Use of A, An, The (Definite and Indefinite

Articles)

Articles A-AN-THE definition

The indefinite articles A/AN are used when talking about a general or non-
specific noun.
 Where is a teacher?
 A book is on the table.
 Did you bring a cake?
But unlike the definite article, A/AN can only be used with singular countable
nouns. We can’t say a teachers, a books, a cakes.
Instead we use the definite article: the teachers, the books, the cakes.

 Where are the teachers?
 The books are on the table.
 Did you bring the cakes?
Remember!
In English, we use an with any noun that starts with a vowel sound, NOT with a
noun that starts with a vowel. This is very important because many nouns that
start with a vowel don’t have a vowel sound such as university, we say a
university NOT an university. Also, many vowel sounding words don’t start
with a vowel for example hour, we say an hour.
Below is a list of nouns you can use ‘an’ with:
 an oven
 an apple
 an honor
 an octopus
 an auntie
 an injury
 an umbrella
 an egg
Here is a list of nouns used with A:
 a table
 a pillow
 a university
 a cake
 a bed
 a utopia
Here is a list of nouns used with An:
 an oven
 an orange
 an honour
  an invention
 an hour
 an evening
Here are examples of how we use A and An in a sentence:
 There is a university.
 The movie starts in an hour.
 There is an octopus in the water.
 The new house doesn’t have an oven but it has a washing machine.
 I need an umbrella, it’s raining outside.
THE is called a definite article, we use the with all nouns and for specific nouns,
like a certain person or a particular thing.
For example:

 Where is the teacher?

 The book is on the table
 Did you bring the cake?
The examples above are talking about specific things or people. In the first
example, they are looking for a specific teacher, maybe a biology teacher or an
English teacher. They are not looking for any teacher, they want to know where
that particular teacher is.