27. The father and the mother of the captain.




LESSON II.
(Lección segunda.)

THE ARTICLE (_contd._).


The definite article _El_ is contracted with the preposition _de_ (of or
from) into =Del= and with the preposition _A_, into _al_ as--

Del extranjero: Of _or_ from the foreigner.
Al caballero español: To the Spanish gentleman.

These are the only contractions that occur in Spanish; with the other
prepositions the article simply follows, as--

By, for, with, in, on, without, behind, the father:
Por, Para, Con, En, Sobre, Sin, Tras, el padre.

The following are the _principal cases_ in which the definite article is
used in Spanish and not in English--

1. Before nouns taken in a general sense, as--

El oro y la plata: Gold and silver.
Los hombres ó las mujeres: Men or women.