Definite

The elided form of the singular article, l', is used in the following cases:

• Before words starting with a, e, o or silent h followed by one of those letters
  • e.g., l'article ('the article'), l'entitat ('the entity'), l'oncle ('the uncle'), l'hivern ('the winter')

• Before foreign words beginning with s followed by a consonant (which receive an [ə] before the s in actual pronunciation)
  • e.g., l'Stradivarius (actually pronounced lestradivarius, as though it were written l'Estradivarius)

• Before stressed i, u, or silent h followed by one of those letters (stressed syllables underlined in examples below)
  • e.g., l'Imma ('Imma', third-person reference), l'ús ('the use')
  • Before unstressed i, u, or silent h followed by one of those letters, the full form la is used rather than the elided form l'
    • la Immaculada ('Immaculada', third-person reference), la universitat ('the university')

Indefinite