USING ARTICLES

A / AN / THE / 0
 INDEFINITE ARTICLES
A AN
before a singular countable before a singular countable
noun noun
before a word beginning with before a word beginning
a consonant in with a vowel in
pronunciation (phone, key...) pronunciation (egg, apple...)
Examples: Examples:
a car an apple
a round table an orange
a child an economist
a green apple an orange car

But But
a university an hour
a UFO an MP (Member of
Parliament)
 DEFINITE ARTICLE
THE
before both singular & plural nouns (teacher(s),
table(s), bus(es)...)
before both countable & uncountable nouns (apple,
boy, bag...; water, cheese, money...)
before both consonants and vowels in pronunciation
Indefinite article

a or an

The indefinite article means ONE / ANY.

It refers to something:
unspecific, unknown or mentioned for the
1st time
Examples

Can you give me a pen, please?

Theres a girl in the street.
I was at a great party last night.

I bought a radio today

My brother is an engineer.

Patricia is a descendent of an Irish family.

Definite article

the

The definite article means THIS(THESE) /

THAT(THOSE)
It refers to something:
specific, known or already mentioned.
Examples

Can you give me the pen, please? or

Can you give me the pen that is next to the
green book? (e.g. that is on the table, the specific one)
Theres a girl in the street. The girl is wearing a
red hat. (that girl, mentioned before)
Hi Zac, how was the party last night? (known to the
speakers)
We also use definite articles with...

Superlatives This is the highest mountain.

Ordinal numbers
I live on the second floor.
Unique things There are 6m people in the world.
the same, the only, the last, the truth, the police,
Certain words the UK, the USA, the BBC, the Queen, the President

Rivers / Mountain ranges /

Cinemas / Theatres /
The Danube / The Alps / The Odeon / The
Musical instruments / Hotels National Theatre / the guitar / the Hilton / the
/ National groups Serbs
Zero article

The zero article means ALL. It refers to things

in general.

Holidays are so relaxing!

Margarine is very fattening.
Cats eat mice.
Love is blind.
We also use zero article with...

Continents/ Countries / Mountains / Cities /

Sports / Meals / Languages / Banks / Personal
names / Streets...
Europe / Romania / Kopaonik / Paris / Basketball /
Lunch / French / Raiffeisen Bank / George / Sarajevska
Street...

After certain expressions

by car / at work / to school / in bed / at church / in class /
last (year) / on TV...
Practice
Dear ____ Marta,
We took ____ most wonderful trip ____ last month. We went
on ____ great safari. ____ safari was in ____Kenya and we
saw ____ lions and ____hippos up close! ____ experience was
great. ____ only problem was that my ____ husband was
bitten by ____ mosquito and ____ ant, but since we had taken
malaria medicine before we came, Dr. Matuka said he would be
okay. Can't wait to show you ____ pictures we took! I miss you all
in ___ USA!
By ____ way, I even saw ____ President here!
Love,
Gloria
Key
Dear __/__ Marta,

We took __the__ most wonderful trip __/__ last month. We went on

__a__ great safari. __the__ safari was in __/__Kenya and we saw
__/__ lions and __/__hippos up close! __the__ experience was great.
__the__ only problem was that my __/__ husband was bitten by __a__
mosquito and __an__ ant, but since we had taken malaria medicine
before we came, Dr. Matuka said he would be okay. Can't wait to show
you __the__ pictures we took! I miss you all in __the__ USA!
By _the__ way, I even saw __the__ President here!

Love,

Gloria