Common nouns in Spanish are normally preceded by an article. Definite article (el artículo determinado) is used with well-defined nouns. Spanish articles change in number and gender:
| masculino | femenino | |
| singular | el | la |
| plural | los | las |
Spanish articles must agree in number and gender with the noun. Unlike in English, they must be used with the subject of the principal verb:
Los españoles son bajitos – ___ Spanish are small
La universidad de Madrid es famosa – ____ Madrid University is famous
As you can see, articles in Spanish are more frequent than in English.
Normally, you should not use articles with proper nouns, compare:
en el supermercado – in the supermarket
en la farmacia – in the pharmacy
en ___ Francia – in ___ France