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I am from Argentina and I never say or hear "el Chile", but "la Argentina" is quite accepted and used. The standard explanation of this apparent anomality is that "Argentina" is originally an adjective, tied to the (often tacit) substantive "República", so that the full expression would be "la República Argentina" (analogously to "los Estados Unidos"). ...

al is basically contraction of a el. Ir a bar would be go to bar. Which is grammatically incorrect. Correct version is go to the bar or go to a bar. Thus correct Spanish version is ir al bar or ir a un bar. In case of proper names (places, people), you don't usually prepend them with article (there are few exceptions). Thus the correct form is to say vamos ...

Because if what's next to the "ir a" is a noun then that noun must be accompanied by the corresponding definite article and the noun. You can also use the contraction "al" instead of "a el" when the noun is masculine. So this could be written as: Ana y yo vamos a ir al bar. Ana y yo vamos a ir a el bar. × Ana y yo vamos a ir a bar (No definite ...

As others have said, al = a+el in all senses. However, do not under any circumstances use it in a proper noun, like El Paso, where the artículo definido is a part of the name. (x ) Voy Al Paso, Texas. (✓) Voy a El Paso, Texas. However, some countries require a artículo definido, when it is not part of the name. Voy a la India. Voy al ...

I think, in this case, you can ommit the article. As MikMik says, it's common in Spain use the article when you mention a restaurant: Ayer cené en el Fridays - Ayer cené en el [restaurante] Fridays If you mention the restaurant as a space, colloquially you usually will hear: Que opinas del [restaurante] Fridays? But, if you are mentioning the ...

The name of the restaurant is a proper name, and therefor, formally, it isn't written with an article. At the other hand, you might hear a lot of people using an article. Certainly when people get familiar with a certain place or when it is a place everybody knows, they will probably use an article (although this might also be geographically dependent). If ...

The names of some places, such as "El Salvador", "El Cairo" or "La Haya" always include the article (just as "The Hague" does in English). For some others you can optionally add the article, the RAE lists several examples in the page about the definite article "el". (el) Afganistán, (el) África, (la) Argentina, (el) Asia, (el) Brasil, (el) Camerún, (el) ...