Notice how la is used in the following paragraph.

Excerpt from news article:La Miss Universo estadounidense Olivia Culpo se metió en problemas en su gira por la India. Es que se sacó fotos para la campaña publicitaria de una marca de zapatos en el Taj Mahal, donde está prohibida cualquier actividad comercial por tratarse de un sitio arqueológico. La acción despertó fuertes críticas y ya se le abrió una investigación.


Source: From Clarín.com (Argentina). Retrieved on Oct. 11, 2013.

Suggested translation: American Miss Universe Olivia Culpo got herself in trouble on her tour of India. What happened is that she took photos of herself for the ad campaign of a brand of shoes at the Taj Mahal, where commercial activity is prohibited because it is maintained as a historical site. Her actions provoked strong criticism, and an investigation into her has already been opened.

Key grammatical issue: The definite article of Spanish — the definite article of English is "the," while Spanish has el, la, lo, los and las — is sometimes used in situations where it isn't needed in English. This occurs twice in this passage with la.

In the first case, la is used with the title of the pageant winner — it's la Miss Universo here. The definite article is used with personal titles when talking about people, although not when talking to them. Thus in Spanish we may speak about el presidente García, la doctora Castro and el señor Reyes.

Note that the titles themselves aren't capitalized, although of course Miss Universo is an exception because it's a sort of brand name.

In the second case, la is used with India. India is one of the few country names in Spanish that is nearly always used with the definite article, just as in English we almost always use "the" when referring to the United States or the Dominican Republic. Other country names that nearly always take the definite article are El Salvador and la República Dominicana, although it is optionally used with some other countries such as la China and el Ecuador.

Other notes on vocabulary and grammar:

• By itself, meter usually means "to place" or "to put." The phrase meterse en problemas — literally meaning to put oneself in problems — is a common way of saying "to get in trouble" or, figuratively, "to get in hot water."
• When used at the beginning of a sentence, es que is an idiomatic expression used to indicate that what follows helps explain what previously has been said. Common translations include "the thing is" or "that is because," either of which could have been used here.
• Se sacó fotos shows the reflexive use of sacar fotos, which means to take pictures. The se here, meaning "herself," indicates that the person performing the action was the same as the recipient of the action. (It should be noted that the account later makes clear that the photos were taken by members of the pageant winner's entourage. Perhaps the writer was thinking of her and her entourage as a single unit.)
• Although en usually means "in" or "on," when used with places it often means "at." Translating en el Taj Mahal as "in the Taj Mahal" would have incorrectly suggested that the event took place inside the building.
• "Donde está prohibida cualquier actividad comercial" is an example of an inverted word order, where the noun (actividad) follows the verb (está). The feminine form prohibida is used because it refers to actividad, which is feminine.
• Tratar is a verb that can be flexibly used to indicate how something is treated or cared for. "Is maintained" was used in translating tratarse de because "maintain" is commonly used in English in the context of caring for property.
• Like the English word "archaeology," arqueología refers to the science of ancient structures or artifacts that have been excavated. However, as in this example, arqueología and related words in Spanish can also refer to ancient structures or items that have been in continuous use. Translating arqueológico as "archaeological" might have falsely suggested that the structure had fallen from use and been unearthed.
• Despertar usually means "to awaken." Its preterite form despertó is used figuratively here.
• Se le abrió is an example of a passive use of the reflexive. "Se ... abrió" doesn't say who has opened the investigation, only that it has been opened. The le here is an indirect object referring to the beauty queen. It indicates that she is the one affected by the verb's action.
• Ya is a vaguely defined adverb used to add emphasis. It could have been translated as "now" or "even" instead of "already."