Spanish determiners


The Spanish language uses determiners in a similar way to English. The main differences are that Spanish determiners inflect for gender and always inflect for number as well.

Demonstrative determiners

Spanish has three kinds of demonstrative, whose use typically depends on the distance between the speaker and the described entity, or sometimes depends on the proximity to the three grammatical persons.
DemonstrativesProximalMedialDistal
Masculine singularesteeseaquel
Masculine pluralestosesosaquellos
Feminine singularestaesaaquella
Feminine pluralestasesasaquellas

Old English also used to have a three-way system: "this hill ", "that hill " or "yon hill " — in Spanish, "esta colina", "esa colina", "aquella colina". Standard English lost the third level, so that the "that, there" series covers the ground of "yon, yonder".
Este usually refers to something near the speaker. Ese usually refers to something nearer the listener. Aquel usually refers to something away from both the speaker and the listener.
The demonstrative determiners can also be used as pronouns, with the addition of the neutral singular forms esto, eso, aquello.
A similar three-way system of demonstratives is found in Portuguese, in Slavic languages, in Japanese and in Turkish.

Articles

Definite article

The definite article in Spanish, corresponding to "the", is el. It inflects for gender and number as follows:
Thus:
  • el hombre = " man"
  • los hombres = " men"
  • la mujer = " woman"
  • las mujeres = " women"
The usually-masculine form el is used instead of la before feminine nouns that begin with a stressed a sound :
  • el águila = "the eagle"
  • el agua = "the water"
  • el hacha = "the axe"
  • el aula = "the classroom"
La is used, however, when el would imply a masculine noun:
  • la ácrata
  • la árabe
Feminine el is never used, however, before feminine adjectives that begin with a stressed a:
  • la alta montaña = "the high mountain"
  • la ancha calle = "the wide street"
Azúcar is a very special case. Its a- is unstressed, but it usually takes el even when feminine. In addition, azúcar can be of both genders in Spanish, mar and sartén ):
  • el azúcar refinada
Feminine el does not have the same origin as the masculine el. The latter is from the Old Castilian ele, but the former is from ela, just like la.
There is also a neuter article that is used before adjectives and makes them act like nouns:
  • lo bueno = "the good, what is good"
  • lo importante = "the important thing"
  • lo indefinible = "the indefinable"
  • lo desconocido = "the unknown"
  • lo oscuro = "the dark"

    Indefinite article

The indefinite article in Spanish, corresponding to "a/an", is un and inflects for gender and number as follows:
Thus:
  • un hombre = "a man"
  • unos hombres = "some men"
  • una mujer = "a woman"
  • unas mujeres = "some women"
Near-synonyms of unos include unos cuantos, algunos and unos pocos.
The same rules that apply to feminine el apply to una and un:
  • un ala = "a wing"
  • una árabe = "a female Arab"
  • una alta montaña = "a high mountain"
As in English, the plural indefinite article is not always required:
  • Hay cosas en la mesa = "There are things on the table"
The use of uno/una/unos/unas before adjectives can be analyzed as a pronoun, followed by an adjective, rather than as an indefinite article, followed by a nominalized adjective:
  • Uno bueno = "A good ": "Hay uno bueno en esa calle, en la Plaza Corbetta." = "There's a good one on that street, on Corbetta Square."
  • Uno importante = "An important ": "Hay uno importante en el centro del Océano Pacífico." = "There is a major one in the center of the Pacific Ocean."

    Possessive determiners

These are often known as possessive or genitive determiners. They are used before the noun referring to what is possessed. They inflect for number and in some cases gender as well.
For example:
  • Este es mi perro = "This is my dog"
  • Esta es tu camisa = "This is your shirt"
  • Estos son nuestros libros = "These are our books"
  • Estas son sus casas = "These are his/her/your/their houses"
Given the ambiguous meaning of "su/s", this is often avoided, and replaced by other forms that clearly state who owns the thing in question. So sentences like the following can be heard:
  • la casa de él = "his house"
  • la casa de ella = "her house"
  • la casa de ellos = "their house"
  • la casa de usted = "your house"
Or even:
  • su casa de usted = "your house"
  • su casa de ustedes = "your house"
Note the following:
  • There is no distinction according to the number of possessors for the third person possessives.
  • The possessive for usted and ustedes is su as for other third-person pronouns. The ambiguity that this causes can be alleviated by treating usted as a noun and thereby saying la casa de ustedes instead of su casa. It is also possible to disambiguate by saying la casa de él or la casa de ella, etc.
Dialectal variation:
  • The archaic pronoun vos has the possessive form vuestro, just like vosotros does. However, in modern dialectal voseo, tu is the possessive corresponding to vos. Therefore, an Argentinian would say Che, decime tu dirección and never decime vuestra dirección or dime tu dirección.
  • Dialectally, usted/ustedes may replace tú/vosotros without any intention to be formal. The corresponding possessive determiner su is used. Therefore, a Colombian may say Hijo, enséñeme sus deberes instead of Hijo, enséñame tus deberes.

    Combining demonstratives and possessives

Demonstrative pronouns can be combined with possessives as follows:
  • Esta nuestra tierra = "This Earth of ours"
  • Este mi amor = "This love of mine"
Strictly speaking, the presence of the first determiner means that the possessive must be interpreted as an adjective rather than a determiner. Note however that the long adjectival form, which is identical to the corresponding possessive pronoun, is not used in this construction, which is rather uncommon.
It is also possible to use the long adjectival form. In this case, it goes after the noun:
  • Esta tierra nuestra = "This Earth of ours"
  • Este amor mío = "This love of mine"

    Miscellaneous determiners

There are many more words that can be used as determiners in Spanish. They mostly end in -o and have the usual four forms to agree with the noun.
  • ¡Otra cerveza, por favor! = "Another beer, please!"
  • Mucha gente pasa por aquí = "Many people pass through here"
  • No hay tanta gente como en verano = "There are not as many people as in summer"
  • Ciertos vinos son muy dulces = "Certain wines are very sweet"
  • He salido con varias chicas = "I have gone out with several girls"
  • Hay demasiados platos = “There are too many dishes”