50 Examples of Definite and Indefinite Articles in English

Definite and indefinite articles in English

In English, the only definite (or definite) article is “the”, which translates as el / la / los / las. The number (singular or plural) is understood from the context.

For example:

We must remember that in English there is no gender for objects and the definite article "the" does not have gender either. The definite article is used when we want to refer to a particular object.

However "the" is not used before:

• Own names. Although it is used to name families, not to name a person from that family.
  • Incorrect: He is the Mr. Smith. He is the Robert Smith.
  • : He is Mr. Smith. He is Robert Smith.
• Colors: Although in Spanish we say "I like yellow", in English the article is not used.
  • I like the yellow.
  • Correct: I like yellow.
• General nouns. We must remember that in English the definite article is used to indicate a particular individual. For this reason, although in Spanish we say “bears scare me”, in English the article is not used.
  • Incorrect: The bears scare me.
  • Correct: Bears scare me.

The indefinite articles are "A" and "an", which both translate as "a" or "an". Their number is singular.

An indefinite article is used to refer to any object of the same class, but not to a particular one.

Examples of definite and indefinite articles

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