Indefinite and definite articles

Indefinite and definite articles

1. What is an Article?

   • is
     • A word that goes before a noun.
     • Giving some basic information about the noun.
       • The English articles are a, an, some, and the.
     • Such as if it is singular or plural, or if the object is specific or general.

2. Indefinite articles

   • There are three indefinite articles in English – two for the singular form (a, an) and one for the plural form (some).
   • We use an indefinite article in English when:
     • We refer to something for the first time.
     • We refer to a general thing, and not something specific.
       • A/an
         • We use both ‘a’ and ‘an’ in the same way.
         • We use ‘a’ in front of a consonant, and ‘an’ in front of a vowel (a,e,i,o,u).
         • examples
           • A car
             • A letter
               • A teacher
           • An apple
             • An aeroplane
               • An exam
       • Some
         • We use ‘some’ for the plural form of all nouns and for uncountables.
         • examples
           • Plurals
             • Some people
               • Some biscuits
                 • Some documents
           • Uncountables
             • Some food
               • Some money
                 • Some transports
     • We describe a person’s profession.

3. The Definite Article

   • He definite article in English is ‘the’.
   • We can use it with singular and plural nouns. We use ‘the’ when:
     • We have already identified the noun we are referring to in a previous phrase.
     • There is only one of this thing (for example, ‘the station’ – there is only one in the city).
       • examples
         • You can’t go to the post office now. It’s closed.
           • Can you turn on the television?
             • The shopping bags are still in the car. I’ll get them.
     • We use certain expressions, especially related to physical things such as ‘the weather’, ‘the sea’, ‘the environment’.

4. No article

   • It can be difficult to know when not to use an article in English.
   • Especially when you translate from your native language which has different rules for articles.
   • Here are the main cases when we don’t use an article:
     • Don’t use an article with possessive adjectives.
     • Don’t use an article with a general topic.
     • Don’t put an article in front of country names except when they include ‘kingdom’, ‘states’ and ‘lands’.
     • examples
       • France (without ‘the’).
       • The Netherlands (with ‘the’)

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