Repetition of Article

Repetition of Article
 

I know we cannot omit the second article below:

• Mi hermano tiene la calculadora y ‘la’ mochila.
• Mi hermano tiene una calculadora y ‘una’ mochila.
• Mi amigo tiene el cuaderno y ‘la’ regla.
• Mi amigo tiene un cuaderno y ‘una’ regla.

But here we can:
• Los viernes llevo un pantalón y (unos) zapatos de deporte.
• Los lunes llevo una corbata y (una) camisa.
• Los viernes llevo un pantalón y (unos) zapatos de deporte.

I’m just not sure why we can leave out the article in the second set of sentences.
Many thanks in advance.

It's a question of whether the combination is (or can be) perceived as a compound noun describing a single concept:

"un pantalon y (unos) zapatos de deporte" = "sportswear", "athletic clothing"
"una corbata y (una) camisa" = "dress clothes", "business dress/clothes".

Many thanks, wrholt.

I agree with wrholt, but I will just add that with the definite article, you need to include them all.

- Ya llevo la computadora, el teléfono y las llaves. Espero no estar olvidando nada.

And for the indefinite article sentences, you can also omit them: :)

- Los viernes me pongo pantalón y tenis.
- Los lunes uso camisa y corbata.

So, in the second part of the sentence below, we can’t omit las before ‘uvas’, is that correct? If we omit las, is the sentence therefore grammatically incorrect?

The only things I can find to eat in the house are peaches and grapes:
Las únicas cosas que puedo encontrar para comer en la casa son los melocotones y las uvas.

It wouldn't be grammatically incorrect, but the sentence would mean different things if you include or not the definite articles:

- Las únicas cosas de comer que puedo encontrar en la casa son melocotones ("duraznos", in Mexico) ;) y uvas.
The only things I can find to eat in the house are peaches and grapes.

-Las únicas cosas de comer que puedo encontrar en la casa son los melocotones y uvas.
The only things I can find to eat in the house are the peaches (your listener already knows about them) and grapes (any grapes, just some I found). -> Same for "peaches and the grapes" ("melocotones y las uvas"). In this case, you could also say "unos melocotones" (some peaches) and/or "unas uvas" (some grapes).

- Las únicas cosas de comer que puedo encontrar en la casa son los melocotones y las uvas.
The only things I can find to eat in the house are the peaches and the grapes (that your listener already knew about).


This is not the same case of your original examples, because those were all made in singular. :thinking:


Edit: Oh, your "para comer" is fine, I just didn't reflect on your structure before typing the sentences. ;)