How to use articles (a, an, the) in English

Knowing what articles are and when to use them in English can be difficult for language learners to pick up. Especially considering that in some situations there is no article at all.

But don’t worry, we’re here to help.

In English there are three articles: a, an, and the. Today we’re going to look at what these are, the differences between them and when to use them – or not, in some cases.

Let’s go!

What is an article?

Articles are a type of determiner. They function like adjectives, as they modify the noun in the sentence. The only articles in English are ‘the’ and ‘a/an’. Yet, the tricky part is that we use them differently – and sometimes not at all.

We call ‘the’ the definite article and ‘a/an’ the indefinite article.

When to use a/an, the and no article

So when do we use articles in English? We’re going to show you some explanations, examples and activities to practise so that by the time you finish reading, you’ll be an articles pro!

Definite and indefinite articles

We use ‘the’ before a noun when:

We use ‘a/an’ before a noun when:

Compare these two sentences:

Let’s watch the TV series that we love (a specific TV series that is familiar to us or that we know about.)

Let’s watch a TV series after dinner (we don’t have a specific TV series in mind – it could be any series.)

It’s important to remember that we use ‘a’ and ‘an’ differently: ‘a’ comes before a noun beginning with a consonant sound and ‘an’ comes before a noun beginning with a vowel sound. For example:

If you were observant, you may be wondering why ‘hotel’ and ‘hour’ don’t use the same indefinite article, even though they both start with ‘h’. Remember, we need to look at the starting sound, not letter, and since ‘hour’ is pronounced with a silent ‘h’, it starts with a vowel sound – which means you need ‘an’.

Here are some more examples of definite and indefinite articles:

Learn more about the basics of definite and indefinite articles in this video:

No article

We never use a/an with uncountable nouns. However, ‘the’ is sometimes used with uncountable nouns in the same way it is used with plural countable nouns. This is when we want to refer to a specific object, group, or idea.

For example:

It’s a good idea to familiarise yourself with countable and uncountable nouns so you can make the right choice of article. See the table below for examples.

However, we use ‘no article’ in other situations without grammatical rules. In this case, it’s something you have to remember.

Check out some of the following situations for knowing where you must leave out the article.

Use ‘no article’ before:

Geographical places

When it comes to geographical places, such as countries or continents, we use ‘the’ in some cases, and no article in others. Unfortunately, there aren’t any rules to help you here – you just have to familiarise yourself with the ones that need ‘the’ or not.

Do NOT use ‘the’ before:

Use ‘the’ before:

Check out some of the most common mistakes with articles in this video:

Practice

Now you know the grammar, here’s a short test for you to test your knowledge. Find the answers at the end of the blog – don’t peek!

Answer the questions with: ‘a/an’, ‘the’ or ‘no article’.

1. I love going on holiday to ____ Maldives.

2. Did you watch ____ the Mel Gibson film on TV last night?

3. Do you still live in ____ Bristol?

4. I’ve had ____ terrible headache all day.

5. The book is about someone who lives on ____ small island.

6. She lives in ____ Scotland now, but is from ____ Netherlands.

7. They speak ____ Chinese.

8. I’d love to go sailing along ____ Ganges river.

9. Who is that woman in ____ photograph?

10. Can I have _____ sugar in my coffee please?

More grammar lessons

Congratulations – now you’re an articles expert! But it doesn’t have to stop here. We’ve got plenty more grammar lessons for you to check out. Try these:

4 present tenses and how to use them

4 past tenses and when to use them

4 future tenses and how to use them

4 conditionals and when to use them

4 types of modal verbs

Quiz answers

1. the

2. the

3. no article

4. a

5. a

6. no article, the

7. no article

8. the

9. the

10. no article

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Glossary for Language Learners

Find the following words in the article and then write down any new ones you didn’t know.

Pick up (pv): obtain, acquire, or learn something in an informal way.

Tricky (adj): difficult.

Leave out (pv): fail to include something.

Peek (v): look quickly.

Check out (pv): look at or take notice of someone or something.

pv = phrasal verb

v = verb

adj = adjective

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