Articles: A/An/The || Learn English Grammar

Do you sometimes get articles (a/an/the) mixed up in English? A lot of English learners get really confused about when to use a, an or the. If you want to speak with confidence, you need to understand how to use articles correctly.

Today I will teach you everything you need to know about using articles like a native speaker!
I will also teach you how to avoid common mistakes people make with a, an and the.

WHAT ARE ARTICLES?

In English, there are 3 articles – A, An and The. They are a type of determiner and they usually go before a noun to give the listener more information.

These three words are difficult for learners to understand because they have very similar meanings. This is the same as words like in, on and at.

WHY ARE A, AN AND THE SO IMPORTANT?

Consider these examples.

Did you eat a cake? In this example, the speaker is not being specific about which cake we are talking about and they are asking if I ate any cake, anywhere in the world. It seems like a general conversation.

Did you eat the cake? This time, the speaker is talking about a specific cake that we both know about. Perhaps they are accusing me of eating their cake!

As you can see, although the only differences in these sentences are the articles, the meaning of the sentences is quite different. We can give a lot of information to the listener just by using articles.

HOW TO USE ARTICLES IN ENGLISH?

The article you choose will depend on the situation. In the video at the top of the page I show you different situations and which article you should use. Here is a quick overview:

We use a/an when:

• “there is” is part of the sentence.
• It is the first time we mention something in a conversation.
• We use “have” and “have got”
• You are talking about the name of something.
• We are talking about jobs or professions.

We use the when:

• It is related to a unique noun.
• We have already mentioned something in the conversation previously.
• It’s obvious which one we mean
• We use superlative adjectives
• Relative clauses are used in the sentence.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A, AN AND THE?

The difference between A, An and The can be confusing.

A/an are used when the noun we are talking about is not already known by the people in the conversation. For example:

• I have a cat.
• He lives in an apartment.
• Do you drive a car?

The is used when everyone knows which noun we are talking about. Maybe, this is the second time it has been mentioned, or it is obvious based on the context of the conversation. For example:

• Where is the train station?
• I forgot the tickets.
• They are going to the supermarket.

Basically, when we are talking in general, we use a/an and we use the when we are being specific. Check out this graphic for more details about how to choose which one you should use.

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A AND AN?

We use an when the first sound of the following noun is a vowel sound (you know… AEIOU) For example an envelope, an apple and an island.

We use a when the first sound of the noun is a consonant (not a vowel). For example a car, a day, a sandwich.You need to pay attention to the sound rather than the spelling. Some words are spelled with a consonant, but sound like a vowel such as an hour, an MP3 player and an FPS game. The same is also true with vowels that make consonant sounds like a university, a one year old and a uniform.

HOW DO YOU PRONOUNCE THE?

There are two ways to pronounce the. The long way (/ði:/ – thee) or the short way (/ðə/ – the) and choosing the correct one depends on the first sound of the word that follows it.

• We use the long version when there is a vowel sound such as the escalator or the orange.
• We use the short version when there is a consonant sound like the cheese or the book.

DO WE ALWAYS USE ARTICLES?

Almost every time we use a noun, we should use a, an and the. However there are some cases where an article is not required.

• We don’t use an article when we are talking about institutions like school, hospital, prison, class and university. I would say I went to university not I went to a university.
• We also don’t use articles when we are talking about plural nouns or nouns that are a mass. For example Cars are expensive or water is important for health.
• Finally, we don’t use articles when we are using a possessive pronoun. You can say I lost my phone which is better than I lost the phone.

Click here to get the guide