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The Spanish Language uses determiners in a similar way to English. The main difference is that that they "agree" with what they refer to in terms of both number (singular/plural) and gender (masculine/feminine).


DEMONSTRATIVE DETERMINERS

Spanish has three levels of demonstrative pronouns (see Deixis ):
#Closest to the speaker (proximal): ''este, esta, estos, estas''
#Closest to the hearer (distal): ''ese, esa, esos, esas''
#Far from both (distal): ''aquel, aquella, aquellos, aquellas''

English also used to have a three-way system like this: "this hill (here)", "that hill (there)" or "yon hill (yonder)" — in Spanish, "esta colina", "esa colina", "aquella colina". English lost the third level, so that the "that, there" series covers the ground of "yon, yonder".

''Este'' refers to something near the speaker (the first person). ''Ese'' refers to something nearer the hearer (the second person). ''Aquel'' refers to something away from both the speaker and the hearer.

A similar system is found in other Romance languages, as well as in Japanese .


ARTICLES


Definite articles

The definite article in Spanish, corresponding to "the", is ''el''. It agrees for gender and number as follows:

The usually masculine form ''el'' is used instead of ''la'' before feminine nouns beginning with a stressed ''a'' sound:
  • ''el águila (pequeña)''

  • ''el agua (fresca)''

  • ''el hacha (afilada)''

    • Exceptions: ''la'' is used despite this when use of ''el'' would imply a man:

  • ''la ácrata'' (because ''el ácrata'' would be a male anarchist)

  • ''la árabe'' (because ''el árabe'' would be a male Arab, or the Arabic language)

    • ''Azúcar'' is a very special case. Its ''a'' is unstressed, and yet it usually takes ''el'' even when feminine:

  • ''el azúcar refinada'' (''el azúcar refinado'' and ''la azúcar refinada'' are also possible)

    • N.B.: this feminine ''el'' does not have the same origin as the masculine ''el''. The latter is from the Old Castilian ''ele'', whereas the former is from ''ela'', just as ''la'' is.

This historic finesse is lost to those who use non-standard forms such as ''los águilas''.

There is also a "neuter article", used before adjectives, that make them work like nouns:
  • ''lo bueno'' = "what is good, the good stuff"

  • ''lo importante'' = "the important thing"

  • ''lo indefinible'' = "the indefinable"

  • ''lo desconocido'' = "the unknown"



Indefinite articles

  • ''un hombre'' = "a man"

  • ''una mujer'' = "a woman"

  • ''unos hombres'' = "some men"

  • ''unas mujeres'' = "some women"


Near synonyms of ''unos'' include: ''unos cuantos'', ''algunos'' and ''unos pocos''.

As in English, the plural indefinite article is not always required.


POSSESSIVE DETERMINERS

These are often known as possessive or genitive determiners. They are used before the noun they possess (and before the rest of the whole noun phrase, for example when an adjective precedes the noun). They agree in number with the noun, and sometimes in gender too.

  • 1st person singular (''yo''): ''mi(s)''

  • 2nd person singular (''tú''): ''tu(s)''

  • 3rd person singular (''él, ella''): ''su(s)''

  • 1st person plural (''nosotros/as''): ''nuestro/a(s)''

  • 2nd person plural(''vosotros/as''): ''vuestro/a(s)''

  • 3rd person plural (''ellos/as''): ''su(s)''


Note the following:
  • There is no distinction in number for the third person possessives (i.e. between "his"/"her"/"its" and "their").

  • The possessive for ''usted'' and ''ustedes'' is ''su(s)'' as for other third-person pronouns. The ambiguity that this causes (especially considering that ''su(s)'' already covers "his", "her", "its" and "their") can be allieviated by treating ''usted(es)'' 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 use, ''tu'' replaces ''vuestro''. Therefore, an Argentinian would say ''Che, decime tu dirección'' rather than ''decidme vuestra dirección'' or ''dime tu dirección''.

  • Dialectally, ''usted/ustedes'' may replace ''tú/vosotros'' without any intention to be formal. The corresponding possessive determiner ''su(s)'' is used. Therefore, a Colombian may say ''Hijo, enséñeme sus deberes'' instead of ''Hijo, enséñame tus deberes'' ("Son, show me your homework").



Combining demonstratives and possessives

Demonstrative pronouns can be combines 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 normal adjectival form (''mío, tuyo, suyo...'') is not used in this construction.


It is also possible to use the normal 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 (''-o, -a, -os, -as'') to agree with their noun.

  • ''¡Otra cerveza, por favor!'' = "Another beer, please!"

  • ''Mucha gente pasa por aquí'' = "A lot of people come through here"

  • ''No hay tanta gente como en verano'' = "There aren't as many people as in summer"

  • ''Ciertos vinos son muy dulces'' = "Certain wines are very sweet"

  • ''He salido con varias chicas'' = "I've been out with several girls"