Articles in English Grammar

Just here for the exercises? Click here.

What is an article?

Articles are small words that come before nouns. In English, the articles are the and a/an.

Read on to learn about articles in English grammar then practise everything in the exercises.

Example

Ms Smith is a businesswoman.

She is in a hotel room. There is a bed, a carpet and a bedside table in the room.

On the bedside table there is a lamp.

Ms Smith has two pieces of luggage: a suitcase and a handbag.

The suitcase is very heavy.

When to use the indefinite article

The indefinite article in English is a/an. We use the indefinite article:

  • to talk about something unspecified
    Example:
    Ms Smith is in a hotel room.
  • to mention something in a text for the first time (introductory)
    Example:
    There is a bed, a carpet and a bedside table.
    Ms Smith has two pieces of luggage: a suitcase and a handbag.
  • in job titles
    Example:
    Ms Smith is a businesswoman.

a vs. an

We use an instead of a before words that begin with a vowel or vowel sound or (e.g. silent h). This makes pronunciation easier.

Examples:
an apple (not: a apple)
an hour (not: a hour)

The vowel u at the beginning of a word is sometimes pronounced [ʌ] and sometimes [ju].

When pronounced [ʌ], we use an. When pronounced [ju], we use a:

Example:
an umbrella
but: a university

When to use the definite article

The definite article in English is the. We use the definite article:

  • to talk about something specific
    Example:
    There is a bed, a carpet and a bedside table in the room.
  • to refer back to something that we have already mentioned
    Example:
    Ms Smith has two pieces of luggage: a suitcase and a handbag. The suitcase is very heavy.
  • with superlatives
Example:
This is the nicest hotel room ever.
  • places around town
Examples:
Let’s go to the cinema tomorrow.
The library is on Main Street.

Note

Usually we pronounce the definite article [ðə].

If the following word begins with a vowel sound, however, we pronounce the definite article [ðı].

When to use no article

We generally don’t use an article for:

  • plural nouns that refer to general people/things (but: for specific people/things we use an article)
    Example:
    Businesswomen travel a lot.
    (but: The businesswomen that I know travel a lot.)
    Hotels are very expensive.
    (but: The hotels in this area are affordable.)
  • the names of towns, streets, squares, parks
    Example:
    Ms Smith is in Dublin. Her hotel is in Merrion Street between Fitzwilliam Square and Merrion Park.
  • the names of countries (except for the Netherlands and those containing Kingdom, Republic, State, Union)
    Example:
    Dublin is in Ireland.(but
    : Miami is in the USA./We go to the Netherlands every summer.)
  • the names of continents and lakes
    Example:
    Ireland is a country in Europe.
    Lake Baikal is the largest freshwater lake in the world.
  • the names of days and months (except when specified)
    Example:
    She travelled to Ireland in May. She arrived on Monday.
    (but: She arrived on a rainy Monday.)
  • with adverbs of time such as next/last
    Example:
    She left last Monday and is coming back next Wednesday.
  • meals
    Example:
    The hotel serves breakfast between 8 and 10 o’clock.
  • languages that a person knows
    Example:
    Ms Smith speaks English.
  • institutions such as school, university, hospital, prison (but not when we are talking about one particular school, university etc.)
    Example:
    The children go to school.
    (but: Her son and my daughter go to the school at the end of the street.)
  • in certain expressions with bed, class, home, work
    Example:
    go to bed
    be in class
    after work
    come home
  • materials (e.g. paper, wood, water, milk, iron), but only when generalising (if we’re talking about one particular thing, we have to use an article.)
    Example:
    Paper is made of wood.
    We need to buy milk.
    (but: Where is the paper for the printer?)
  • abstract nouns i.e. things that you can’t touch, in a general context
    Example:
    Life is complicated.
    What’s on TV today?
    (but: We never eat dinner in front of the TV.)
  • expressions with play + sport (but not: play + musical instrument)
    Example:
    He plays tennis.
    (but: She plays the piano.)
  • titles and departments used with verbs like be, become, elect, appoint
    Example:
    When was Barack Obama elected president?
  • parts of the body or personal objects; instead, we use possessive determiners (my, your, …).
    Example:
    I put my hand in my pocket.