“A”, “an” or “the”? How to use these articles correctly in English!
When do I use “a”, “an” or “the” correctly???
One of the most difficult parts for non-English speakers is using “A”, “an” or “the” in English. The reason for this is that many languages don’t use these or have a direct translation, which is why it is sometimes a challenge for people who know English very well to guess which member to use. Many people who aren’t native speakers often use “A”, “an” or “the” randomly or, simply skip them and hope for the best. But that’s certainly not the way you want to speak English!
Today I’ll teach you which article is placed in front of which noun in English. In school, you have certainly tried to learn the rules about articles in English by heart and you know that we use the articles ‘ a ’ and ‘ an ’ in front of indefinite nouns and the article ‘ the ’ in front of certain nouns. But when we have to apply these rules in speaking, we are often confused and unable to say it correctly.
Don't worry, you're not the only one. Here is a slightly different way how to make it easier to teach members in English.
Mostly, we put articles in front of each noun (of course, there are exceptions, but I will explain all that). A book, the sun, an apple, the end ... Sometimes we put “a”, sometimes “an”, and sometimes the '.
But apart from the common properties, their application still differs. So let’s see how we know which one to use.
When do we use ‘A’?
We use the article 'a' in front of the noun that starts with a consonant (b,c,d, etc.), and with the noun that is not specifically determined (when it doesn’t matter for the story whether it is exactly that subject).
For example: "I ate a banana this morning." The person you're talking to doesn't know exactly which banana you ate, after all, it doesn't matter to the story at all.
Article 'a' can also be used as the number one (1).
“I ate one banana this morning” or “I ate a banana this morning” - it's the same.
When you have multiple subjects and you only mention one of them, then use ' a '.
Let me explain to you more closely:
“Michael is a student in my class.”
”Michael is one of the students in my class”
"Jenny is a good child." In this example, Jenny is one of many good children.
"I have a car." In this example, you do not know exactly which car it is, you just know that your speaker owns a car.
When do we use "AN"?
We use ' an ' according to the same rules that apply to the article 'a', for nouns that start with a vowel - A, E, I, O, U.
For example:
"I ate an orange this morning." "I am an Australian."
"Please send me an email."
When should 'THE' be used?
The term ' the ' is the definite article we use in front of a certain noun. With this article, it’s important that the person you are talking to knows exactly what the subject is.
1. Here is one example:
A wife and husband share a car. If the wife talks about that car with her husband, he will know which car it is and will therefore always say to him “the car.” The logic behind this is that if you are talking about something specific and the person you are talking to knows what it is about, use ‘the wife’, and ‘the car’:
“I left my phone in the car.”
The person she’s talking to (her husband) knows exactly what car it is. But, if she were to tell you (another new person) about the same car, then she would no longer use 'the', but the possessive noun: "my”.
2. Use the term 'the' when talking about a well-known thing that everyone knows about.
So we call the sun "the sun" because everyone knows it's the only sun that everyone on Earth knows about.
If someone says it's dangerous to look at the sun, everyone will know which sun: "It's dangerous to look at the sun. "
But if you had a chance to talk to an alien somewhere in space, you wouldn't use 'the sun' with them, because their sun is different and they probably don't know which sun we mean.
Remember: it’s important who you talk to. Does that person know exactly which subject you are talking about?
3. We use the term 'the' in superlatives.
Why? Because it is the only person, plant, or animal, etc that we consider the biggest, the smallest, the most expensive, etc ... As soon as something is 'the most ...', it is the only one like that.
Sydney is the biggest city in Australia.
She is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.
4. We use the term 'the' when talking about a group of some people.
For example, we call young people "the young", rich people "the rich", and English people "the English".
But be careful not to add "people" after this group characterization.
When do I not have to use “A”, “an” or “the”?
1. In front of nouns, countries, cities, etc.
Also, we do not use them in front of the plural nouns. For example:
“Elephants live in the Africa” ❌
”Elephants live in Africa” ✅
”He lives in the Paris” ❌
”He lives in Paris” ✅
”The Mt. Everest is very high” ❌
”Mt. Everest is very high” ✅
2. Likewise, we do not use the article in front of a noun that we cannot count.
These are materials, liquids, and mixtures such as water, coffee, flour, sugar, or jam.
For example:
She drinks a lot of coffee.
My shirt is made of cotton.
I put butter on bread.
3. We do not use articles even when we are talking about abstract nouns, those that are not physical or tangible, such as love, hate, happiness, or fear.
Tips and tricks
We will now focus on a few exceptions. We know there are so many of them in English, but I will focus on a few of them.
1. Articles are generally not used before nouns, including the names of mountains, countries, etc.
However, if we are talking about a river or sea, then the noun is preceded by the article ‘the’. The Yarra, the Adriatic Sea, and the Pacific Ocean.
2. Countries generally do not have 'the', except when they occur in the plural.
You live in Australia, but Maxim lives in the Netherlands. Evelyn lives in the Philippines. Jack lives in the United States.
3. We face the same problem when we talk about a noun that starts with a consonant that is not readable.
According to the above rules, it would be correct to say: "An honest man.", But since the letter 'h' in honest is not pronounced, we treat that noun as if it begins with a vowel hour. "o”
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