Articles

How to use the articles?

Often we have problems using the articles. This post will be useful. It will give you some tips for remembering how to use them.

Indefinite Articles

A or an? They are indefinite articles. So how to use them? It depends on the next word.

If the next word starts with a consonant sound, we use a. For example, a book, a pencil, a chair, a man, etc.

When the word starts with a vowel sound, then we use an. I remaindo you that there are 5 vowel sounds: a,e,i,o,u. For example: an aplication, an eraser, an explanation.

There are some examples, when a word starts with a vowel letter, but it starts with a consonan sound. Examples: university, uniform, eulogy. In this case we have to use a. The same happens with the words that have the silent sound h. Example: An hour.

When we give general facts about something or somebody we use the indefinite article.

A tablet is a modern invention. (It means that all the tablets are a modern invention).

It is possible to talk about non specific things using the articles a or an.

When I was in Madrid, I saw an interesting park.

Remember that the use of an or a depends on the next word. For example: A book. But an old book. In this case we use an because the next word is old.

The zero article

It is possible to give a general fact without any article. If we take the previous examples

A tablet is a modern invention, we can cut the article a. So we add the ending -s to the word tablet> tablets. Then, we got "Tablets are a modern invention". As we see, we are not talking about specific things. We are making a generalization.

The

When we talk about specific things, we use the. The state of California is big.

Also, we use the when we need to talk about things that we already have information about.

Have you seen the book? Yes, I saw it yesterday on the table.