Articles

Spanish keeps the article in places English drops it, among them general statements about a class, abstract nouns, days of the week, a language as the topic (el español es fácil) and body parts. Me gustan los perros is I like dogs, not the dogs. You will be wrong less often by over-articulating than by under-articulating.

After ser plus a profession, nationality or religion with no adjective, Spanish leaves the article out: es médico. The profession is behaving more like an adjective than a noun. Add a modifier and the article comes straight back: es un médico excelente.

Spanish has eight articles: el, la, los and las for the, and un, una, unos and unas for a or some. Choose the row by meaning, then let the noun's gender and number pick the form: el libro, la casa, los libros, unas casas. Learn every noun with its article and the choice makes itself.