De - with or without el/la ?

Question

Below are some examples of expressions that are supposed to be correct. Some of those use el / la after de and others don't. I don't see any difference between those types of expressions. Can it be explained or do I have to remember every single expression?

Without el / la:

• el collar de perlas
• el accidente de coche
• la declaración de accidente
• el peligro de incendio
• el carnet de conducir

With el / la:

• el jefe de la empresa
• el resultado de la prueba
• el día y la hora del vuelo
• la idea del viaje
• el futuro del hombre

EDIT:

Thanks for both answers. Both mention that with el / la I'm talking about something specific. Does it mean that after de, un / una can be omitted? I don't remember seeing a lot of "de un", but I've found 2 examples:

• Las casas típicas de un pueblo
• la lengua oficial de una comunidad

Would those examples be correct without un / una ?

Answer 1

Mostly, the expressions without articles concern things in general and those with articles are specific, ie: el día y la hora del vuelo is one particlular flight and el peligro de incendio is the danger of any fire.

Sometimes an expression can have more than one meaning depending on context, ie: el futuro del hombre. This could mean the future of mankind or the future of a specific man, but either variant still would use a definite article as it defines the noun.

These expressions you have posted can be easily figured out, but there may be others that are more difficult, so in those cases memorization may be necessary.

Answer 2

Often you will use the definite article when you are talking about something in particular rather than the thing in general. For example, in the "necklace of pearls" you are speaking of a pearl necklace not a necklace made from the specific pearls that you bought in Japan and then brought to a jeweler to make a necklace. If you were talking about the latter then you would say el collar de las perlas, referring to the specific pearls you have purchased earlier.

There are many exceptions to this idea, however. Particularly with conceptual things, they always have the definite article. la fe = faith, for example. You will never use just the word fe alone. And you are not necessarily talking about someone's specific faith when you say "la fe", you might just be talking about faith in general.

I believe del hombre is a similar case, if you are talking about mankind in general and "el futuro del hombre" could mean either "the future of man(kind)" or "the future of the man" You can only tell which it is depending on context.

Keep in mind that the "de" is often used only because where in English most nouns can be used directly as adjectives this is not the case in Spanish so de + noun is used to form an "adjective or possesive-like phrase". Although it is tempting to translate "de" into "of" or "from" in English, this is not really advisable. "De" can have a vague meaning such as "is related to" or "has to do with" For example "el accidente de coche", just means "car accident", the "de" isn't even translated. Once again, if you were talking about an accident to your specific car you would say "el accidente del coche" or "el accidente de mi coche"

Answer 3

In addition to the above, I noticed that the ones with "el" and "la" could also be translated into English with the "the" being used.

The boss (owner) of the business

The result of the test

The day and the hour of the flight

The idea of the trip.

The future of the man ( when speaking of a specific man)

Answer 4

del of/from the

de el from him