Articles (a/an/the)
There are some easy things you should know about the English language if you want to learn it. Let’s begin with the parts of speech that are used to make English words. Before a word, you put an article. In short, an article changes the meaning of a word.
We don’t always use an article before proper nouns or plural uncountable nouns like names of people, places, languages, sports, themes, lakes, and so on.
How to use the articles ‘the’ and ‘a/an’ in English?
If you want to learn English you should know some simple and basic things about the English language. Let’s start with the articles we use in making sentences in English. An article is used before a noun. In short, an article modifies the noun.
Sometimes we use no article before some plural uncountable nouns or proper nouns like names of persons, some countries, nationalities, languages, sports, subjects and lakes, etc.
There are two different types of articles; the definite article i.e. ‘the’ and the indefinite article i.e. ‘a/an’.
Definite Article ‘the’
The definite article is used when we talk about something specific or something that has already been mentioned in the conversation. If the noun is singular countable(specific) or plural countable or singular uncountable then we use ‘the’ before the noun.
E.g. Let’s go and watch the TV series that we love.
Can you pass me the salt please?
Indefinite article ‘a/an’
The indefinite article ‘a/an’ is used when we talk about singular countable nouns that are not specific. ‘a’ is used with nouns that start with the consonant sound and ‘an’ is used with the nouns that start with the vowel sound.
E.g. Would you like a cup(consonant) of tea?
I need an umbrella(vowel).
Sam is a university (consonant sound) student.
She is an hour (vowel sound) late for the ceremony.
Use No Article:
We use no article with the names of countries, continents, when we talk about eating something in general, and when we talk about uncountable nouns in general.
E.g. I like to eat bread.
I like to eat dinner with my family.
She lived in America.
Electricity has become more expensive these days.
- But if the country is made up of different parts and is made up of some common nouns then we use ‘the’ with it, e.g. the USA, the UK, the Netherlands etc.
- When we talk about particular dinner, breakfast then we use ‘the’. E.g. I didn’t like the dinner last night.
- We use ‘the’ with the mountain ranges, oceans, canals, rivers, seas and deserts, geographical areas and points of globe. We also use ‘the’ with the unique objects and uncountable specific nouns. E.g. the sun, the moon, the internet, the Indian ocean, the Red sea, the Nile, the Pacific ocean etc.
- With the names of jobs and professions we use ‘a/an’. E.g. I want to be a doctor.
Using ‘a/an’ in English
The indefinite article ‘a/an’ is used when we talk about singular countable nouns which are not specific. ‘a’ is used with the nouns that start with the consonant sound and ‘an’ is used with the nouns that start with vowel sound. There are five vowels (a,e,i,o,u) in English and rest of the letters are called consonants that are 21 in number.
- Let’s learn where to use ‘a/an’ with some examples.
- Would you like a cup (c is a consonant) of tea?
- Sam lives in a house near canal.
- I need an umbrella(u is a vowel).
- Sid eats an apple daily.
- Sam is a university student. (Here u is a vowel but the word university is giving the consonant sound that’s why we use a here)
- She has a (Here e is a vowel but the word euro is giving the consonant sound that’s why we use a here)
- She is an hour late for the ceremony. (Here h is consonant but the word hour is giving the vowel sound that’s why we use an here)
- He is an honest man. (Here h is consonant but the word honest is giving the vowel sound that’s why we use an here)
Short vowels Vs Long vowels
 Short vowel means using one vowel to make a word and it produces short sound. We use that vowel’s phonic sound to pronounce that word. Mostly it comes at the beginning or in the middle of the word. E.g. pin, bun, cot, can, ink, pink etc.
- When two vowels come together in a word then it produces a long vowel sound. We use the first vowel’s actual sound to pronounce that word. E.g. read, pain, tree, green, train, blue, boat etc.
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