I can name the rooms and furniture in my apartment, choose between el/la and un/una, and say what floor I live on.
One of many, or the one we know
un, una, unos, unas
In Spanish a noun almost always has a word in front of it. el / la / los / las work like “the”: the thing is known — mentioned before, the only one, or right here. un / una / unos / unas work like “a” and “some”: the thing is named for the first time, “one of many”: Vivo en un piso.
Unlike English “a”, they agree with the noun in gender and number: un (masculine, one), una (feminine, one), unos (masculine, several), unas (feminine, several).
un also means “one”: Tengo un hermano. (I have one brother.)
Second mention — the definite article, as in English: Tengo una lámpara en el salón. La lámpara es de mi abuela.
No article after ser with a profession, where English has “a” (Soy estudiante — “I'm a student”), and none after a number above one: dos camas, tres sillas.
Common mistakes:
• NOT “un cama” — correct: una cama.
• NOT “unos sillas” — correct: unas sillas.
• NOT “Soy una estudiante” — correct: Soy estudiante.
• NOT “En el dormitorio tengo el armario” when the wardrobe is named for the first time — correct: tengo un armario.
Two sets of articles
Left — the thing is already known; right — it's mentioned for the first time.
| Gender and number | Already known | First mention |
|---|---|---|
| masculine, one | el piso | un piso |
| feminine, one | la cama | una cama |
| masculine, several | los libros | unos libros |
| feminine, several | las sillas | unas sillas |
Lesson notes
un, una, unos, unas
In Spanish a noun almost always has a word in front of it. el / la / los / las work like “the”: the thing is known — mentioned before, the only one, or right here. un / una / unos / unas work like “a” and “some”: the thing is named for the first time, “one of many”: Vivo en un piso.
Unlike English “a”, they agree with the noun in gender and number: un (masculine, one), una (feminine, one), unos (masculine, several), unas (feminine, several).
un also means “one”: Tengo un hermano. (I have one brother.)
Second mention — the definite article, as in English: Tengo una lámpara en el salón. La lámpara es de mi abuela.
No article after ser with a profession, where English has “a” (Soy estudiante — “I'm a student”), and none after a number above one: dos camas, tres sillas.
Common mistakes:
• NOT “un cama” — correct: una cama.
• NOT “unos sillas” — correct: unas sillas.
• NOT “Soy una estudiante” — correct: Soy estudiante.
• NOT “En el dormitorio tengo el armario” when the wardrobe is named for the first time — correct: tengo un armario.
Ordinal numbers and floors
An ordinal number (first, second…) names a floor, a door or a position in order: el primer piso, la tercera puerta.
Unlike English “first”, it changes for gender, like other words in front of a noun: primero / primera, segundo / segunda, quinto / quinta.
The shortened form, and where it stops: before a masculine singular noun, primero and tercero drop the -o — el primer piso, el tercer día. The feminine does not change: la primera puerta, la tercera habitación.
In figures: 1º, 2º, 3º (masculine) and 1ª, 2ª, 3ª (feminine).
Spain counts floors differently from the US. Street level is la planta baja (a US first floor); the floor above it is el primero (a US second floor), then el segundo. So “Vivo en el tercer piso” means the third floor ABOVE street level.
Common mistakes:
• NOT “el primero piso” — correct: el primer piso.
• NOT “la tercer puerta” — correct: la tercera puerta.
• NOT “el tres piso” — correct: el tercer piso: floors take an ordinal number, not a regular number.
• NOT “en el planta baja” — correct: en la planta baja.