Definite articles in Spanish, Italian, French, and German

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The definite article is a determiner, or a definitive. These point to, define, or determine which object (noun) is being referenced. There are several types (i.e. indefinite article, demonstrative adjective, possessive adjectives, etc.) but they all serve this purpose - to determine which one.

The determiner in question is named the "definite article" because it points to a definite particular of a kind of thing.

Not "girl," but "the girl." (A particular girl)

In English, the definite article is quite simple. We simply point out a particular with the definite article "THE." 

 We have no grammatical gender in English, which makes this very easy. This is not the case in the other languages. In Spanish, Italian, and French, there are 2 grammatical genders (masculine and feminine). Each is designated its own definite article. German, like Latin, is an inflected language, so we basically refer to the grammatical genders as "declensions," but its pretty much the same thing, just a different way of naming different categories.

We won't go into how to determine the declension or gender of a noun in this lesson. Let's just find out what the definite article are for each.

English "the"

Spanish

► el → masculine, singular nouns... el libro, el chico
► la → feminine, singular nouns... la ventana, la mujer
► los → masculine, plural nouns... los libros, los chicos
► las → feminine, plural nouns... las ventanas (windows), las mujeres (women)

French

► le → masculine, singular nouns... le téléphone, le café
► la → feminine, singular nouns... la couleur (color), la porte (door)
► l' → in front of nouns beginning w/a vowel or a silent h... l'ordenateur (computer), l'eau (water)
► les → feminine, plural nouns... les enfantes (kids), les tomates (tomatoes) 

Italian

Italian is a bit more complicated.

Masculine Singular Nouns

► il → masculine, singular nouns that start with a consontant... il libro, il vino (wine)
► l' → masculine, singular nouns that start with a vowel... l'aereo (plane), l'orologio (watch)
► lo → masculine, singular nouns that start with...
  • s + a consonant...  lo studente (student)
  • z... lo zio (uncle)
  • y... lo yogurt 
  • ps... lo psicologo 
  • pn... lo pneumatico (tire)
  • gn... lo gnomo (gnome)

Masculine Plural Nouns

► i → masculine, plural nouns that start with a consontant... i libri
► gli → masculine, plural nouns from lo category plus words that start with x... gli studenti

Feminine Nouns

► la → feminine, singular nouns that start with a consontant... la camicia (shirt), la bandiera (flag)
► l' → feminine, singular nouns that start with a vowel... l'insalata (salad), l'ora (hour)
► le → feminine, plural nouns... le insalati (salads), le penne (pens)

German

► (1st declension) der → masculine, singular nouns... der Tisch (table)
► (2nd declension) die → feminine, singular nouns... die Frau (woman)
► (3rd declension) das → neuter, singular nouns... das Glas (glass)
► die → all plural nouns... die Tische, die Frauen, die Gläser 


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