Café or un café?
After verbs like tener, buscar, necesitar, beber or llevar, Spanish often leaves the article out when no particular one is meant: with uncountable things (café, dinero), with plurals (gafas), and with things you either have or don't (coche, piso). ¿Tienes coche? asks if you are a car owner; describe the car and un normally returns: Tengo un coche viejo.
Ordering: un café, una caña
In a bar you order portions, so you count them: un café, dos cañas.
Things in general: el café, los gatos
A single subject noun in front of the verb can't stand alone; in general statements it takes el, la, los, las. English says Sugar is bad; Spanish says El azúcar es malo (Azúcar es malo is wrong). With gustar and encantar you talk about the thing in general, so it takes the article too.
| no article | article |
|---|
| No bebo café. | Me gusta el café. |
| Busco piso. | Los pisos son caros. |
Two nouns joined by de
When the second noun only says what kind of thing the first one is, it has no article: el zumo de naranja, las gafas de sol, el dolor de cabeza. When it means one particular thing, the article stays: la llave del coche.
Common mistakes
- Me gusta café → Me gusta el café.
- Quiero un zumo de la naranja → Quiero un zumo de naranja.
