When to write the article a. Indefinite Article A (AN). Cases when articles are not used

Despite the fact that initially in the minds of a Russian-speaking person, the category of articles is absent, nevertheless for the overwhelming majority of modern European languages it is extremely significant and is absorbed literally with mother's milk. Therefore, today we will consider how to use the article a / an, the in English correctly so that you never make mistakes in the future.

Rules for the use of article a

This article is called indefinite article and always accompanies countable nouns in the singular, that is, those that can be counted, enumerated. The very essence of the article is expressed in the fact that it, together with an, is a remnant of the Old English word meaning "one." That is why the article a used exclusively with words in the singular. In addition, the use cases for this particular article include the following:

The first mention of the subject. For example, if the speaker talks about their new notebook to a friend, they will say: Yesterday I bought a nice notebook. The notebook is green and pink. As you can see, the indefinite article was used for the first time. a, in the second already definite article - everything according to the established rules.
When naming a profession or occupation, for example: She’s a doctor. I am a teacher.
After the constructions there is, it is, that is, this is, for example: This is a beautiful dress. There is a computer on the table.
If the adjective describing it is in front of the noun, then the article will not destroy their bundle, but will stand in front of the adjective, for example: I’m a young boy. In that vase there was a beautiful red rose.
After quite, such: Such a smart woman!
In expressions denoting quantity, namely: a lot of, a couple, a dozen, a way too, a great many, a great deal of.
In constructions where a replaces the preposition per(in, for): 7 Euros a kilo, twice a day, etc.
In exclamation sentences like this: What a nasty weather! What a good puppy! What a tasty pancake!
Sometimes accompanied by proper names, namely: Two days ago I met a Mrs. Black, which translates as “Yesterday I met some Mrs Black. "

Article an

It should immediately be noted that this article is not independent and is only a form of the above article. a... Therefore for an the same rules of use are characteristic, however, the main condition for its use is the presence of a situation in which the countable word in the singular begins with a vowel. Example: I’ve bought an apple. In his bag there is an orange. An umbrella is what I really need now!

Combinations to Learn

For each article ( a / an, the) there is a set of certain stable combinations, having memorized which you can be sure that you will not fall on your face. Often, it is on them that the compilers of all kinds of exams like to catch people learning the language.

For articles a / an it is necessary to remember the following basic stable phrases:

To be in a hurry - to be in a hurry, in a hurry.
To be at a loss - to be in difficulty, perplexity.
To be in a rage - to be in a rage, rage.
To have a headache - to have a headache.
To have a toothache - to have a toothache.
In a loud voice - in a loud voice.
In a low voice - in a quiet, low voice.
In a whisper - in a whisper.
It's a pity - what a pity; it is a pity that….
It's a shame - a shame.
It's a pleasure (to do something).

Definite article

The definite article is identical to the demonstrative pronoun "this" and "that" and is used with both singular and plural nouns in the following situations:

If we are talking about a subject that has already been mentioned in the conversation, or the context allows us to understand which specific subject from the set is being spoken about, for example: Yesterday I went in the cinema and saw a film. The film was absolutely not interesting.
With words that serve as a nomination for unique objects, things or phenomena, one of a kind, namely: sun, sky, Earth, moon.
After prepositions indicating a place, for example: There is a dog in front of the door.
With adjectives in the form superlatives.
If a whole category is meant for one object, for example: The dog is a mammal (a dog is a mammal; we mean not a single dog, but their aggregate set).
With ordinal numbers, namely: the second grade, etc. However, it is important to consider here: if a numeral denotes a number, the article is not used at all, for example: Lesson 3, Section 6, page 172, etc.
When mentioning the cardinal points: in the south.
With the surname, if the whole family is meant, and not its individual member: the Petrovs.
In stable constructions to remember: in the morning / evening / afternoon, to the theater / cinema, to the market / shop.
Always with the words: same, next, only, very, previous, last, left, right, upper, very, central, following, main.
Together with adjectives that have passed into another part of speech, to nouns (such words are called substantivized), namely: The rich (rich) and others.

The definite article is also used with the place names of all:

rivers (the Neva);
oceans (the Pacific Ocean);
seas (the Red Sea);
lakes (the Baikal; however, if there is a word lake, for example Lake Superior and etc., the use of the article is not required at all);
channels;
straits and bays;
mountain ranges (the Alps);
deserts (the Victoria Desert);
archipelagos and islands (the British Isles);
states, if their names contain the words Kingdom, Federation, Republic (for example, the Dominican Republic), if the name is in the plural (the Netherlands) or is an abbreviation (the USA);
with two exceptions: the Gambia and the Bahamas;
with the names of cinemas, theaters, newspapers (The New York Times), magazines, hotels.

And again idioms

Another portion of stable phrases that are actively used in everyday speech by the British and everyone who can speak their language, but already with the article the, as follows:

To tell (or speak) the trurth - to tell the truth. You can remember with the help of an association: the truth is one and only, there are many lies (that's why they say a lie).
To play the piano - play the piano.
In the day-time - during the daytime, during the day.
To read in the original - read in the original (i.e. not in translation).
On the one hand ... on the other hand ... - on the one hand (one opinion) ..., on the other hand (another opinion).
It's out of the question - this is out of the question.

So, when the basic rules for how the article is used a / an, the, considered, it's time to deal with the zero article and find out why these categories were generally formed in English, but not in Russian. In addition, it is also necessary to work out the theoretical basis with the help of practical exercises.

Without article

There is a certain set of situations when the use of the article is not required (zero article, or "zero"). This includes the following cases:

If the word is used in the plural and generalizing meaning, for example: Children like bonbons (in general, all children (any) love candy).
With uncountable nouns, if no defining and descriptive units are given: My father likes music.
With proper names (countries, cities, human names).
With nominations for days of the week and months, for example: September, monday.
With the words breakfast, lunch, dinner.
When a word already has determinants in the form of possessive and demonstrative pronouns, as well as the words any, every, some.
Together with the names Vehicle movement: I prefer traveling by plane.
With words for sports.
With nouns denoting parents, family, educational institutions (if there is no specification and clarification): Are you at college?
With words expressing insufficiency: few, little.
With the names of the holidays (Easter, Christmas).
With nominations for diseases (flu, cancer).
And also in a number of stable combinations.

How English developed. Articles a / the: history of origin

It must be said that the articles did not exist in languages at once. In addition, even foreigners who have an article system in their own native languages cannot always understand the system of this official part of speech in another language. For example, the system of articles of the German language is considered the most sophisticated and complex, but many people in Germany admit that they absolutely cannot understand the scheme of using the English articles, and vice versa.

Article a / an, the, as well as zero - all this today is natural for a native English speaker, and it is understandable why. The point is, the history of the English language as a whole is the history of the grammatical revolution. At a certain period of its development, this representative of the Indo-European language family took and changed the "pronoun + noun" link, which is so characteristic, for example, for Slavic languages, into the "noun + article" link.

Resources to help with material development

Articles today a / the, the rules of use of which were discussed above, sometimes become a stumbling block at the very beginning of the path to learning English. Therefore, this article has collected resources and materials that will help solve the difficulties that have arisen:

Duolingo is a site where all topics, including articles a / the, the use and examples of which have already been covered in detail in the article, are provided with visual tables and explanations.
Njnj is a seemingly unremarkable, but useful service at least for a one-time visit. Anyone here can work out the articles. a / the; exercises contain clues.
Lim-english - site for the final stage. Here you can fix articles a / the; tests, among other rules, cover this section and invite you to test yourself by answering 20 questions.

Afterword

As you can see, there is nothing wrong with the articles. Yes, for a Russian-speaking person who is just starting to get acquainted with foreign languages, it is extremely unusual to use them, but here, as you know, experience and practice are the main ones. The regularity of classes, watching movies and listening to music in the original will quickly help you to accept and understand the category of articles.

That is, the absence of an article. In this article, we will take a look at the indefinite article a \ an in English.

Article a or an?

The indefinite article has two forms: a and an. The rule for their use is very simple.

Article in the form "A" used before a consonant: a boot, a tie, a lock, a house, a car, a job.
Article in the form "An" used before vowels: an apple, an iron, an oven, an error.

Even if the word starts with a consonant but starts with a vowel, “an” is used. These cases include:

Unpronounceable h at the beginning of a word: an hour[ən ˈAʊə], an honor[ən ˈɒnə].
Some abbreviations that are spelled out: an FBI agent[ən ɛf biː aɪ ˈeɪʤənt].

The indefinite article a \ an in English is a basic rule

If you reduce the rules to the main general, it will be like this.

General rule: the indefinite article is used to denote not a specific, but some, some subject (that's why it is called indefinite). In Russian, we would instead say “some”, “some”, “some”, “one”.

By the way, the article a \ an comes from the word one (one) - knowing this, it is easy to understand its meaning and use. Let's look at some examples.

I need a shovel... - I need (some) shovel.

I'd like to buy a ticket... - I would like to buy (one, some) ticket.

Compare if you replace a \ an with a specific article the, the meaning will change:

I need the shovel... - I need (this, specific) shovel.

I'd like to buy the ticket... - I would like to buy (that specific) ticket.

Rules for the use of the article a (an) in English

Let's consider more specific rules. So, the article a \ an is used when:

1. This means everyone, no matter which representative of the class of objects or persons.

A baby can do that. - The baby (anyone) can do it.

A triangle has three sided. - A triangle (any) has three sides.

The article does not necessarily come directly in front of it; there may be a noun between them.

I need a cheap ball pen... - I need (some) cheap ballpoint pen.

I want to buy a good hockey stick... - I want to buy (some) good hockey stick.

Note that if you put the definite article the in a similar case, the meaning will change dramatically, for example:

I want to buy the hockey stick... - I want to buy a (specific) club.

2. A noun describes who or what an object or person is.

Most often this is a profession, if we are talking about a person, or the name of an object (class of objects), if about something inanimate. In this case, the article is difficult to “translate” into Russian. You need to understand that a noun denotes an object / person as a whole, not as a separate instance, but as a generalizing concept.

I am a doctor... - I am a doctor.

He is anexperienced graphicdesigner... - He is an experienced graphic designer.

This is a snowboard... - It's a snowboard.

If we use the, we are not talking about the class of objects as a whole, but about a specific representative:

Hi is the experienced designer... - He is (that) experienced designer.

3. It is about one object or person.

That is, literally about an item in the amount of one piece. Here the article a \ an means almost the same as one.

I'd like a cup of hot chocolate. - I would like (one) cup of hot chocolate.

I need a day to rest. - I need (one) day to rest.

With the article the, the speech will also, in general, be about one subject, but about a specific one. For example, not just about a cup of chocolate, but about that cup that you brewed first, her froth came out prettier:

I'd like the cup of hot chocolate. - I would like (that) cup of hot chocolate.

4. We are talking about an object or person mentioned in the conversation for the first time ...

... and when we speak for the second, third, tenth time, we use the article the.

Here the use of articles is dictated by simple logic. Speaking about a subject for the first time, we usually talk about it as “some”, “some”.

- You know, I watched an interesting movie yesterday. - You know, I watched (some) interesting film yesterday.

Five minutes have passed, we have already discussed the film inside and out, and we are no longer talking about it as some, but how about quite a certain film:

- Yeah, I think, I'm going to rewatch the movie!- Yes, I think I will review (this) film.

In general, this rule is very easily broken. For example, I decided to intrigue the interlocutor and say right off the bat that I watched not just some movie, but THAT MOST movie:

- You know, I watched the movie yesterday. - You know, I watched THAT movie yesterday.

Or, in this particular conversation, the subject may be mentioned for the first time, but both interlocutors perfectly understand what it is about.

Mary: Honey, where is the mirror? - Darling, where is the mirror?

John: Your mom's present is in the bathroom, as always. - Your mom's present in the bathroom, as usual.

5. In a number of stable expressions

Basically, they are related to time and quantity:

in a day \ week \ month \ year - every other day \ week \ month \ year
in an hour - in an hour
in a half an hour - in half an hour
a few - a few
a little - a little
a lot (great deal) of - a lot

The indefinite article a \ an is often used in fixed expressions like to have (to take) + noun, implying some kind of one-time action:

to have (take) a look - to look
to have a walk - take a walk
to have (take) a seat - to sit down
to take a note - to take a note, write down

Notes:

Some expressions in this scheme are used with article zero, for example: to have fun - have fun.
With the definite article the, in most cases, the words are used: the future, the past, the present.
The seasons are used with the or article zero: in (the) winter, in (the) summer, etc.

Indefinite article before adjective and pronoun

Articles (any) can be used before adjectives. In this case, they serve as determinants not to the adjectives, of course, but to the noun, the attribute of which these adjectives denote:

She is a nice beautiful girl... - She's a sweet, pretty girl.
I need the red hat... - I need a red hat.

Articles are not used before a noun if it is already defined by a possessive (my, your, his, her, etc.) or demonstrative pronoun(this, these, that, those) .The point is that if an object is said to be “someone's”, it already means that the object is concrete, definite - this makes the article a \ an impossible, and the article the redundant ...

Not right: I am looking for a (the) my dog.
Right: I am looking for my dog.

Articles in English indicate the definiteness or indefiniteness of a noun, in other words, it lets us understand which subject / concept is being discussed: abstract or concrete. For a Russian-speaking person, articles cause a lot of difficulties, because in our language they simply do not exist. However, dealing with this unknown part of speech is not as difficult as it seems.

Article functions

The English language has only two articles: a (an) and the - the first is used with indefinite nouns, and the second with definite ones. In order to better understand where and what to put it is necessary to consider each separately.

Indefinite article in English

Let's start with the indefinite article a (an). Its spelling changes depending on which letter (consonant or vowel) the noun begins, which will be preceded by the article.

Consonant letter: a dog - dog
Vowel: an apple - an apple

The indefinite article has two features:

used only when talking about an abstract concept or about an object that is seen for the first time;
used with nouns only in the singular, since the article itself is derived from the numeral one (one).

The article a (an) indicates that the noun is not considered as a specific object, but as a long concept. For example, a cup will mean some (any) dishware in the form of a cup, and not your favorite cup with the head of a stormtrooper from which you have been drinking coffee in the morning for the second year now. Thus, the indefinite article in English is used either when we encounter an object for the first time, and we still do not know anything about it, or when we are talking about an abstract, collective concept.

The definite article in english

If you want to mention that very special morning cup in a conversation, you will need the definite article the. It comes from the pronoun that (that) and is used in cases where it is known exactly what object is being discussed.

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Example: I met a man. The man was very strange - I met a man. The man was very strange.

In the first sentence, we meet a stranger for the first time, in which case an indefinite article is placed before the word man. In the second sentence, we draw a conclusion regarding the person we have just talked about. It is no longer unknown, which allows us to put the definite article the before the word man.

The definite article the can be used with both singular and plural nouns.

To finally understand the definite article, you can consider another example - the trilogy The Lord of the Rings ("The Lord of the Rings"). Here, within the same name, the definite article is used twice. This is due to the fact that in both cases we are talking about specific objects: about one sole ruler (Sauron) and about the only rings created by him. If the term "lord of the rings" meant a profession, then we could say a lord of rings, but that would be a completely different story.

Zero article, or when the article is not needed at all

The main difficulty in learning English articles is remembering when they do not need to be used.

A noun does not always need additional clarification in the form of articles - sometimes other parts of speech take on their role. The articles are not used if:

the noun is preceded by a pronoun (my, his, her, their, one’s, this, that, etc.);
the words some, any, no are in front of the noun;
names of people or names of continents, islands, mountains;
uncountable concept (advice, information).

Visual table about articles

As a rule, information is absorbed faster if you consider it in the form of a systematized table. We have prepared such a table for your convenience.

Indefinite article a / an	The definite article the	Lack of article
This is one subject out of many similar an apple - (some) apple a cow - (some) cow	It is known exactly what specific object is in question the apple - (the same) apple the cow - (the same) cow	The noun is preceded by a pronoun (my, his, her, their, one’s, this, that, etc.) my apple - my apple this cow - this cow
The object is mentioned for the first time I met a man - I met (some) person	This is the only facility in the world the Earth - Earth	A noun is preceded by the words some, any, no any piece - any piece
Designation of professions a doctor - doctor an engineer - engineer	There is an ordinal or superlative before a noun the second floor - second floor the best singer - the best singer	Before the names of people or geographic features such as continents, islands and mountain peaks Mary - Mary Eurasia - Eurasia Tasmania - Tasmania (island) Mount Everest - Mount Everest
	Before the geographical names of countries formed with common nouns(like their abbreviations) The Russian Federation (The RF) - Russian Federation(RF) The United States of America (The USA) - United States of America (USA) The United Kingdom (The UK) - United Kingdom The United Arab Emirates (The UAE) - United Arab Emirates (UAE)	Before the names of countries, peninsulas Kanada from Canada Spain - Spain Kamchatka - Kamchatka (peninsula)
	Before place names of countries in the plural The Netherlands - Netherlands The Philippines - Philippines	If the word lake is in front of the name of the lake, the names of the bays Lake Baikal - Lake Baikal Bounty Bay - Bounty Bay
	Before the names of oceans and seas The Volga - Volga (river) The Caribbean sea - Caribbean Sea The Atlantic Ocean - Atlantic Ocean	It's about an uncountable concept information - information knowledge - knowledge
	The designation of the cardinal points the east - East the qest - West

Figuring out when and how to use articles is easy enough. But to remember these rules and not to think every time before pronouncing or writing the next noun, you definitely need practice.

It is impossible to boast of knowledge of grammar in English without knowledge of insignificant at first glance, but important details, for example, articles. One of the most insidious and treacherous of these is the definite article "the". When communicating with a native speaker, it is very easy to "get overwhelmed" by using it out of place, or, on the contrary, by missing it. Knowing the following 10 rules will help you
strengthen your knowledge on the article front and be more confident in the correctness of your sayings. But be extremely careful - the rules are full of exceptions and pitfalls. Don "t say" thanks "just yet. Check what we have in store for ya!

Let's start simple. You use an article when you want to distinguish a word from other possible versions of it. If there is no confusion with regard to what you mean, then you don't use the article... Therefore, if everyone already knows, for example, where you go to school (university or work), you just say: "I" m going to school "because there is no confusion. Or if you say that someday going to school in general, you do not use the article « the". The same applies to the house - usually everyone has one, and hell and Heaven, about which everyone is aware. So, when you once again think about where you will go after death, think in English, and do it correctly: "I" m going to hell. " However, when we talk about a particular hell of a particular religion, the article "the" should already be: " The hell of islam is far worse than the hell of Chirstianity.»

With that being said, it is important to remember that if countable noun (one gun, two guns), then always put the article (the / a / an). And at the same time remember that can not be put his before plural (guns, books) or uncountablenouns(water, blood, advice, chocolate, meat etc.).

Generally

Do not put « the", when talking about something generally, without specifics.

Cats are awesome pets!

Here we are not talking about one particular awesome cat, or pet, but about all awesome cats and pets at once.

Women love it when men do it right.
People are evil in that neighborhood.

Sport

Sports and other types of physical activity do not require the article "the"

I love to go skiing in the winter.
I play baseball every day after school.
He loves watching hockey on TV.
She does yoga 3 times a week.
My daughter really enjoys dancing.

A family

We use « the"When we say about family(by last name), but not about a specific person or combinations with names:

We "re having dinner with the smiths tonight.
The browns are going to the play with us.

John is coming over later.
Mary carpenter is my boss.
Prince charles is Queen Elizabeth "s son.
President kennedy was assassinated in Dallas.

Numbers

Don't put the article, when:

the noun is followed by a number:

He's staying at the Haunted hotel in room 221.
The train to Noplaceville leaves from platform 2.
My Exorcism class is in room 6 on the first floor("First" is an adjective in this sentence and describes "the floor").

the year is specified:

1948 was a wonderful year.
He was born in 1995 .

Putting the article front:

superlative adjectives and ordinal numbers:

the third movie
the tallest kid
the last hour

decades and other periods of years:

I "m the kid of the nineties.
This is a painting from the 1820 "s.

Only

If there is such a word in the sentence, then feel free to sculpt "the" in front of it:

This is the only day we "ve had sunshine all week.
You are the only person she will listen to.
The only tea I like is black tea.

Not the first time

We put " a"When talking about something for the first time, and then change to « the"When what is at stake, it is already becoming clear... Also put « the"When everything is with it's obvious or when something or someone is one of a kind... Using this rule, you will be right in most cases, but remember about hell and Heaven.

He was talking to a man. The man was laughing.
She gave him a present. The present was very expensive.
I cleaned the bathroom this morning.
The sun is hot today.
He traveled around the world.

Breakfasts, lunches and dinners

We do not use article before the names of meals:

We had lunch at noon.
I have breakfast at 7 a.m.

Proper names

Majority names holidays, companies, languages, countries, streets, airports, stations, cities, continents, islands, individual mountains, lakes etc. - all these are proper names, and article here usually not needed... But it is in this section of the rules for the use of "the" many exceptions, so be extremely careful.

McDonald's has restaurants in 119 countries.
Victoria Station is in the center of London.
Can you direct me to Bond street?
She lives in Florence.
I got some cool ideas for Halloween... (there is only 1 Halloween that everyone knows about)
Asia and Europe are two continents, in case you didn "t know.
Her son graduated from Harvard. (but “He has a master’s degree from the University of Toronto»).
I "m leaving for America next week (but “ the United States»).
Lake ontario and Lake huron are 2 of the great lakes("The Great Lakes" - a group of lakes on the border between Canada and the United States requires an article).
I teach people how to speak English / Chinese / Spanish / Russian(however, when talking about the inhabitants of a particular nation: “ The spanish are known for their warm hospitality ").
Mount everest is the one I plan to climb next week (but “ the endes», « the Rockies"Or unusual names of individual mountains, such as mountain" the Matterhorn”(Peak in the Pennine Alps).
Easter island, Maui, Key west- none of these islands I "ve visited (but chains islands like “ the Aleutians», « the hebrides" or" the canary islands» require an article).

Names, places and places

We do not use « the" front:

names of professions, subjects at school, shops and some places:

My office is located on Main street/Washington Blvd.
I usually go to church on Sundays.
Did you go to school today?
She "s studying business at university.
Engineering is a well-paid career.
He "ll probably study medicine.
I "ll get the card at Smith "s.
Can you go to Boots for me?

names of subjects at school:

math
geography
business
history
science

before the following words in a general sense:

school
prison
college

I hope to go to college.
He spent three years in prison.

We use « the" front:

the names of rivers, oceans and seas ( the nile, the pacific,the Arctic, the Atlantic, the black sea, the thames);
countries ( the Netherlands, the Philippines), also before those whose names include the words “ republic ", « states" and " kingdom» ( the Czech Republic, the Dominican Republic, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, the United Kingdom);
points of the globe ( the Equator, the north pole);
geographical areas ( the middle east, the west);
deserts, forests, sea bays and peninsulas ( the sahara, the persian gulf, the black forest, the Iberian Peninsula).
names of newspapers and famous buildings, works of art, museums and monuments ( the New York times, the guardian,the vietnam memorial, the louvre, the Mona lisa , the eiffel tower,the globe).
before the names of hotels and restaurants, unless they are named after a person ( the golden lion, the hilton).
in front of already known places that people usually go to ( the bank, the supermarket, the doctor "s)

Let "s go the movies.
My dad is in the hospital(Americans put the article here, but the British can omit it).
She works at the post office.
What time do you have to be at the airport?
Please drop me off at the bus stop.
She doesn "t like to go to the doctor or the dentist.

Abbreviations

Or acronyms are abbreviated forms of the name of something, using the capital letters of each word to form a new one. So, if the acronym is pronounced like a word, we do not use « the»:

NATO[’Neɪtoʊ] (The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is pronounced in one word here) ambassadors met to discuss the situation.
UNSECO(United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) was formed in 1946.
Sorry, you "ve got AIDS(Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome).

The same goes for acronyms names of educational institutions:

She has a Ph. D from MIT(Massachusetts Institute of Technology).

However, if the abbreviation is spelled, then article"The" is needed. And you may well say the NATO member(NATO member).

The un was created after the Second World War (United Nations = UN and spelled).

The same goes for the following abbreviations:

the EU(European Union)
the US(United States)
the CIA(Central Intelligence Agency)
the FBI(Federal Bureau of Investigation)

Now you, in theory, should be from "the" to "you", but do not rush to be familiar. Don't forget about exceptions and the main rule. Good luck in learning English and keep the progress going!

Big and friendly family EnglishDom

Watch this video to get a basic understanding of articles in English before reading the article.

Why do we need articles in English?

Did you know that the article is a part of speech that is not in the Russian language?

We change the stress and word order to give the phrase a flavor, but in English it is strictly fixed.

See how the meaning of the phrase changes:

I like the car.
I like the car.

Feel the catch? In the first case, it is not clear what kind of car we are talking about, and in the second case we are talking about a specific car.

In English, words cannot be swapped, therefore, to give the desired shade to the phrase, articles are used A, An and The.

Articles rules

The concept of the article in English grammar is associated with the category of certainty. Simplified, the article rule is:

Remember!
If we are talking about an unknown subject, then the indefinite article A / An... If we are talking about something specific, then the article is placed in front of it The.

Assignment: Which articles should you use in the following examples?

We bought a car.

We bought the car that we saw yesterday.

Click on the arrows to get the answer.

Prompt.
Article The descended from This(this) - you can point with your finger.
A / An descended from One(one).

This is why the article A / An used only in the singular!

In a simplified form, the grammatical rules of articles can be represented as follows:

Plural noun?
Countable noun?
Have you heard of him before? (indefinite or definite article)
Is it about something in common?

What is the difference between Articles A and An?

Let's repeat!
Indefinite article A / An(which descended from one) we put only before in the singular!

So what's the difference between A and An?

Article A placed before words that begin with consonants (a c at, a h ouse, a y ard) and An- before words that start with vowels (an a pple, an h our).

Let this picture pop up in front of your eyes when you choose a medja a and an.

When do we use the indefinite article?

1. When we classify an object, we assign it to a specific group of objects.

A cow is an animal. - A cow is an animal.
An apple is a fruit. - An apple is a fruit.

2. When we characterize the subject.

My mother is a nurse. - My mom is a nurse.
He is an idiot! - He's an idiot!