Indefinite Articles in English: Guide & Examples

A and An are indefinite articles. An article is a word used to modify a noun, which is a person, place, object, or idea.

We only use a and an with singular countable nouns.

These are some examples of sentences with the indefinite articles A and AN

I have a dog and a cat
That was an excellent strategy
There is a University where you live
She is an intelligent girl
There is a man outside the house
I am going to buy a house in an hour
She is a teacher.
She doesn’t own a car.
I saw a bear at the zoo.
She lived in an island for many years

Table of Contents

1 Video about the Indefinite Articles in English
2 How to Use A and An
3 A and An + Pronunciation
4 Don’t use A and And in these cases
5 When to use The
6 More Information

Video about the Indefinite Articles in English

This is a video that explains how to use the Indefinite articles in English

How to Use A and An

We use the word a when this precedes a word that begins with a consonant, for example:

I have a hat

I want to buy a red hat

He is gonna make a decision

She wants to buy a new computer

Please, Give me a piece of cake

She has to make a cake for the party

I have to get a good job, my family depends on it

We use the word an when it precedes a word that begins with a vowel, for example

I have an interesting story to tell you

That’s an old car

I need to work for an hour before we go to dinner.

She is gonna bring a small gift to Priscilla

She has to make an important decision

My mother is an honest woman

It is an honor to be on your team

I want to eat an apple

I have to go to an important place tonight

A and An + Pronunciation

Sometimes with words that begin with h, the h sound is not pronounced. Unfortunately there is no rule about when the h is silent.

an + nouns starting with silent “h”:

an hour
an honest man
an honor

a + nouns starting with a pronounced “h“:

a horse
a human emotion
a historic day
a hero

Pay attention to how a and an is used with these words:

a European country
a university
a one-conference
a United States citizen
an FBI Agent
a U‑turn.

These are some examples of sentence using the vocabulary presented in this part of the lesson.

I would like to visit an European country
He is an FBI agent
A university in Norway is promoting recycling
It was an honor to meet such a wonderful people
He is an honest man, he would never do that
She is not a united states citizen
I saw a horse when I was coming from the supermarket
I will meet you here within an hour
Today is a historic day

Don’t use A and And in these cases

We don’t use a/an before uncountable nouns:

I could have a rice
We just made a pasta

When to use The

The most used article is the word the which is used to refer directly to a specific noun or groups of nouns.

For Example:

This is the right place

New York is the largest city in the United States

Adam was the first man

That’s the house I want to buy

She is the man who stole my wallet

The cat is black

I saw a movie last night. The movie was entertaining.

The girl is pretty

Use “the” if a specific person has a title or if only one person has a title.

I talked to the president of United States on the phone
She visited the doctor of that clinic.
Maria had the chance to interview the Queen of England about the matter
Let me talk to the nurse in charge

Use that to talk about names of oceans, rivers, seas, deserts, forests, canals

The Pacific Ocean	I would like to sail in the pacific ocean
The Mediterranean Sea	The Mediterranean is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean	The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world’s oceans
The Sahara Desert	The Sahara is the largest hot desert
The Mississippi River	The Mississippi River is the second longest river of the United States
The Himalayas	The Himalayas is mountain range in Asia

More Information

I hope you have found the information about indefinite articles you were searching for