The definite article is the.
The indefinite article is a / an.
The indefinite article a or an:
The article a / an is used when we don’t specify the things or people we are talking about:
I met a friend.
I work in a factory in New York.
I borrowed a pencil from a passenger sitting next to me.
The indefinite article a is used before a consonant sound:
a dog.
a pilot
a teacher.
a university
NOTE:
Although ‘university’ starts with the vowel ‘u’, it is not pronounced as such. It is pronounced as a consonant sound /ju:.niv3:.si.ti/
The indefinite article an is used before a vowel sound:
an engineer.
an elephant.
an athlete
The definite article the:
It’s used when the speaker talks about a specific object that both the person speaking and the listener know.
The car over there is fast.
The president of the United States is giving a speech tonight.
When we speak of something or someone for the first time we use a or an, the next time we repeat that object we use the definite article the.
I live in a house. The house is quite old and has four bedrooms.
I ate in a Chinese restaurant. The restaurant was very good.
No article:
1. Do not use an article with countries, states, counties or provinces, lakes and mountains except when the country is a collection of states such as “The United States”.
He lives in Washington near Mount Rainier.
They live in Northern British Columbia.
They climbed Mount Everest.
2. we do not normally use an article with plurals and uncountable nouns to talk about things in general.:
He writes books.
She likes sweets.
Do you like jazz music?
She ate bread with butter in the morning.
Countable and uncountable nouns
Using English articles with countable and uncountable nouns may be confusing.
The can be used with uncountable nouns, or the article can be dropped entirely as mentioned above.
“The two countries reached the peace after a long disastrous war” (some specific peace treaty) or “The two countries reached peace after a long disastrous war” (any peace).
“He drank the water” (some specific water- for example, the water his wife brought him from the kitchen) or “He drank water.” (any water)
It is unusual to use a/an for uncountable nouns. You can’t say “I’d like a milk”
a/an can be used only with countable nouns.
I’d like a piece of cake.
I lent him a book.
I drank a cup of tea.
Exercise on articles.
(Before doing the exercises you may want to read the lesson on Articles )
Complete with the right plural of the compound nouns
The elderly spend most of their time looking at the .
Does this hotel allow early ?
The association planted some .
The relationship between women and their is often fraught.
Are there any nearby?
Take two of honey before you go to bed.
I have two from the UK.
Get off after two
She bought two .
They are who never take responsibility for their lives
Choose the correct definite or indefinite article: “the”, “a”, “an” or “x” (zero article) .
I bought……… pair of shoes.
I saw………. movie last night.
They are staying at……….hotel.
Look at………….. woman over there! She is a famous actress.
I do not like ………. basketball.
That is …………girl I told you about.
……….night is quiet. Let’s take a walk!
………..price of gas keeps rising.
John traveled to…………Mexico.
Juan is…………Spanish.
I read ………amazing story yesterday.
My brother doesn’t eat ……….chicken.
love is such ………..beautiful thing.
I live in ……….apartment. …………apartment is new.
I would like ………. piece of cake.
I was in ……….. Japanese restaurant. ………. restaurant served good food.
Sara can play…………guitar.