Using "el" or "la"

Question

While beginning to learn Spanish, I have recognized there are two ways to say "the": "el" and "la". However, I am confused about when it is proper to use each word. They seem to be synonymous, but are used with different words. Can someone please explain.

Answer 1

Unlike English, nouns in Spanish have gender - masculine and feminine. The definite article for masculine nouns is el, and for feminine nouns it's la. You just need to memorise the genders of nouns one way or another - there are some very general rules, some exceptions, some obvious choices (woman is feminine for example) and some just need to be crammed in.

EDIT: The most basic rule is that words which end in -o are masculine and words which end in -a are feminine. There are exceptions (la mano is feminine even though it ends in an -o and el mapa is masculine even though it ends in an -a but the exceptions aren't that many). For the rest you can check the short article here at SD: Noun gender

horrendous cramming... ): - theinvincible, Jul 26, 2013

so there are no set rules for which word is used - charlie00tree, Jul 26, 2013

I edited my post, as the answer didn't fit in a comment. - Manity, Jul 27, 2013

Answer 2

I have been learning for over one year. Manity gave a good answer. Let me add that there is more to the definite article - the plural forms! For example, plural of la is las as in Las Vegas (the meadows, feminine), plural of el is los as in Los Angeles (the angels, masculine). Enjoy learning! It's a good exercise for the brain!