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Look at these examples to see how articles are used.
She's a doctor.
I need an umbrella.
Have you heard the news?
I don't like spiders.
Try this exercise to test your grammar.
Read the explanation to learn more.
Here are some of the most important things to know about using articles.
When we say what people's jobs are, we usually use a/an.
He's an architect.
She's a scientist.
My grandmother was a teacher.
Singular, countable nouns always have an article – a/an or the (or another determiner – my, your, this, that, etc.).
We use a/an – the indefinite article – when we talk about something for the first time, or something that is part of a group or type.
I saw a good film yesterday.
Do you want a drink?
We use a when the word that follows it begins with a consonant sound. We use an when it's followed by a vowel sound. This makes pronunciation easier.
She has a university degree.
It took me an hour to get home.
We use the – the definite article – when the listener already knows which thing we are talking about because it was mentioned before or because there's only one of them.
I'm going to take the dog for a walk.
Have you seen the car key?
They go to the school next to the bridge.
When we talk about things in general, we normally use a plural or uncountable noun with no article.
Birds eat worms.
Water freezes at 0°C.
Children need a lot of sleep.
When we talk about a particular group of things, we use the.
We went to the zoo and saw the kangaroos. (These are the particular kangaroos in that zoo – not kangaroos in general.)
Do this exercise to test your grammar again.
Hello Celso Jaya Cabrera,
We moderate all comments before they are published. We normally do this at least a couple of times each day, but this means that some hours can pass before everyone can see your published comments on the site.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello nel,
Certainly. Here are some examples: a union, a united group, a unique painting, a universal truth.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Elhamshojaei,
Yes, you can ask questions. In fact, you just did!
We read all comments before they are published on the page. If you have a question then we'll try to answer. We don't provide answers to tasks from elsewhere - after all, we don't want to do people's homework for them - but we are happy to answer questions about the information on our pages or about English more generally if we can.
If you do ask a question, please remember that we are a small team here and it may take us a day or two to answer it. We ask users to keep questions short and relevant to the topic of the page. If a question is too long then we may not answer it, as we have to deal with a lot of questions every day.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Sherol,
When we say that we use the indefinite article when we mention something for the first time it is really a helpful guide rather than a rule. The true rule is that we use the indefinite article when we are speaking about a non-specific example. In other words, if the listener does not know which particular thing is being referred to, or if it does not matter which one, then we use the indefinite article. On the other hand, if both the listener and speaker know which particular thing is being referred to (it is familiar to both) then we use the definite article.
What this means is if I use 'the' then I assume that you know which thing I am referring to. This could be because it has already been mentioned, but it could also be because there is only one (the Moon, the United Nations) or because it is obvious from the context.
Thus, in your example you could use 'the' if both the speaker and the listener know which house you are talking about. Perhaps you are standing in front of it, making it obvious from the context, for example.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team