confused about indefanate and defanate artlicles

Question

I am having difficulty knowing when to use indefanate articles, for ex: She eats an apple como una menzana,,, i dont know how/why the una was put in there.

Answer 1

Firstly, she eats an apple is 'come una manazana' 'como una manzana' means I eat an apple.

The una means 'an/a' so it is used just as you would use it in english, eg, I have a dog Tengo un perro

 Come **una** manzana
 She eats **an** apple

The most important thing to remember is to make sure the indefinite article agrees with the noun, so if it is a masculine noun (generally speaking nouns ending in -o) it will have 'un' before it (as above, 'un perro'), or if it is femenine noun (generally speaking ending in -a) it will have una before it (e.g, una manzana)

Great answer! Very well explained! - farallon7, May 3, 2012

nice answer! - t1funnyface, May 3, 2012

Good answer Lozz! :P - gato1, May 3, 2012

thanks gato you cheeky cat - Lozz1, May 3, 2012

Answer 2

In Spanish there are two words for "a" either "un" masculine or "una" feminine, and as manzana is a feminine word (noun) because it ends in an "a" (general rule) then it's " una manzana". If the word (noun) was masculine for example "perro" a dog then it would be "un perro". This also applies for the use of the "la" feminine and "el" masculine. So "la manzana" is "the apple" and "el perro" is "the dog".

Answer 3

In simple words,

• ...an apple = ...una manzana. You are not translating one word more nor one word less.
• The complete translation, should be = Ella come una manzana.
• Un = a/an for masculine
• Una = a/an for feminine. "Manzana" is feminine

Answer 4

Yes, I'm a bit confused by the post too. There are a few exceptions and places where Spanish and English differ, but in general a/an = un or una, and the = la las el los. More importantly, in the stated example, they are just the same.

Now, if the original poster just made a type, OR, were a native speaker of Neither English, Nor Spanish, then they may have posted as best they could, and our collective answers so far wouldn't be much help.

So

He eats an apple -- or -- Como una Manzana.

Read the section on indefinite articles, but, in general, if it is a single apple being eaten, and not a specific apple and not multiples apples, then english 'a' or spanish 'un' or 'una' will be used.

hope that helps

Answer 5

I'm a little confused about your post. The correct translation for "she eats an apple" would be "come una manzana" using the indefinite article "una" in concordance with "manzana". If instead you wrote "come la manzana" using the definite article "la" would translate "she eats the apple". In this case, the use of the indefinite and definite articles is exactly the same as the English use.

Answer 6

This is what your post should like more like:

Confused about indefinite and definite articles

I am having difficulty knowing when to use indefinite articles. For example: She eats an apple. Como una manzana.

I don't know how/why the una was put there. Could someone please help me? Thanks!

Good question though! As I am not a fluent spanish speaker, I cannot answer your question, but hopefully someone will soon!