Articles
What are articles?
Articles are words that define a noun as specific or unspecific.
Indefinite Definite
To indicate any non-specified The specific identity of the noun
member of a group or category. is known to the reader.
A An
The
The simple definition is: a person, place, animal or thing.
Here are some examples:
• Person: man, woman, teacher, John, Mary
• Place: home, office, town, countryside, America
• Animal: dog, cat, monkey, mouse, camel, bird
• Thing: table, car, banana, money, music, love, table, computer
A and An have the same meaning. The difference depends on the sound at the
beginning of the next Word.
CONSONANT sound A VOWEL Sound AN
A book An Apple
A car An orange
A dog An actor
A frog An insect
A truck An egg
A lemon An umbrella
¡Be careful! The SOUND of the letter is IMPORTANT.
A house BUT An hour.
• The H at the beginning of hour is silent. (Vowel sound but starts with
consonant)
An uncle BUT A university.
• The U at the beginning of university sounds like YOU.
This rule applies to all words after A/AN (including ajectives, adverbs…)
• A cold day
• A very lazy person
• An interesting class
• An easy lesson
The (before a singular or plural noun)
• Use the article ‘the’ when a particular noun has already been mentioned
previously. Examples:
o I ate an apple yesterday.
o The apple was juicy and delicious.
• Use the article ‘the’ when an adjective, phrase, or clause describing the
noun clarifies or restricts its identity. (Utiliza el artículo ‘the’ cuando un
adjetivo, una frase o una clausula describiendo un sustantivo aclara o
restringe su identidad.) Examples:
o The boy sitting next to me raised his hand.
o Thank you for the advice you gave me.
• Use the article ‘the’ when the noun refers to something or someone
that is unique. (Utiliza el artículo ‘the’ cuando el sustantivo se refiere a
algo o alguien que es único.)
o the theory of relativity
o the Sun
A proper noun is the unique name of a person, place, or thing that starts with a
capital letter, for example, ‘John’, ‘Sweden’, ‘Google’. Before proper
nouns, we generally do not use an article.
• Matthew is a man.
• He lives in Canada.
• He worked for IBM.
However, sometimes you can find the definite article ‘the‘ before proper nouns.
• Carver lives in the United States.
• He lives near the Pacific Ocean.
All things or things in general: Use no article with plural count nouns or any
noncount nouns used to mean all or in general. (No utilices artículos con
sustantivos plurals contables o cualquier sustantivo no contable para referirte a
‘todo’ o ‘en general’.)
Examples:
• Trees are beautiful in the fall. (All trees are beautiful in the fall.)
• He was asking for advice. (He was asking for advice in general.)
• I do not like coffee. (I do not like all coffee in general.)
Additional Information Regarding the Use of Articles
• When indicating an unspecified, limited amount of a count or noncount
noun, use SOME. (Cuando se indica algo no especificado, una cantidad
limitada de sustantivos contables y no contables, utiliza SOME.)
• My cousin was seeking some advice from a counselor (not advice in general
or advice about everything, but a limited amount of advice).
• I would love some coffee right now (not coffee in general, but a limited
amount of coffee).
• We might get rain tomorrow. Some rain would be good for the crops (a
certain amount of rain, as opposed to rain in general).
• There are some drops of water on the table (a limited number, but more than
one drop).
