A, an and the: how to use articles in English

Articles are particularly tricky for learners whose first language doesn’t have them. It can be difficult to remember to use them if you don’t need them in your own language.

Even learners whose first language has articles often make mistakes. These are often to do with whether a noun is countable or uncountable – this can be different in different languages. For example, the word furniture is an uncountable noun in English, but the idea may be expressed by a countable or plural noun in other languages.

In addition, there are lots of specific rules to learn – for instance, we don’t usually put articles in front of the words breakfast, lunch or dinner.

The number one rule is this: every singular countable noun must have an article. This may seem astonishing to speakers of languages where this doesn’t happen, but it is true!

Look at these examples:

• She was wearing a dress and a jacket.
• I went to the supermarket and bought a packet of biscuits.
• Martina is a teacher in a school in Manchester.

Another important rule is about the difference between a/an and the. As mentioned above, we use a and an when we don’t need or want to say exactly which thing we are talking about, and the when we want to talk about something specific.

We also use the for talking about something we have mentioned before:

• We went to see a play last night. It was expensive, but the play was great.

We don’t use a or an with uncountable nouns but we use the to talk about specific uncountable things. Compare the following:

• I don’t like milk. (this is talking about milk in general)
• The milk was very fresh. (this is talking about a specific quantity of milk)

The most common mistake is to omit an article where it is needed.  You need to use an article (or another determiner such as my, this, another) in front of every singular countable noun. (Like everything in English, there are a couple of tiny exceptions, but this rule works for 99.99% of cases)

Mistakes connected with countability are also very common. In our experience as teachers, the word that probably causes more problems than any other is advice. In English, this is an uncountable noun, so we never put ‘an’ in front of it:

• She gave me some advice. 
• She gave me a piece of advice. 
• NOT: She gave me an advice.  

For more information, see Some advice or an advice: which is correct?

We use a when words start with a consonant sound and an when they start with a vowel sound. The important thing to remember is that we are talking about the sound and not the letter. So, for example, we say a university because the first syllable sounds like ‘you’ – so it has a consonant sound. In the same way, we say an X-ray, because even though ‘X’ is a consonant, it sounds like ‘ex’, so it has a vowel sound.

For more information, see What’s the difference between a and an?

Yes, but they are very, very rare. One example is that British people usually say that someone is in hospital whereas Americans say they are in the hospital. However, there are very few such differences and the basic rules work for both varieties.

Many grammar books and course books for English learners have exercises to practise articles. When you read, make sure you notice where articles are used (and where they aren’t used!).

However, if you really want to focus on articles, our book, Articles: 30 days to learn how to use a, an and the in every situation will help you become an expert!