Omission of Spanish Articles
When can you omit articles?
If I wanted to say "She buys some lettuce" would that be "Ella compra una lechuga" or "Ella compra luchuga"?
Also how would I say "He buys some oil, vinegar and salt"?
I'm confused with these nouns that don't really have plural forms.
6 Answers
The same thing frequently occurs in English with "non-counting" nouns. A "non-counting" noun is like "money" "vinegar" "salt" I never heard an English speaker say "I have three moneys" or "six vinegars" or even twenty-seven salts. We speak of quantities of the above in their proper units. "I have ten dollars." You have six bottles of vinegar" and "She just bought three boxes of salt."
For the undetermined amounts we use "some" in Spanish "un poco de"
There is a difference between 'Did you buy sugar?" and "Did you buy the sugar? and "Did you buy some sugar?
When you put the article in you are referring to a specific bunch of sugar. When you say some you are referring (usually) to a small quantity.
Do you have money? vs. Do you have the money? (as in the money I loaned you last week) " Do you have some money all have different shades of meaning which do have their equivalents in Spanish.
Now for the "some" I'm with Jubilado when he uses "un poco de" or "una cantidad" or some such expression.
I think that a number of issues are clouding this question. The original question asked "When can you omit articles?" Specifically, the indefinite article.
In Peninsular Spanish, the indefinite articles does not appear after the verbs buscar, tener, comprar, sacar, llevar, haber, etc. when the associated direct object is one that is normally singular. For example:
"Tengo paraguas" / "Compro leche" / "Llevo camisa" / "Hay accidente"
There are ,of course, other circumstances where the indefinite article is not used. The question of "some" has been covered.
Cheers
Here are my thoughts on this subject:
The Spanish for "some" in this context is algo or un poco meaning a bit or a bit of. These words would be used when you want to specify a bit more or less with más or menos. If you think about it there is really no significant difference between saying "I'm going to the store to get some lettuce," and "I'm going to the store to get lettuce." I think that in this context you would just use comprar lechuga. If you wanted to express that you need more lettuce you might say Voy a comprar un poco más de lechuga.
Maybe a native speaker will answer (or has already answered in the time I was writing this) your very thought provoking question.
va a comprar lechuga. ella compra lechuga
el compra aceite de olivo, vinagre y sal. va a comprar aceite de olivo, sal y vinagre
if you want to use some then I would use algún/alguno/alguna/algunos/algunas but in a diff sentence
Spanish-speaking natives do not use indefinite articles when speaking about professions/occupations, for example:
1.Soy médico = I am (a) doctor.
2.Eres ingeniero = You are an engineer
3.Son maestras = They are (Primary school) teachers.
Indefinite articles are also omitted before the word otro/otra. The Spanish would not say: ¿Hay un otro periódico aquí? They would omit the article un/una, just as we would not say: Is there 'an' another newspaper here? We would simply ask: Is there another newspaper here?
I hope this helps 
Referring to Butt and Benjamin, "A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish" 5th edition, page 44, section 3.3.8, and I paraphrase: "With unqualified nouns that normally appear as one-off, the indefinite article does not appear with the verb haber. He provides examples:
"Hay mercado / There is a market", and "Hay subasta / There is an auction"
Am I missing something here?
Cheers
