Learn Singular Nouns a / an + noun | Basic English Grammar Course

Hi everybody and welcome to this video.

In this video, we’re going to talk about using ‘a’ or ‘an’.

Okay.

We use ‘a’ or ‘an’ in front of nouns.

Well, what is a noun?

A noun is a person, place, thing, or animal.

Okay, so let’s look at the board.

The first noun we have is “banana”.

“banana”, starts with the consonant ‘b’.

So, we put “a banana”.

“a banana”.

Look at the next word. “Apple”.

In this case, the first letter is ‘a’.

‘a’ is a vowel.

Remember the vowels are a, e, i, o, u,

so we have to put ‘an’.

“an apple”.

“cat”. Hmmm.

The first letter, ‘c’, is a consonant.

So, should we put, ‘a’ or ‘an’?

Remember, if it’s a consonant, we have to put ‘a’.

“a cat”.

The next word, “boy”.

Again, the word starts with a consonant: ‘b’.

So, we have to say, “a boy”.

The next word, “egg”, has the letter ‘e’ in front.

‘e’ is a vowel.

So, what do we put?

We put ‘an’.

If we read it, it sounds like “an egg.”

“an egg”.

Okay, and the last word is “ant”.

“ant” starts with the vowel ‘a’.

So again, we must put……”an ant”.

“an ant”.

Now, let’s go through these words together.

“a banana”. “a banana”.

“an apple”. “an apple”.

Keep in mind that when you have ‘an’ in front,

it has to sound like almost one word.

“an apple”. “an apple”.

“a cat”. “a cat”.

“a boy”. “a boy”.

“an egg”. “an egg”.

“an egg”.

Again, it sounds like one word.

"an egg". "an ant" "an ant"

"an ant"

Okay. Let’s move on the next part.

Okay, let’s do some extra practice.

Ahhh, I have some nouns on the board.

Remember, a noun is a person, place, thing or animal.

So let’s go through them one by one.

“a book”, “book” is a thing.

It’s a thing that we read.

“park”, is a place. It’s a place we go.

“umbrella” is a thing.

Right. Umbrella is a thing that we use when it’s raining.

“elephant”. “elephant” is an animal.

“doctor”. “doctor” is a person.

And “orange”. "orange" is a thing that we eat.

Okay. Now, I’m going to say ‘a’ or ‘an’ in front of the nouns.

I want you to listen and see if you can hear the difference.

Okay…

We have “book”.

In that case we say, “a book”. “a book”.

We have to say, “a book”.

Okay…

The next one is “park”.

We say, “a park”. “a park”.

Remember, we put ‘a’ in front of words that begin with consonants.

‘b’ and ‘p’ are consonants.

That’s why we say, “a book”, “a park”.

Okay…

How about the next word?

“an umbrella”.

“an umbrella”.

Could you here the difference? “an umbrella”.

We say ‘an’ because umbrella starts with a vowel: ‘u’.

“an umbrella”.

Okay… “elephant”.

We should we say?

“an elephant”. “an elephant”.

Again, 'elephant' starts with a vowel.

“a doctor”. “a doctor”.

“a doctor”.

And the last word, “an orange”. “an orange”.

Again, we have to say, “an orange” because ‘o’ is a vowel.

So, let’s go through each word one more time.

“a book”. “a book”.

Okay…

“a park”. “a park”.

“an umbrella”. “an umbrella”.

Notice it sounds like one word.

“an umbrella”.

“an elephant” “an elephant”

“a doctor” “a doctor”

And the last one.

“an orange” “an orange”

Okay. So that’s the end of this video.

I hope you can remember when to use ‘a’ and ‘an’.

Okay, thank you. Bye.