Indefinite and Definite Articles: A, AN, and THE

Indefinite areticles "a" and "an"

The choice of "a" or "an" depends on the vowel sounds, not on the vowel letters "a, e, i, o, u." Pay attention to the following words and phrases:

When the letter "u" is pronouced as the sound of letter "u", "a" is used.

an umbrella
a university
a UFO
a utensil
an utterance
an uncle
an ugly dog
a useful box
a uniform
a unit
an ulcer

If "h" is not pronounced at the beginning of a word, "an" is used.

an hour
a house
a half
an honor
a hotel
a hand-gun
a horror movie

Starting with a consonant letter, but "an" is used.

an SUV (starting with a vowel sound)
an F grade (starting with a vowel sound)

Starting with a vowel letter, but "a" is used.

a European (starting with "u" sound)
a one-bedroom apartment (not starting with a vowel sound)
a one-time password

The Uses of the Article "THE"

The word "the" actually means this or that, these or those. If you talk about something specific, use "the"; if in general, without using "the".

e.g. The women are sisters. / Women also have rights to vote.

For certain nouns, you must always use the article "the"

There is only one, unique

e.g. the earth, the moon, the universe

Talking about the direction

e.g. in the east, in the north, in the south

Before the name of a season

e.g. in the spring, in the summer

The superlative degree

e.g. Monday is the busiest day of a week.

Before an adjective to mean a group of people

e.g. the rich, the elderly, the aged, the Smith

Before an ordinal number

e.g. the first, the second, the third

Before rivers, oceans, seas, gulfs, ranges of mountains, deserts, forests

e.g. the Nile, the Pacific, the Sahara, the Persian Gulf

Before the full name of a country

e.g. the People's Republic of China, the United States

Do not use "the" before:

Names of places: Los Angeles, Monterey Park, Pasadena, Beijing

Names of holidays: Mother's Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine's Day. Easter

Names of streets: Valley Blvd, Fairview Avenue, Fifth Street

Names of continents: Asia, Africa, Europe

Names of countries (single-word names): China, Brazil, Italy

Names of mountains: Mount Everest, Mount Fuji

Names of languages: Chinese, English, French

Common activities: go to school, go to hospital, go to church, go to prision, at school, at work, at home, in prison, in bed, on foot