El artículo del periódico es interesante.

The newspaper article is interesting.

Breakdown of El artículo del periódico es interesante.

• ser: to be
• de: of
• interesante: interesting
• .: period
• el periódico: the newspaper
• el artículo: the article

Questions & Answers about El artículo del periódico es interesante.

Why is it del periódico and not de el periódico?

In Spanish, de + el (when el is the masculine singular article the) always contracts to del.

• de el periódico → ❌ (not used)
• del periódico → ✅

This contraction is obligatory in standard Spanish (both in Spain and Latin America). It does not happen with la, los, las:

• de la revista → ✅ (no contraction)
• de los periódicos → ✅
• de las revistas → ✅

Why is the article el and not la? How do I know artículo is masculine?

Artículo is a masculine noun in Spanish, so it takes the masculine definite article el.

You can’t always guess gender from meaning, but many nouns ending in -o are masculine:

• el artículo
• el libro
• el teléfono

To check gender, you usually learn it together with the noun:

• el artículo (masc.)
• la revista (fem.)
• el periódico (masc.)
• la noticia (fem.)

Why is interesante the same form for masculine and feminine?

Adjectives ending in -e (like interesante) usually have one form for both masculine and feminine in the singular:

• el artículo interesante
• la revista interesante

In the plural, they add -s:

• los artículos interesantes
• las revistas interesantes

So the agreement here is only visible in number (singular/plural), not in gender:

• singular: interesante
• plural: interesantes

Why is the adjective interesante placed after the noun, instead of before it?

In Spanish, the normal position for descriptive adjectives is after the noun:

• el artículo interesante
• el libro largo
• la película divertida

Some adjectives can go before the noun, but that often adds a nuance (subjective, emotional, or stylistic) or changes the meaning slightly. With interesante, the natural order is after the noun:

• El artículo interesante → neutral, descriptive.
  Putting interesante before (el interesante artículo) would sound poetic or very marked, not normal in everyday speech.

Why is it es interesante and not está interesante?

Both ser and estar can be used with adjectives, but they mean different things:

• ser interesante: describes a general, inherent quality.
• estar interesante: describes a temporary state or a specific moment.

In your sentence, El artículo del periódico es interesante means the article is interesting in general, as a characteristic.

You could say El artículo está interesante in some contexts, but it sounds more like:

• The article is (turning out) interesting / at this point it’s interesting, as a more temporary evaluation (e.g. as you’re reading it).

Why is it El artículo and not Un artículo?

• El artículo del periódico es interesante → the article:
  Refers to a specific article that both speaker and listener can identify (for example, the one you were just talking about).

• Un artículo del periódico es interesante → a / one article:
  Refers to an unspecified article; you’re introducing it for the first time, or it doesn’t matter exactly which one.

So el = definite, un = indefinite, like the vs a/an in English.

What does del periódico really mean here: “of the newspaper” or “in the newspaper”?

Literally, del periódico means of the newspaper (possessive relationship):

• El artículo del periódico = the article of the newspaper → the newspaper’s article.

In English, we more naturally say the article in the newspaper, but Spanish can express this relationship with de:

• el artículo del periódico (possessive: belonging to the newspaper)
• el artículo en el periódico (location: physically in/inside the newspaper)

Both are possible, but del periódico is very common to express that the article is published in that newspaper.

Can I say El artículo es interesante del periódico?

No, that word order is incorrect in Spanish.

The structure needs to be:

1. Noun, possibly with its complement:
   • El artículo del periódico
2. Then the verb:
   • es
3. Then the adjective:
   • interesante

So the correct order is:
El artículo del periódico es interesante.

You can’t separate del periódico from artículo by inserting es interesante in the middle.

How would I say “The articles in the newspaper are interesting”? What changes?

You need to make noun, article, verb, and adjective all plural:

• Los artículos del periódico son interesantes.

Changes:

• El → Los (definite article, singular → plural)
• artículo → artículos (noun, adds -s)
• es → son (verb ser, 3rd person singular → plural)
• interesante → interesantes (adjective, adds -s)

Del periódico stays the same because periódico is still singular (one specific newspaper).

What’s the difference between periódico and diario in Spain?

Both can mean newspaper.

• el periódico = newspaper
• el diario = newspaper (literally daily)

In Spain:

• periódico is very common and neutral.
• diario is also used, especially in names of newspapers (e.g. El Diario Vasco), or more formally.

In everyday conversation, periódico is often the default word for newspaper, but you’ll hear both.

What are the accent marks for in artículo and periódico, and how do I pronounce them?

Accent marks show where the stress falls and sometimes distinguish words.

• artículo → stress on tí: ar-TÍ-cu-lo
• periódico → stress on Ó: pe-ri-Ó-di-co

Without accents, the default stress rules would place stress on a different syllable, so the written accents are necessary:

• Without the accent, articulo would be stressed on cu: ar-ti-CU-lo (wrong).
• With the accent, artículo is correctly stressed on tí.

In Spanish, each written accent marks the syllable that must be pronounced with primary stress.