The definite article - the

The definite article the is the same for all genders in singular and in plural.
the boy, the girl, the cat, the computers
If the following word begins with a vowel, we speak [
consonant, we speak [ ].
[

], if the following word begins with a

the following word starts with a spoken consonant the following word starts with a spoken vowel
the girl

the English girl

the book

the blue book

the school

the old school

the unit
Here a [ ] is pronounced at the beginning of the
word.

the uncle
Here a [ ] is pronounced at the beginning of the
word.

We have listed some examples in the following table. There you can see when we use the
definite article and when we don't.
without the definite article

with the definite article

general words (indefinite)

general words (definite)

Life is too short.

I like flowers.

I've read a book on the life of Bill Clinton.

I like the flowers in your garden.

names of persons on the singular, relatives

family names in the plural

Peter and John live in London.

Aunt Mary lives in Los Angeles.

The Smiths live in Chicago.

public buildings, institutions, means of

transport (indefinite)

public buildings, institutions, means of

transport (definite)

Mandy doesn't like school.

We go to school by bus.
Some people go to church on Sundays.

The school that Mandy goes to is old.

The bus to Dresden leaves at 7.40.
The round church in Klingenthal is famous.

names of countries in the singular; summits

of mountains; continents; towns

names of countries in the plural; mountain

ranges; regions

Germany, France;
Mount Whitney, Mount McKinley;
Africa, Europe;
Cairo, New York

the United States of America, the Netherlands;

the Highlands, the Rocky Mountains, the Alps; the
Middle East, the west of Australia

single islands

groups of islands

Corfu, Bermuda, Sicily

the Bahamas, the British Isles, the Canaries

parks; lakes; streets

name with of-phrase; oceans; seas; rivers

Central Park, Hyde Park;

the Statue of Liberty, the Tower (of London), the

Lake Michigan, Loch Ness;

42nd Street, Oxford Street

Isle of Wight;
the Atlantic (Ocean);
the Mediterranean (Sea);
the Nile, the Rhine, the Suez Canal

months, days of the week (indefinite)

months, days of the week (definite)

The weekend is over on Monday morning.

July and August are the most popular months for
holidays.

I always remember the Monday when I had an

accident.
The August of 2001 was hot and dry.

We use the seasons of the year (spring, summer, autumn, winter) with or without the definite
article.
in summer or in the summer
The American English word for autum >fall< is always used with the definte article.

Sometimes we use the article and sometimes we do not. It often depends on the context. Watch
the following example:
The student goes to school.
The mother goes to the school.
In the first sentence we do not use the definite article, in the second we do. The student goes to
school for its primary purpose, so we do not use the article.
The mother might talk to a teacher, for example. She visits the school for a different reason.
That's why we use the definite article in the second sentence.

The indefinite article - a

The indefinte article is the a is the same for all genders.
a boy, a girl, a cat
The indefinte article has no plural form.
a boy - boys
We use an if the following word starts with a vowel.
the following word starts with a consonant

the following word starts with a vowel

a boy

an aunt

a school

an old school

a girl

an American girl

Mind the pronunciation of the following word.

a unit

an uncle

This u sounds like a consonant, so we use a.

This u sounds like a vowel, so we use an.

Use of the indefinite article a/an

- before phrases of time and measurements (per week/weekly)
We have English 4 times a week.
I go on holiday twice a year.
Our car can do 220 kilometres an hour.
Tomatoes are $2 a kilo.
- before phrases of jobs
My father is a car mechanic.
- with a noun complement
He is a good boy.
- before phrases of nationality
Bruce Springsteen is an American.
- half/quite
We need half a pound of sugar.
This is quite a good story.

DEFINITE ARTICLE
THE
Articles in English are invariable. That is, they do not change according to the gender or number of the
noun they refer to, e.g. the boy, the woman, the children
'The' is used:
1. to refer to something which has already been mentioned.
Example: An elephant and a mouse fell in love.
The mouse loved the elephant's long trunk,
and the elephant loved the mouse's tiny nose.
2. when both the speaker and listener know what is being talked about, even if it has not
been mentioned before.
Example: 'Where's the bathroom?'
'It's on the first floor.'
3. in sentences or clauses where we define or identify a particular person or object:
Examples: The man who wrote this book is famous.
'Which car did you scratch?' 'The red one.
My house is the one with a blue door.'
4. to refer to objects we regard as unique:
Examples: the sun, the moon, the world
5. before superlatives and ordinal numbers: (see Adjectives)
Examples: the highest building, the first page, the lastchapter.
6. with adjectives, to refer to a whole group of people:
Examples: the Japanese (see Nouns - Nationalities), theold
7. with names of geographical areas and oceans:
Examples: the Caribbean, the Sahara, the Atlantic
8. with decades, or groups of years:
Example: she grew up in the seventies

INDEFINITE ARTICLE
A / AN
Use 'a' with nouns starting with a consonant (letters that are not vowels),
'an' with nouns starting with a vowel (a,e,i,o,u)
Examples:
A boy
An apple
A car
An orange
A house
An opera
NOTE:
An before an h mute - an hour, an honour.
A before u and eu when they sound like 'you': a european, a university,a unit
The indefinite article is used:

to refer to something for the first time:

An elephant and a mouse fell in love.
Would you like a drink?
I've finally got a good job.

to refer to a particular member of a group or class

Examples:

with names of jobs:

John is a doctor.
Mary is training to be an engineer.
He wants to be a dancer.

with nationalities and religions:

John is an Englishman.
Kate is a Catholic.

with musical instruments:

Sherlock Holmes was playing a violin when the visitor arrived.
(BUT to describe the activity we say "He plays the violin.")

with names of days:

I was born on a Thursday

to refer to a kind of, or example of something:

the mouse had a tiny nose
the elephant had a long trunk
it was a very strange car

with singular nouns, after the words 'what' and 'such':

What a shame!
She's such a beautiful girl.

meaning 'one', referring to a single object or person:

I'd like an orange and two lemons please.
The burglar took a diamond necklace and a valuable painting.

Notice also that we usually say a hundred, a thousand, a million.

NOTE: that we use 'one' to add emphasis or to contrast with other numbers:
I don't know one person who likes eating elephant meat.
We've got six computers but only one printer.

EXCEPTIONS TO USING THE DEFINITE ARTICLE

There is no article:

with names of countries (if singular)

Germany is an important economic power.
He's just returned from Zimbabwe.
(But: I'm visiting the United States next week.)

with the names of languages

French is spoken in Tahiti.
English uses many words of Latin origin.
Indonesian is a relatively new language.

with the names of meals.

Lunch is at midday.
Dinner is in the evening.
Breakfast is the first meal of the day.

with people's names (if singular):

John's coming to the party.
George King is my uncle.
(But: we're having lunch with the Morgans tomorrow.)

with titles and names:

Prince Charles is Queen Elizabeth's son.
President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas.
Dr. Watson was Sherlock Holmes' friend.
(But: the Queen of England, the Pope.)

After the 's possessive case:

His brother's car.
Peter's house.

with professions:
Engineering is a useful career.
He'll probably go into medicine.

with names of shops:

I'll get the card at Smith's.
Can you go to Boots for me?

by
by
by
on
on
on

with years:
1948 was a wonderful year.
Do you remember 1995?

With uncountable nouns:

Rice is the main food in Asia.
Milk is often added to tea in England.
War is destructive.

with the names of individual mountains, lakes and islands:

Mount McKinley is the highest mountain in Alaska.
She lives near Lake Windermere.
Have you visited Long Island?

with most names of towns, streets, stations and airports:

Victoria Station is in the centre of London.
Can you direct me to Bond Street?
She lives in Florence.
They're flying from Heathrow.

in some fixed expressions, for example:

car
train
air
foot
holiday
air (in broadcasting)

at school
at work
at University
in church
in prison
in bed

Fill in the article >a<, >an< or >the< where necessary. Choose >x< where no article
is used.
1) I like

blue T-shirt over there better than

2) Their car does 150 miles

3) Where's

red one.

hour.

USB drive I lent you last week?

4) Do you still live in

Bristol?

5) Is your mother working in

old office building?

6) Carol's father works as

electrician.

7) The tomatoes are 99 pence

kilo.

8) What do you usually have for

9) Ben has

breakfast?

terrible headache.

10) After this tour you have

whole afternoon free to explore the city.

Decide whether to use the definite article >the< or not. If you do not need the article
>the<, use x.
1) My grandmother likes
2) I love

flowers very much.

flowers in your garden.

3) See you on

Wednesday.

4) I always listen to
5) Alex goes to work by
6) Don't be late for
7) Listen! Dennis is playing
8) We often see our cousins over

radio in the morning.

bus.
school.
trumpet.
Easter.

9) She has never been to

Alps before.

10) What about going to Australia in

February?

Decide whether to use the definte article >the< or not. If you do not need the article
>the<, usex.
1) Last year we visited

St. Paul's Cathedral and

2)

Mount Everest is

3)

Loch Ness is

4)

most children like

5)

summer of 1996 was hot and dry.

6)

Plaza Hotel is on the corner of

highest mountain on earth.

most famous lake in Scotland.
sweets.

Avenue.
7) My sister often stays at
8) Our friends
9)

Tower.

59th Street and

5th

Uncle Tim's in Detroit.

Millers moved to Florida last August.

smog is a problem in

10) Our children go to

school by

big cities.
bus.

Decided whether to use the definite article >the< or not. If you do not need the article
>the<, write an x.
Hi John,
I arrived in
stop in

USA last Monday. We left

London. There we went shopping in

enjoyed a sunny afternoon in

Rome, flew over

Harrods, visited

Alps and made a quick

Tower and

Hyde Park. On the following day we left for

New

York.

time on board wasn't boring as there were two films to watch on

monitor.

people on

airport, we saw
Building.

plane were all

Statue of Liberty,
hotel I stayed in was on

Avenue. I don't like

Italian. Before we landed at

Ellis Island and
corner of

hotels very much, but I didn't have

JFK

Empire State
42nd Street and

5th

time to rent an apartment.

Please say hello to Peter and Mandy.

Yours,
Peter

Use >a< or >an<. Write the correct forms of the indefinte articles into the gaps.
Example: We read __ book.
Answer: We read a book.

1) Lucy has

dog.

2) Let's sing

song.

3) Emily needs
4) I need
5) Ben has

new desk in her room.

blue pen.
old bike.

6) Peter has

aunt in Berlin.

7) We listen to
8) She has

English CD.
exercise book in her school bag.

9) The speed of this car was 160 miles

10) They finished

1) There is

hour.

unit.

new English book on the desk.

2) She's reading
3) They've got

idea.

4) He is drinking
5) The girl is

airport.
expensive bike.

8) Look! There's
9) My father is

cup of coffee.
pilot.

6) Leipzig has
7) This is

old comic.

bird flying.
honest person.

10) My friend likes to be

astronaut.

Which article a or an can be put before the following words or phrases? Write the words or
phrases into the correct column.
outdoor activity, new desk, order, thousand times, cat, bike, ear, son, error, red apple
a

an

ANSWERS:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
10)

I like the blue T-shirt over there better than the red one.
Their car does 150 miles an hour.
Where's the USB drive I lent you last week?
Do you still live in x Bristol?
Is your mother working in an old office building?
Carol's father works as an electrician.
The tomatoes are 99 pence a kilo.
What do you usually have for x breakfast?
Ben has a terrible headache.
After this tour you have the whole afternoon free to explore the city.

1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
10)

My grandmother likes x flowers very much.

I love the flowers in your garden.
See you on x Wednesday.
I always listen to the radio in the morning.
Alex goes to work by x bus.
Don't be late for x school.
Listen! Dennis is playing the trumpet.
We often see our cousins over x Easter.
She has never been to the Alps before.
What about going to Australia in x February?

1) Last year we visited x St. Paul's Cathedral and the Tower.

2) x Mount Everest is the highest mountain on earth.
3) x Loch Ness is the most famous lake in Scotland.
4) x most children like x sweets.
5) The summer of 1996 was hot and dry.
6) The Plaza Hotel is on the corner of x 59th Street and x 5th Avenue.
7) My sister often stays at x Uncle Tim's in Detroit.
8) Our friends the Millers moved to Florida last August.
9) x smog is a problem in x big cities.
10) Our children go to x school by x bus.

Hi John,
I arrived in the USA last Monday. We left x Rome, flew over the Alps and made a quick stop
in xLondon. There we went shopping in x Harrods, visited the Tower and enjoyed a sunny
afternoon in x Hyde Park. On the following day we left for x New York. The time on board
wasn't boring as there were two films to watch on the monitor. The people on the plane were
all x Italian. Before we landed at x JFK airport, we saw the Statue of Liberty, x Ellis Island
andthe Empire State Building. The hotel I stayed in was on the corner of x 42nd Street
and x 5th Avenue. I don't like x hotels very much, but I didn't have x time to rent an
apartment.
Please say hello to Peter and Mandy.
Yours,
Peter
1) Lucy has a dog.
2) Let's sing a song.
3) Emily needs a new desk in her room.

4) I need a blue pen.

5) Ben has an old bike.
6) Peter has an aunt in Berlin.
7) We listen to an English CD.
8) She has an exercise book in her school bag.
9) The speed of this car was 160 miles an hour.
10) They finished a unit.

1) There is a new English book on the desk.

2) She's reading an old comic.
3) They've got an idea.
4) He is drinking a cup of coffee.
5) The girl is a pilot.
6) Leipzig has an airport.
7) This is an expensive bike.
8) Look! There's a bird flying.
9) My father is an honest person.
10) My friend likes to be an astronaut.

outdoor activity is

an

new desk is

order is

an

thousand times is

cat is

bike is

ear is

an

son is

error is

an

red apple is