During a recent conversation in class, a particular sentence similar to the one below raised this question "when do you use the definite article in front of a noun?" Consider the following statements:
Viví cinco años en la Florida.
Viví cinco años en Venezuela.
In both sentences you have the name of a location (la Florida; Venezuela), In English it is translated as "I lived five years in Florida." or "I lived five years in Venezuela."
It turns out certain place names include the article in the name: el Canadá, la Florida, la Habana, los Estados Unidos, others do not: Nueva York, Venezuela, California. You need to remember which familiar places that you speak of frequently take the article or not. Remember that Florida takes the article: Yo vivo en la Florida.
But there are useful rules that guide you for other nouns. Sometimes the use or lack of a definite article matches English:
Pásame el arroz, por favor. -- Please pass me the rice. (article in both)
Me gusta comer helado -- I like to eat ice cream.(no article in either)
1.Proper nouns in beginning of sentences usually take the article:
La comida mexicana es deliciosa. Mexican food is delicious.
Los gatos son inteligentes. Cats are intelligent.
2. Days of the week:
Tengo que trabajar el lunes-- I have to work on Monday.
Ella llega el viernes por trén. -- She arrives Friday by train.
3. Languages: the general rule is you include the article when the language is the subject of a sentence, and you leave it out when it's the object of a verb:
Dicen que el aleman y el ruso son idiomas muy difíciles.
Yo estudio español.
4. Body Parts and Things you wear: In English you say "My head hurts." In Spanish you say "The head hurts me," or "To me hurts the head."
Me duele la cabeza.
A mi me duele la cabeza.
Hoy me pongo los espejuelos de sol-- Today I wear sunglasses.
5. Time: Always use the definite article when telling time.
Es la una de la tarde. It's one o'clock in the afternoon.
Son las dos y media. It is two thirty.
Ella se acuesta a dormir siempre a las dies de la noche. She always goes to bed at 10:30pm.
(Remember that time is always feminine, because la hora is feminine.)
As you can see, Spanish uses the definite articles much more that English. When in doubt, use the article.
