When not to use un/una in the sentence?

Question

These two days, I read some sentences without using articles like un and una. I don't know how to tell when not to use them. For example,

Cuando era chico, el único juguete que tenía era un oso de peluche.

(When I was a child, the only toy I had was a teddy bear.)

Como estudiante, yo debería estudiar mucho.

(As a student, I should study hard.)

In the above sentences, there is no un before chico or estudiante. Hope someone can tell me how to tell and why not use them..

Answer 1

Possibly the easiest way to understand when and when not to use these articles is dependent on, as Roger mentions, ¨oneness¨ or ¨singularness¨.

But in the end, it´s context that determines if we use the article or not; ie: Soy piloto aviador / ¿Pero qué puedo hacer yo? Soy solamente un aviador de muchos.

Soy estudiante en la universidad / Soy un estudiante de esta universidad que no quiere que hagamos huelga.

Cuando era chico, el único juguete que tenía era un oso de peluche.

In this case, chico refers to the condition of the person (not so much being a kid, but the age).

Hola, Julian. Muchas gracias. I'm catching on to how to tell by the example sentences you gave here. - joygogo, Sep 20, 2013

I knew you could do it! - 005faa61, Sep 20, 2013

Good anwers (of course) Julian. I´m glad a native chimed in with the real feeling. - rogspax, Sep 20, 2013

Answer 2

Hi Joy,

This is a bit tricky, and is handled a bit differently in Spanish than English. . I´m still working on it too. Some of them just have to be memorized. I think the trick here is knowing that, and not just translating from English, which would be easier for both me, and as a very impressively advanced English speaker, you too, I¨m sure.

So, both of the two you mention are, to me, just cases of memorization. They both happen pretty frequently, so it´s not to bad.

For the first, just memorize the construction and notice what natives do. Cuando era joven. Cuando era chico. Cuando era estudiante. Cuando éramos deportistas.

Though that indefinite article is normally used there in English, it just isn´t here in Spanish. If you used it, it would maybe be a bit like saying. When I was one small person (as opposed to two???)

I think this is one of those ¨must accept it¨ ones.

I also think it´s a similar case with estudiante, but I´ll try to give you two perspectives on this one, in the hope that at least one of them will resonate well.

We say ¨As a student¨ in English, but they say ¨como estudiante¨ Again, for Spanish speakers, putting the ¨un¨ in there would emphasize the ¨oneness¨ or ¨singularness¨ and there´s no need for that, since you could clearly only be one student. The ¨a¨ aspect in English in implicit and intrinsic in Spanish.

Perspective 2: treat it like a profession. You probably already no that Spanish doesn´t use the indefinite article with professions. We say ¨I am an engineer¨ but they say simply ¨soy ingeniero¨. Well, if you are a student, that is pretty much your job, so maybe that is another way to look at it. We say, ¨soy estudiante¨ not ¨soy un estudiante¨, right? It is the same with ¨como estudiante¨

Being a student, or child (young-small-chico) or engineer is nearly an inherent quality, at least for a long period, and, it´s something that a person is inherently just One of, so there is no need to use ¨un¨

Hola, Rog. Many thanks for giving me such a good and detailed explanation. You are very patient. - joygogo, Sep 20, 2013