Forum Rocket Spanish Spanish - Grammar The difference between "el" and "la"

The difference between "el" and "la"

Rocket-L150

Rocket-L150

What is the difference between El and La?
ricardo-rich

ricardo-rich

Hola Rocket,
They are both definite articles, el is masculine and la is feminine:El hombre, la mujer."the" man, "the" woman. Hope that helps
Saludos,
Ricardo


 
Dan-H24

Dan-H24

To add to Ricardo's succinct answer, the gender of an article must match that of the noun it accompanies.

EL momento en LA vida.

Also note that indefinite articles have genders as well.
Robert-C7

Robert-C7

The articles must also match the quantity, e.g. Los Angeles, las manzanas.  Also, de and a combine with el to become del and al respectively, e.g Hotel del Coronado.
ricardo-rich

ricardo-rich

Hola a todos,
There are times when el precedes a feminine noun: el agua singular,  las aguas, plural. Link below regarding this.

http://spanish.about.com/od/adjectives/a/el_for_la.htm

Saludos,

Ricardo

 
Ava Dawn

Ava Dawn

How about La mano? Does it become los manos? or las manos?
Dan-H24

Dan-H24

The gender will remain the same, only the singular/plural characteristic of the article changes. So it is las manos.

Mano is one of those words that don't follow the usual guideline of feminine if it ends in a, masculine if ends in o.
KelllaurBailar

KelllaurBailar

One of the first things I learned a year or two back is, as Dan said, some nouns in Spanish just don't follow the rules! A few more similar nouns I found:
 
el día — day
el diagrama — diagram
el dilema — dilemma
el diploma — diploma
la disco — disco (short for la discoteca)
el drama — drama
el esquema — outline, diagram
la foto — photo (short for la fotografía)
el guardia — policeman or male guard ( la guardia, vigilance, policewoman or female guard)
el guía — male guide ( la guía, guidebook or female guide)
el mañana — near future (la mañana, tomorrow or morning)
el mapa — map
la modelo — female model (el modelo, male model)
Deven--3    देवन--३

Deven--3 देवन--३

Even though 'el' is masculine and 'la' is feminine, there are many exceptions: 'el mapa' 'el dia' 'la foto' etc.
KelllaurBailar

KelllaurBailar

Hi Deven, 
It might be useful for you to also see the following (although not as common as the first list):
el síntoma — symptom, sign
el sistema — system
la soprano — female soprano (but el soprano, male soprano)
el telegrama — telegram
el tema — theme, subject
el teorema — theorem
el tequila — tequila (short for el licor de Tequila)
Steven-W15

Steven-W15

Some words are more important to get right than others: el tequila, la cerveza...
 
Dan-H24

Dan-H24

¡Ja ja! Y no olvidas la palabra más importante de todo: el ron.
KelllaurBailar

KelllaurBailar

También voy a añadir "el vino", aunque no es irregular.

Ask a question or post a response

If you want to ask a question or post a response you need to be a member.

If you are already a member login here.
If you are not a member you can become one by taking the free Rocket Spanish trial here.