions

The masculine articles el and els merge with the prepositions a (to), de (of/from), and per (for/by/through). The feminine articles la and les do not contract.

• a + el → al
• de + el → del
• per + el → pel
• a + els → als
• de + els → dels
• per + els → pels

• Anem al parc aquesta tarda.

  We are going to the park this afternoon.

• És el cotxe del meu pare.

  It's my father's car.

• Passejo pel carrer principal.

  I'm walking through the main street.

05

Special Uses

Definite articles are used in some contexts where they are omitted in English.

With people's names: It is very common to place a definite article before a person's first name when talking about them.

• L'Anna viu a Barcelona.

  Anna lives in Barcelona.

• Has vist el Jordi avui?

  Have you seen Jordi today?

With possessive adjectives: The definite article is required before possessive adjectives like meu (my), teu (your), seu (his/her/its), etc.

• La meva germana és metgessa.

  My sister is a doctor.

• On són els teus amics?

  Where are your friends?