Spanish and french grammar help?

Question

in french you almost always include an article before the noun (except for jobs).

e.g. On vend des poulets.

(They sell chickens)

But in spanish they often take the definite article out:

Se venden pollos.

But I have seen cases where they do include the article. In spanish, how do you know when to use articles before nouns and when not to?

Answer 1

In spanish you use articles only if it is something specific or personal.

Answer 2

French and Spanish grammar are very alike. specially concerning articles. The same rules apply in both languages.

There is just one difference. French have "partitive" articles, that Spanish doesn´t. The exemple you give in French is using a "partitive" (DES poulets), not a definite article. In this case, Spanish doesn´t need an article, just the verb followed by the Direct Object (same as in English).

If you were saying "They sell THE chickens", meaning they are selling some special kind of chickens, some chickens we knew before, or some specific chickens,  in Spanish you have to use the defnite article too (Se vendieron LOS pollos de la granja de mi abuela = They sold THE chickens from my grandmothers farm), and the same applies in French.

Answer 3

You should leave the definite article in when the ending of the noun doesn't imply what 'gender' the noun is. For example, you would include the definite article when talking about milk (leche), because the ending of the noun doesn't help to imply whether or not the noun is masculine or feminine.

OK, I know I explained that really bad. I hope it makes enough sense :)

edit// also, there is no rule in spanish that tells you when or when not to include the definite article. it's really just a preference. the definite article barely ever HAS to included in the sentence.