Saludos
"También recordó las alegrías cotidianas, por ejemplo los paseos por el parque con su perro Turco y las noches de cine en casa con su familia.".My translator offers two possible translations one of which includes las before " alegrías," los before "paseos" and las before " noches" and another which excludes them. Do the objects have to be used here, or are there regional variations ?
Kevin
Hey Kevin, just want to mention that “el/la/los/las” are called “definite articles” instead of “objects”. The word “objects” has an entirely different grammatical meaning. I’ll leave it to Inma to answer your question. Cheers.
Hola Kevin
The articles here can be omitted or present, both options are correct.
If we omit them: "También recordó alegrías cotidianas, por ejemplo los paseos por el parque con su perro Turco y noches de cine en casa con su familia.", the effect of this omission is to "generalise" the meaning of "alegrías" and "noches", as if you're talking of these as generic nouns without necessarily having any of these specific moments of joy and specific nights in mind.
If we use the articles ""También recordó LAS alegrías cotidianas, por ejemplo los paseos por el parque.... y LAS noches de cine....", it is as if the speaker is somehow making these more precise, as if he's somehow materialising them. By reading the text, if sounds to me as if the speaker is remembering some precise moments; in fact, they're giving an example of one particular moment [paseos por el parque].
The use and omission of articles in Spanish is one of the most challenging things to master when learning Spanish, and in my opinion, one of the most difficult things to explain to non-native speakers (more than the subjunctive I think!!) We keep researching about this topic but unfortunately there is nothing solid on it.
Un saludo cordial
Inma
Hola Inma
Articles are indeed a big problem for both learners and tutors. I have done a lot of writing practice exercises and whenever the possible use of the definite article arises, it seems as though I might as well toss a coin, because in many cases even though both options are correct I am marked as wrong for choosing one or the other.
I don't know if it would be possible to programme it to accept both answers. Perhaps you could prepare a lesson looking at this situation, analysing extracts from the writing exercises.
I now find it less frustrating but I suspect that other students are equally confused.
Un saludo
David, it seems like it depends on the intent of the speaker whether to express a noun in a specific or general form. So in this sense there wouldn’t be a rule as the usage depends on which of two correct grammatical choices the speaker intends to use. So what might help most is more triggers and/or hints that would let us know what the speaker intends. What do you think?
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