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

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”.

Table of Contents

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: