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Articles in English: How to use ‘a’, ‘an’, and ‘the’ properly
Many English students make mistakes with articles — ‘a’, ‘an’, and ‘the’. This free English lesson teaches you how to use articles correctly. If you have any questions about this lesson, leave a comment below. If you have other English questions, ask me on the forum.
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35 Comments on “Articles in English: How to use ‘a’, ‘an’, and ‘the’ properly”
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hoai tan
i need to learn english
Maxim
Hi James, nice to see you!
Regard to articles, we also often use “the” before plural nouns.
For instance: Both of the teachers are very good.
How we can exactly define when “the” is expected before plural nouns and when not?
hi maxim,
sometimes you can use “the” before plural nouns and it is depend on the purpose you use it. well if someone uses “the” before a plural it reflect 2 things.
the plural noun specific.
the plural noun is a general thing.
otherwise please use “a” or “an” before the plural verb.make your attention on plural verbs which starts with vowel sound and at that time you must use “an” before noun. for other consonant sounds you should use “a” before plural verb.
dimuka
Constantine
Hi,
Can I use articles before werb or adjective?
Thanks
Vinod.R
Hi James, nice to see you & your teaching.
Iam sorry to inform u that, iam not able to speak fluent english properly. Your Articles teaching video was very fine. Iam eager to know, if u can teach me, Quick methods of learning English Grammer. I thank u very much for you & your teaching video. now i got some idea about articles.
Thanking you,
Vinod
JamesESL
Hi Maxim. In the case of the plural nouns you mentioned the rules are the same. If you noticed, you used “The” to indicate that you were talking about two specific teachers. Also, you know that I know who you are talking about. So the rules apply:
1. If you all people know who you are talking about use “The”
2. If who you are talking about is specific use “The”
JamesESL
Hi Constantine ,
To answer your question
1. you can only use articles a/an or the before nouns
2. because adjectives go before nouns and modify nouns you can use articles before adjectives that modify single nouns
Hey Vinod… I look forward to helping you learn english
murali krishna
Hi James , glad to see u and your teacing.
would you please assist me on how to enhance my english fluency, but i have got good accent.the only thing is, how do i focus on my fluency.
Thanking you always in advance.
Hi Murali,
I am assuming you mean fluency in speaking. So here is a trick I teach my students:
1. Watch a movie. Put on the English subtitles.
2. Find a song that you like that has the subtitles on it.
3. Sing with the song while reading the subtitles.
4. Keep doing that until you can match the singer’s speed and match the pronunciation.
The reason this works is because singing is harder than speaking and requires a good ear to hear the words.
This will help with your fluency as you will have a greater ability to use and follow English.
I hope that helped.
James
JamesESL
david christopher
i love all your teachngs. really english is gift for from God. thank you
Ari
Hello James! Thank you for teaching us. I have one question. Number of articles is equal to number of nouns in sentence. Is it right, or not ?
Ahmed Hamza
Hi James
Thanks too much for your helpful lesson. I really appreciate your effort
thanks again
John
Sorry for disturbing you, James. I’ve come up with the question concerning the use of articles here.
Could you assist me with this:
E.g. the situation: I’ve just talked to a person. I said good-bye to him and then say:
Thanks for a talk.
Thanks for the talk.
Thanks for a good talk.
Thanks for the good talk.
Which example in each of the pairs is the most suitable? Could you also explain it, if you please.
Sorry for burdening you again.
Thanks in advance.
alejandrot
Hi James. Before all I want to say thank you very much, because I am learning a lot with your classes. I have a question: I did not understand the cases where I have to use “an”. I got I have to use it when the next word begins with a vowel but I did not get the other case, about the sound of the next word. Could you explain me, please?
See you
Alejandro (Bogotá D.C. Colombia)
adil_english
I’m adil, i’m from algeria, thank you for your lesson but I ask you which article (a or the) used for pluriel or no
thank you…
Arshad
Bluse screen dowsnot show any thing sir
Matt
I have a question. What answer is correct in this sentence “(The) cinema is a good way to relax” or “(-)Cinema is a good way to relax”? ( means non articles), and why?
batu.han
Hi James. Firs of all thanks for videos. they help me when i learn english. I have a few sentences, which i need to know are they correct, can you help me to check them? ((my answer: a, an, the or – ))
“Excuse me, please. Can you tell me how to get to …. airport? (-)
“I’m going away for …. week in September (a)
“There were no chairs, so we had to sit on floor” (i put “the” next to “on”)
can you check them for me ? Thx for helping
Aslam
thank you
Dewen Sûlaîman
Hi James, I don’t understand two things:
- Where can I put on the English subtitle?
- When must I use an, if the word begins with ‘u’ and ‘e’?
When I go to then form, I can not write.
Are another people with the same problem or is my browser not good?
I want to follow all the lessons, what is the best way for me?
Just follow the levels and watching all the clips?
Thank you
Patrik
Hi James,
I also have a question about the usage of articles that is not mentioned in the vid.
What about articles with enumerations. Is it common to use definite and undefinite articles with count nouns in long lists like for example:
On the table there is a pen, a book, a magazine, a piece of paper, a stapler, a notebook, and a key.
Thanks for your answer!
juan manuel
HI everybody, could anyone help me to understand when “the” is avoid? thanks
rahul
i have some douts…which sentence is right(1) i wud lyk to learn the piano.(2)i wud lyk to learn a piano.one more thing what r the cases when the articles has not been used.
ritchie
hi james!
wow!great!it really helped me a lot. i know now when/how to use these articles. great job…thanks..
Tomas
Video is great, but it would be great to get more explanation where exactly use it. I am from Czech, we are not using articles. I understood everything from the video but in the quiz is correct answer: A pen is on the table. So why is not there A pen is on a table… We are speaking first time about pen and first time about table aswell…its weird sometimes
crissa
Please correct me if I am wrong:I’ll see you THE next Monday(ungrammatical sentence) and THE next Monday is a holiday.(grammatical sentence)
Piush Kmr
JAMES You are really doing a fine job.
I am a student and preparing for my exams, your English videos are really helping. I am trying to follow most of your lectures . Its only that I have some problems with phrasal verbs, how to memorize all their meanings.
For Now YOU ARE MY HERO…! PLS REPLY..!
logeshwaran
hi james
ur teaching is really great especially the jokes inbetween.k here i am , i feel hard while reporting so pls send me t procedure of it wit some examples
LAYLAH
I am very happy with your lesson thanks.
Emil Ibragimov from Baku
Hi James!I wanna say that your lessons is very usefull not only for me but also enoyher people who learn English.Thank you very much!!Ta ta for now
Emil Ibragimov from Baku
and buy the way the avatar don’t look like me)however it’s funny:)
Bemag22002
How do you say/write it: a RN or an RN?
Beyem
I’m confused when I use a or an…with a vowel and consonants that sounds like the opposite. Which one is grammatically correct: a RN or an RN?
cutie369
If a word begins with a consonant letter, but sounds like a vowel, the article an should be used; an RN like in an hour. e.g. I waited for an hour.
I hope it helps.
Hi James, good teaching. Thanks.
anece
Hello James, your lesson is really understandable. Thanks. :)
By the way, I have a question about Articles. The other day, I was reading news paper and I found out one sentence, television, the Internet, the telephone. Why is there no the for television??? Why two of them got the while the other does not?? Please, let me know.
Thanks,
Anece.