The Definite Article: The Deictic Use

Up until now, we've discussed about the anaphoric use of the definite article as well as its presence in idioms and stereotyped actions. We still have two more uses to discuss about and in this post we are going to cover one of them: the deictic use.

As a general explanation, we may say that the deictic use of the definite article is that that is interpreted according to the situation where the statement is said. That is, it is more related to the surroundings that covers the statement. That is the reason why it is also called the "pointer" (because it points out the object that is being defined). It is easy to see in the example "Cierra la puerta, por favor" where I am asking the listener to close the nearest door to him/her and not one that is far away. It is the same when I say "El presidente de Francia viajó a China" where the article works as a deictic one as we talk about the current president of France.

There are two types of deictics: Spatial and Time. The spatial one is very usual on panels and warnings that we can see everywhere. For example, in "Suene el timbre", "Cruza por el paso de cebra" or "Se ha roto el vaso" we are mentioning objects that are in the surroundings of the speaker and/or listener. The time one is easy to find in calendar words as in "Regresaré el viernes" where using the definite article implies that we are talking about the closest future Friday from now. We should also remember that the weekdays have definite articles by their side in Spanish almost always. If we change the verb to the past tense in the previous example, "Regresé el viernes" the using of the definite article implies that I came back the closest past Friday from now.

However, it is important to say that if the verb of the sentence is in a secondary time tense (like Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto), the interpretation of the statement may be understood according to the moment of the enunciation (Anclaje deíctico) or  to the moment that indicates the verb itself (Anclaje Anafórico). That would be the case of "El otro día me avisaron de que Raúl había hecho el examen el martes" where we may understand Tuesday as the one immediately before from the moment the sentence is said or to another Tuesday way more back in time that is expressed by the Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto.

It is also to underline that there are three situations where in Spanish the days of the week have no article:

A) In the opening of letters, newspaper covers or other media: Lunes, 12 de Julio de 2019.

B) In appositional-adverbial phrases (ayer, anteayer, mañana, hoy...): Mañana, lunes 8 de Junio, quiero que vengas conmigo a la reunión.

C) In Attributive Phrases: Por fin es sábado.