Definite and Indefinite Articles: Using A, An,The in English

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Definite and Indefinite Articles in English! An article is a word that comes before a noun. There are two kinds of articles: definite articles and indefinite articles. In English, there is just one definite article: “the”. There are two indefinite articles: “a” and “an”.

Definite and Indefinite Articles

Using Article A in English

• “A“ is used in front of singular countable nouns ( a person, animal or thing ) which are not specific.
• We don’t use “a“ before uncountable or plural nouns.
• If a noun starts with a consonant sound (b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, etc.), “a” comes before the noun.

Examples:

• A cat
• A bird
• A child
• A doctor
• A house
• A bike
• A boy
• A table

Using Article An in English

• “An“ is used in front of singular countable nouns which are not specific.
• We don’t use “an“ before uncountable or plural nouns.
• If the noun starts with a vowel sound (a, e, i, o, u), “an” comes before the noun.

Examples:

• An apple
• An egg
• An Ant
• An orange
• An hour
• An aunt
• An old man
• An uncle

Using Article The in English

• We use the article ‘the’ in front of all nouns ( It does not matter whether the nouns are singular, plural countable or uncountable ) to describe someone or something specific or unique.
  

Examples:

• The earth
• The world
• The sky
• The air
• the weather
• The moon
• The President
• The CEO
• The sun

Definite and Indefinite Articles | Infographic

How to use Article a, Article an, Article the in English | Image