When to use el/la

Question

Hey i'm trying to do a bit of translation but i'm stuck on this line: "He gives me faith, hope."

I'm guessing it's "me da la fe, la esperanza" because i know spanish uses "the" when talking of things in a general sense, but i'm wondering if that sentence counts. ayúdame por favor ^^

Answer 1

Hey i'm trying to do a bit of translation but i'm stuck on this line: "He gives me faith, hope."

I'm guessing it's "me da la fe, la esperanza" because i know spanish uses "the" when talking of things in a general sense, but i'm wondering if that sentence counts. ayúdame por favor ^^

Interesting question. I hope a native responds, because I've heard the same rule, but never could understand what is meant by general sense. I thought it meant that there were no qualifying adjectives attached to the noun like spiritual hope rather than hope in general. Observation has told me that that isn't the proper criteria for defining generality, however.
Just for fun, I threw it into the translator. It did, indeed, say la fe y la esperanza. Just to maintain it's status as useless, however, it gave a 2nd translation with no definite article before fatih, but la before esperanza.

Answer 2

The way I know this rule is used is when you are talking about not one specific example but the idea of the thing if that makes sense, for example "people don't talk to me" is "la gente no me habla" i use la when i dont have a certain group of people, im just talking about people in general (if any of what i say is wrong feel free to correct me ^^). The problem is that i dont know about this situation...

Answer 3

The way I know this rule is used is when you are talking about not one specific example but the idea of the thing if that makes sense, for example "people don't talk to me" is "la gente no me habla" i use la when i dont have a certain group of people, im just talking about people in general (if any of what i say is wrong feel free to correct me ^^). The problem is that i dont know about this situation...

I'm fairly sure in this specific case the definite articles can be used. And you may have given the reason why. Many times in Spanish the speaker or writer selects the construction that expresses what he wishes to communicate. For example you might use the subjunctive mood rather than indicative in a context to express doubt or degree of probability.
In this case using the definite article may convey your desire to refer to the terms in their general context. If you omitted the articles then that might be trying to exress a more specific context.
In other words there may be no absolute rule that states: Thou Shalt use definite articles in this case. You may have the option depending on what you are trying to convey.
I don't think this is one of those cases, however. I think using the definite article sounds more natural, but I'm not a native. Wait for one.

Answer 4

Let's break it down a bit. I prefer "Me da esperanza," without the article. Googling seems to confirm this. As for "dar fe," that is an idiom that means to testify, so with this noun it seems better to add the article. Finally, both the English and the Spanish are lacking a conjunction, in my opinion. Therefore, I would suggest "Me da esperanza, y la fe."

A ver que dicen los hispanohablantes.

Answer 5

"Me da esperanza, y la fe."

This sentence sounds natural to me.

Marco

Answer 6

Thanks guys!

Answer 7

Thanks guys!

You are welcome, but you should still wait and see what the natives think, as I'm not positive on this one.

Answer 8

I would do away with both definite articles. I think you can change the original verb and state it as follows: "Me inspira fe, esperanza."

Answer 9

Well, look at the variety of opinions. Maybe that machine translator isn't so stupid after all, but just has its own opinion, too. Now I recall why the "rule" here seemed so fuzzy.

Answer 10

I would do away with both definite articles. I think you can change the original verb and state it as follows: "Me inspira fe, esperanza."

This option definitely sounds much better.

Answer 11

I'm guessing it's "me da la fe, la esperanza" because i know spanish uses "the" when talking of things in a general sense,..

Spanish uses the article for generic references WHEN this reference is the subject of the sentence. In your sentence, "fe" and "esperanza" are direct objects, so the article should not be used.