English for Spanish speakers · part 10 of 22

Articles: Spanish vs English

Spanish loves the definite article (el, la, los, las), attaching it to general, abstract, and many proper nouns. English strips it away in exactly those cases. The rule of thumb to teach: when the meaning is a category or an idea in general, English uses no article.

Meaning	Spanish	English
People in general	La gente	People
Life in general	La vida	Life
Love as a concept	El amor	Love
Coffee in general	El café	Coffee
Dogs as a species	Los perros	Dogs

   General idea →  NO article in English
   La gente        People
   La vida         Life
   Los perros      Dogs

   Specific thing → article stays
   La gente de aquí    The people here
   La vida que llevo   The life I lead

The article returns the moment the noun is specified: "The people here are friendly." Keep the two cases separate and most article errors disappear.