Articles: 'a', 'an', 'the'

Do you know how to use a, an and the? Test what you know with interactive exercises and read the explanation to help you.

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: Grammar test 1: Articles 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: Grammar test 2: Articles 1

Try another grammar lesson

Language level

A1 Elementary

A2 Pre-intermediate

Does every article have "its own style"?

I've heard that articles can sound either formal or informal. Once native speakers complained me when I used definite article for defining lawyers as a class (the lawyer is...). Apparently, they have their own style of use. For example, using the definite article can sound formal in:

academic writings: the dog, the pawn (chess), "The scientist seeks truth through observation."
poetry
philosophy: "The truth will set you free," "The end justifies the means."
proverbs/idiomatic expressions: "The early bird catches the worm."
technical writings/instructions: press button

while informal styles would include:

using the indefinite article/plural for definitions ("a lawyer" or "lawyers")
proverbs ("A good person always arrives at a goal" instead of "The good person always arrives at the goal.")
using the definite article for emphasis
omitting articles for sports events or instructions.

I asked ChatGPT about that. You can check it and tell me is it right, or wrong? I'm not a native speaker so I don't have that "feeling" for articles

Hello Marko55,

This is essentially the same question as one you posted on another page so I'll reproduce the answer I gave there below.

It's possible to use all three articles options (indefinite, definite and zero article) with generic meaning but there are some differences. Here's a summary

>> a + singular countable noun <<

We can use this with general meaning when we are talking about something which defines the group. For example:

An elephant is an impressive sight.

In other words, being an impressive sight is one of the characteristics of an elephant; if we saw an animal and it was not impressive then we could be fairly sure that it was not an elephant. We are talking about any elephant here – it is true of them all.

>> the + singular noun <<

We can use this with general meaning when we are talking about our image or concept of the noun. For example:

The elephant can live for over sixty years.

Here we are not talking about a real elephant, but rather the concept of 'elephant' in our heads.

>> no article + plural countable noun or uncountable noun <<

We use this to talk about what is normal or typical of a type. It may or may not be true of all individuals but it is typical of most. For example:

Swedish people are tall.

Here we are talking about the average height of Swedes, not any particular person or concept.

The distinctions are subtle but can be important. For example, we can say with general meaning:

Whales are in danger of becoming extinct.
The whale is in danger of becoming extinct.

However, we cannot say:

A whale is in danger of becoming extinct.

This is because being in danger of becoming extinct may be true but it does not define the whale.

As far as style goes, I think the definite article for generic meaning is more common in certain types of text not because it is more formal in itself, but rather because certain types of text (scientific, academic and legal, for example) more often talk about abstract concepts. In other words, the frequency in certain texts is more to do with the meaning than the style.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Yes Ivyxoxo because you can say a school not an school and a university not an university !!!

You're welcome !💖😉

8. Incorrect

The teachers at my son's school are great.

Why? This is a particular group of teachers, isn't it?

Hello OlefirO,

'The teachers at my son's school are great' is correct because, as you say, the sentence refers to a particular group of teachers.

In the exercise, this answer is marked as correct.

Best wishes,
Kirk
LearnEnglish team

For the test 1 : why we did not use any article for Q1 and Q3?

Hello OussamaMy,

Could you please post your question as a new comment rather than a reply to another comment? We ask this so topics can be found more easily by other users and also so that the page does not get filled by just a few large threads of replies.

You can find the 'Add new comment' box at the bottom of the page.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team