Use of A, An, The | Definite and Indefinite Articles

Articles A-AN-THE definition

The indefinite articles A/AN are used when talking about a general or non-specific noun.

• Where is a teacher?
• A book is on the table.
• Did you bring a cake?

But unlike the definite article, A/AN can only be used with singular countable nouns. We can’t say a teachers, a books, a cakes.

Instead we use the definite article: the teachers, the books, the cakes.

• Where are the teachers?
• The books are on the table.
• Did you bring the cakes?

Remember!

In English, we use an with any noun that starts with a vowel sound, NOT with a noun that starts with a vowel. This is very important because many nouns that start with a vowel don’t have a vowel sound such as university, we say a university NOT an university. Also, many vowel sounding words don’t start with a vowel for example hour, we say an hour.

Below is a list of nouns you can use ‘an’ with:

• an oven
• an apple
• an honor
• an octopus
• an auntie
• an injury
• an umbrella
• an egg

Here is a list of nouns used with A:

• a table
• a pillow
• a university
• a cake
• a bed
• a utopia

Here is a list of nouns used with An:

• an oven
• an orange
• an honour
• an invention
• an hour
• an evening

Here are examples of how we use A and An in a sentence:

• There is a university.
• The movie starts in an hour.
• There is an octopus in the water.
• The new house doesn’t have an oven but it has a washing machine.
• I need an umbrella, it’s raining outside.

THE is called a definite article, we use the with all nouns and for specific nouns, like a certain person or a particular thing.

For example:

• Where is the teacher?
• The book is on the table
• Did you bring the cake?

The examples above are talking about specific things or people. In the first example, they are looking for a specific teacher, maybe a biology teacher or an English teacher. They are not looking for any teacher, they want to know where that particular teacher is.