New and known information
Does the listener already know this?
Meaning
Speakers help listeners keep track of what is being introduced and what is already familiar. This lets the listener connect each new message to what they already know from the conversation or situation. Languages use articles, pronouns, word order, or stress, and those without articles rely on other signals and context. Specific or general asks which thing or kind is meant; this block asks whether the listener can already identify it or knows about it.
How to spot it
Follow how people and things are introduced and mentioned again, including those the listener can identify from the shared situation.
In your native language
English often introduces one person or thing with a/an and refers back with the or a pronoun such as it. The can also mark something identifiable from the situation, even when it has not been mentioned before. Word order and stress also help separate familiar information from the new message.
I bought a lamp. The lamp was cheap. It works well.
A introduces the lamp; the and it refer back to it.
Could you close the window?
The listener can identify the window from the situation, without an earlier mention.
There's a new cafe near the station.
This structure introduces something new into the conversation.
In your learning language
Spanish commonly introduces a new participant with un/una or a plural noun without an article, and uses el/la/los/las for one the listener can identify. Hay often introduces something's existence, while estar locates an already identified person or thing. Short pronouns and word order also help keep familiar participants in view while presenting new information.
En la plaza hay una fuente.
There is a fountain in the square.
Una fuente introduces the fountain.
La fuente está junto a la iglesia.
The fountain is next to the church.
La fuente refers to the identified fountain, and está gives its location.
A Lucía la vi esta mañana.
I saw Lucía this morning.
La picks up the person named at the start.
Learners whose language has no articles may fail to distinguish introducing something from referring back to it. Learners whose language uses the same verb pattern for existence and location may confuse hay with está or están.