Contents

A / The / No Article for Known and Unknown .......................................................................................3

‘A’ and ‘The; for Things We Have Already Talked About.....................................................................4

Using No Article to Talk in General........................................................................................................5

Article with Countries..............................................................................................................................6

 A / The / No Article for Known and Unknown

We use ‘the’ when we think the person listening or reading will understand which thing or things we
are talking about.

On the other hand, we use ‘a/an’ (for singular countable nouns) or ‘no article’ (for plural and
uncountable nouns) when we think the listener or reader won’t know which thing or things we mean.

The important point is whether the person who is listening knows what the speaker is thinking of, or
will be able to understand it.

Singular countable nouns

• I bought a blue sweater yesterday (the speaker knows which sweater, but the listener doesn’t,
so we use ‘a’).
• I wore the blue sweater that you knitted for me yesterday (the listener knows which sweater,
so we use ‘the’).

Plural countable nouns

• I met lovely people (the speaker knows which people but the listener doesn’t, so we use no
article because people is a plural countable noun).
• I met the lovely people from downstairs (the listener knows which people, so we use ‘the’).

Uncountable nouns

• I ate rice (the speaker knows which rice, but the listener doesn’t, so we use no article because
rice is an uncountable noun).
• I ate the rice in the fridge (the listener knows which rice so we use ‘the’).

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 ‘A/an’ and ‘The; for Things We Have Already Talked About

When we introduce something for the first time, we often use ‘a/an’ because the listener doesn’t know
which thing or things. If we talk about it again, we often switch to ‘the’, because we have already
introduced it to the listener and so the listener knows which thing or things.

• I bought an apple and a banana (we use ‘a/an’ because the listener doesn’t know which apple
or which banana). The apple was delicious (we change to ‘the’ because now we have
introduced the apple to the listener).
• I bought trousers yesterday (we use no article because ‘trousers’ is plural and the listener
doesn’t know which trousers). Unfortunately, the trousers were too small (we change to ‘the’
because now we have introduced the trousers to the listener).
• I bought shampoo when I was shopping yesterday (we use no article because ‘shampoo’ is
uncountable and the listener doesn’t know which shampoo). The shampoo smelled really nice
(we change to ‘the’ because now we have introduced the shampoo to the listener).

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 Using No Article to Talk in General

Sometimes when we use a noun, we want to talk about a particular thing (or a particular group of
things). For example, I might have a certain car in my mind. If I think the person that I’m talking to
knows which car I mean, I use the, and if I think the person that I’m talking to doesn’t know which
car I mean, I use a/an.

On the other hand, sometimes we want to talk about cars in general. In this case, I’m not thinking of a
particular car or group of cars. Instead, I’m thinking about all the cars in the world. I want to say
something about cars in general.

• Cars cause a lot of pollution.

• He likes cars.

Usually, when we are talking in general, we use ‘no article’ with a plural or uncountable noun.

(Remember, we usually can’t use ‘no article’ with singular countable nouns.)

• She loves cats (= she loves all cats, cats in general).

• He hates rice (= he hates all rice, rice in general).

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 Article with Countries

We use articles (a / an / the / no article) in a bit of a strange way with some places. Today, let's talk
about countries.

We generally don't need to use an article with countries.

• I went to France.
• She lives in Australia.
• Have you ever been to Japan?

However, there are a few exceptions. Often, but not always, these are plural.

The USA / the United States

• I went to the USA.

The UK / the United Kingdom

• She comes from the UK.

The Philippines

• He's never been to the Philippines.

The Netherlands

• Amsterdam is in the Netherlands.

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