Look at these examples to see how articles are used.
She's a doctor.
I need an umbrella.
Have you heard the news?
I don't like spiders.
Try this exercise to test your grammar.
- Grammar test 1
Read the explanation to learn more.
Grammar explanation
Here are some of the most important things to know about using articles.
Jobs
When we say what people's jobs are, we usually use a/an.
He's an architect.
She's a scientist.
My grandmother was a teacher.
Singular nouns
Singular, countable nouns always have an article – a/an or the (or another determiner – my, your, this, that, etc.).
We use a/an – the indefinite article – when we talk about something for the first time, or something that is part of a group or type.
I saw a good film yesterday.
Do you want a drink?
We use a when the word that follows it begins with a consonant sound. We use an when it's followed by a vowel sound. This makes pronunciation easier.
She has a university degree.
It took me an hour to get home.
We use the – the definite article – when the listener already knows which thing we are talking about because it was mentioned before or because there's only one of them.
I'm going to take the dog for a walk.
Have you seen the car key?
They go to the school next to the bridge.
Things in general
When we talk about things in general, we normally use a plural or uncountable noun with no article.
Birds eat worms.
Water freezes at 0°C.
Children need a lot of sleep.
Particular groups of things
When we talk about a particular group of things, we use the.
We went to the zoo and saw the kangaroos. (These are the particular kangaroos in that zoo – not kangaroos in general.)
Do this exercise to test your grammar again.
- Grammar test 2
Hello! In your explanations i see the following sentence:
- It took me an hour to get home.
My questions is - why "took", not "tooks"?
And i think you have got a mistake in the first test:
- 3. He doesn't like dogs. One bit him when he was a child.
You mean "bite"
Thank you.
Hello LyudmilaP,
Both sentences are correct. They are both past simple and contain verbs with irregular past simple forms: take (present) > took (past) in the first sentence and bite (present) > bit (past) in the second.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Good morning.
Can you tell me if the articles are used correctly in the following sentence in the part after the colon.
This paper analyses two kinds of changes occurring in the translation of modals: changes in the force of verbs and changes in the means of modal expression.
Thank you very much.
Hi Dani Conti,
Yes, they are used correctly!
Jonathan
LearnEnglish team
Is there a university Is this article correct? why?
Hello nunuzin,
Yes, with 'there is' and a singular count noun, we use 'a'. You can see more about this on our Using 'there is' and 'there are' page.
Best wishes,
Kirk
LearnEnglish team
I also interested in it. It is particular university. where he lives, so why it is a university?
Hello!
I have a problem with using articles with nouns that can be both countable and uncountable when they're premodified with an adjective.
Which of the following sentences is the correct one?
1.The modal verb 'should' is used to express weak obligation.
2.The modal verb 'should' is used to express a weak obligation.
Because I've seen both when searching the internet.
Thank you!
Hi Khabir Nursha,
They are both correct, and they mean the same thing. Some nouns that can be both countable and uncountable have differences in meaning between them (e.g. experience), but that's not the case here.
Actually, the premodifying adjective isn't relevant here. We could also omit the adjective and say ... express obligation or ... express an obligation, also with no difference in meaning.
I hope that helps.
Jonathan
LearnEnglish team
Hello.
I work at a company in which we have a special application that allows senior specialists (buddies) to communicate with newcomers. Recently, I've received an email from my Turkish colleague:
Hello. I have noticed that some messages disappear from the chat again, especially the first messages to employees at the start. What can be done? I have sent three messages to a new employee but none of them is in the chat.
The part 'the first messages to employees at the start' sounds wrong to me. I have two questions:
1. Do we need the article before 'first messages'?
She is talking about all of those messages, just 'first messages' sounds much better. To me, it's like a general type of messages, the article makes them too specific.
2. Would it be better to rebuild the second part of this phrase into 'to the employees in start'?
'Start' is a category or group where those employees are. Unless we have the word 'group' or something like that there (like 'the start group', but that doesn't sound good), I don't think we need any articles before the word 'start'. The part 'in start' qualifies 'the employees'.
Thank you.