Shouldn't this sentence should be written without **los**?

Question

Isn't the sentence

Estamos leyendo los periódicos.,
that is written in the reference section in the uses of estar should be written without los?

ser and estar

• Edited: I corrected the title - Issabela Jan 12, 2010
• thank you - ljubep Jan 12, 2010

Answer 1

In this example:

Estamos leyendo los periódicos. (We are reading the newspapers.)

los refers to particular newspapers, not just any. In other situation we could say: Estamos leyendo -- periódicos (We are reading newspapers), Estamos leyendo unos periódicos/Estamos leyendo algunos periódicos (the last two examples would be translated to We are reading some newspapers).