Definite Article Usage

Question

Hello lovely Spanish speaking people, this comment is aimed at our lovely Kwiziq language content kings and queens.

The definite article, it's breaking me! There seems to be a lot of micro learnings about the definite article through Kwiziq, and even some gems of information in this forum, but it's difficult. I have a Spanish book that devotes 18 small font pages to when to use it and when not, but it won't stick.

Please could we consider a set of lessons (or the grouping of the current lessons) on how and when to use these tricky little items? I feel that it could be a subject all in itself.

I'm part way into level B1, so if they are in my future, I'm ok with that too.

Thanks

Answer

Hi Paul,
as you have probably figured out by now, there is no easy rule saying: you use the definite article when .... and you don't use when ... (That would be great if we could simplify it like that. This is why all that is related to the presence and omission of the article is in separate lessons (a bit like what we do with ser and estar). 
I've noted your suggestion though to keep working on this complex topic and add more lessons. I will also check the system to make sure all content related to this is properly tagged so it is easy to spot when navigating through Kwiziq. 
Have a look at this so you can see whether you've missed any lesson linked to the definite article so far. Find them all at the bottom.
El artículo definido
Saludos cordiales,
Inma

Answer

Paul - I am not at all qualified to answer your question, but I may still have a few comments which could interest you. Perhaps like you, I have noticed that Spanish tends to insert a definite article more often than English does. I cannot help wondering whether this is due to the influence in the past of *Arabic* - which also uses it more than many other languages do. [I worked in Dubai for 17 years, and tried to learn some Arabic - but never became anywhere near fluent].