Un and Una: Saying A or An in Spanish
Un and una introduce one nonspecific person or thing. Match each article to noun gender and compare that meaning with the more definite el and la.
Learning objective
Use un and una when introducing one nonspecific person or thing.
Un and una usually express a or an before one singular noun. Use un with a masculine noun, as in un libro, a book. Use una with a feminine noun, as in una mesa, a table. An article is a small word placed with a noun, and a noun names a person, place, thing, or idea.
These are called indefinite articles because they introduce someone or something that is not identified as one specific known item. Necesito un teléfono means I need a phone, without pointing to a particular phone. Hay una silla means There is a chair, and the chair is new information for the listener.
The article must match the noun's grammatical gender, which is its masculine or feminine word category. That category belongs to the noun; it does not describe a human identity. Learn un vaso, a glass, and una puerta, a door, as complete pairs so the matching choice becomes familiar.
Spanish also uses uno as the number one when it stands alone, but the masculine article directly before a noun is un. For now, use un or una to introduce one countable item. A countable item is something you can number individually, such as one ticket, two tickets, or three tickets.
Examples
un libro
a book
Un matches the masculine singular noun libro.
una mesa
a table
Una matches the feminine singular noun mesa.
Necesito un teléfono.
I need a phone.
The sentence does not identify one particular phone.
Hay una silla.
There is a chair.
Una introduces the chair as new information.
Common mistake
- Instead of
- una libro
- Try
- un libro
Libro belongs to the masculine grammar category, so the matching singular indefinite article is un. The ending o is a helpful clue in this familiar word, although endings are not guarantees. Store un libro together instead of translating a and book as two disconnected pieces.
Practice
Try it yourself
Choose un or una for libro, casa, teléfono, puerta, vaso, and mochila. Then use two of the completed pairs after necesito, meaning I need.