How to say "She has green eyes"?

Question

Someone said that it's Tiene los ojos verdes but that Tiene ojos verdes would also be correct. I asked him(a guy from Spain) what the difference was and he said that it was subtle and hard to explain so I thought I would ask here.

He tried explaining by saying

“Tiene los ojos verdes” is the answer to a question like “What color are her/his eyes?” “Tiene ojos verdes” is the answer to the question “What does she have?”

So I was wondering if someone could explain what purpose the los has in "Tiene los ojos verdes" I kinda feel like.. "Out of all the colors that exist, she has the green ones" or something to that effect..

Anyone who could give me an answer to this? :x Would be grateful. - Sha11e, May 10, 2015

Answer 1

“Tiene los ojos verdes” is the answer to a question like “What color are her/his eyes?” “Tiene ojos verdes” is the answer to the question “What does she have?”

I agree with this explanation, it is about grammatical correctness. We use articles when we talk about body parts, ie: "Me duele el brazo", so by saying los ojos it´s clear that the discussion is about the color of the eyes that belong to the person, rather than ie: an eye surgeon carrying a pair of eyes into a hospital room to a transplant patient. However, many times people omit the article when they refer to body parts as in this case.

Answer 2

Everything I looked up as an answer to "What color eyes does she have?" says "Tiene ojos verdes."

Now, I am a beginner, so hopefully a native Spanish-speaker will chime in.

Answer 3

The first sentence is using the article "los" So in this case is similar to: That's the bus That's a bus

He is the one guy He is one guy

In the first sentence you make clear with the use of the article, that you are giving a relative greater importance to the color of the eyes.