Los and Las: Talking About More Than One
Los and las extend familiar articles to more than one noun. Choose the plural form by checking both gender and number instead of translating the word the.
Learning objective
Choose los or las for familiar plural nouns.
Los and las usually mean the before plural nouns, which name more than one person, place, thing, or idea. Use los with masculine plural nouns, as in los libros, the books. Use las with feminine plural nouns, as in las mesas, the tables.
The article shows both gender and number. Gender is the noun's masculine or feminine grammar category, while number tells whether the expression is singular or plural. El changes to los for masculine plural nouns, and la changes to las for feminine plural nouns: el vaso, los vasos; la casa, las casas.
A plural group containing masculine and feminine people traditionally takes the masculine plural form, such as los amigos for male and female friends together. An all-female group takes las amigas. Real people may prefer different identity language, so follow the terms a person or group uses for themselves when that is relevant.
Do not add plural meaning to only half of the pair. Los libro and la mesas leave the article and noun mismatched. At this stage, make both words visibly plural: los libros and las mesas. Later vocabulary may introduce less obvious forms, but the same matching principle remains useful.
Examples
los libros
the books
Both the article and noun are masculine plural.
las mesas
the tables
Both words display feminine plural matching.
el vaso / los vasos
the glass / the glasses
Los replaces el when the noun becomes plural.
la casa / las casas
the house / the houses
Las replaces la for more than one house.
Common mistake
- Instead of
- los libro
- Try
- los libros
Los announces a masculine plural expression, so the regular noun libro also needs its plural s. Spanish matching is visible across the pair. Saying los libros as one rhythm helps prevent an English habit in which only surrounding context might show that more than one book is intended.
Practice
Try it yourself
Change el libro, la mesa, el teléfono, and la puerta into plural expressions with the. Then group the answers by masculine and feminine grammatical gender.