Articles: 'a', 'an', 'the'
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.
- Grammar test 1
Read the explanation to learn more.
Grammar explanation
Here are some of the most important things to know about using articles.
Jobs
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 nouns
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.
Things in general
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.
Particular groups of things
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.
- Grammar test 2
She has an hour to do the math exam.
Birds are so beautiful to see in their habitat.
Dad, could you call a taxi to go to the concert?
The parties in that disco were so hard.
practice
Hi there, absolutely dumb question, but can someone explain why in sentence "I'll be there in an hour." used article "an"?
I think it's because "hour" starts with an consonant.
Hi
Not 100% sure But What I'm thinking is Vowels [a,e,i,o,u] and Consonants [remaining letters] are not just about which Letter a word begins with but what it sounds like. So , an Hour starts with consonant letter "h" but sounds like a Vowel (an h-our) - similarly "a university" -- University starts with a Vowel Letter "u" but sounds like consonant (u-Niversity) . Hence , the article "a" used. Thats what I think.
Hello Gavrika,
The choice of a or an is about the pronunciation rather than the spelling of a word. The word hour is spelt with a consonant h at the front but is pronounced with a vowel sound /au/,
Another example of the spelling not matching the pronunciation in this regard is university - we say a university because the first sound is the consonant y /j/ as in yellow. On the other hand we say an umbrella because the sound is u /u/ as in uncle.
By the way, there are no dumb questions! When we want to learn, all questions are good. There are only dumb answers if the answerer is not trying to help.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hour has a silent H. You pronounce it starting "our"
AN + VOWEL SOUNDS
Good day!
For question 8 in Grammar test 1,
why is the answer "Is there a university where you live?" Instead of "Is there the university where you live in?"
Thank you in advance :)
Hello EngClub_KS,
We use 'a' here because we are not talking about a specific university but asking a general question. If the other person answers 'yes' then the speaker can switch to 'the university' as from that point on it is a discussion about a specific university.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
That is because "university" is a singular countable noun.
also, using the word "the" would imply that the listener already knows the type of university you are talking about and that would imply you are talking about one type of university