Definite Article with 'Sport'

fglorca

January 13, 2015 03:24 AM

Definite Article with 'Sport'

She doesn’t do sport(s) this year:

No practica el deporte este año.
No practica los deportes este año.

No hace deporte este año.
No hace deportes este año.

No juega al deporte este año.
No juega a los deportes este año.

Are the above sets of sentences correct? I'm not entirely certain about the omission of the article with 'hacer'.
Many thanks in advance.

AngelicaDeAlquezar

January 13, 2015 12:22 PM

Comments below. :)

Quote:

No practica el deporte este año.
No practica ~~los~~ deportes este año.
If you use definite articles here, you are talking about all sports in the world ever. Or, your reader would have to know in advance exactly which sports you are talking about.

No hace deporte este año. :good:
No hace deportes este año. :good:

No juega al deporte este año. :bad:
No juega a los deportes este año. :bad:
This would mean she doesn't take sports seriously and just pretends she practices them.

fglorca

January 14, 2015 01:39 AM

Thanks so much for your excellent explanations, AngelicaDeAlquezar. I never would have known about the mistake with 'jugar'; I was taught 'jugar' many years ago in school, but have never heard it used in Spain.

AngelicaDeAlquezar

January 14, 2015 12:52 PM

:thinking:
I would use "jugar un deporte" only as an explanation in Spanish about the use of language, like in: "Puedes 'jugar' un deporte específico, como tenis, futbol, beisbol..., pero no juegas deportes en sí". :)

The specific sports that can use the verb "jugar" are (I think) those that imply a comfrontation:

- jugar tenis
- jugar futbol
- jugar rugby
- jugar basquetbol

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