Learn Articles a / an / the | Basic English Grammar Course

Hi, everybody.

In this video, we’re going to talk about the articles; ‘a’, ‘an’ and ‘the’.

Now this can be very confusing, so please make sure you pay careful attention.

We use articles in front of nouns.

Okay, so remember that and let’s look at the board.

First, we use ‘a’ or ‘an’ when we’re talking about any one thing.

For example, let’s say I say, “A banana is delicious.”

Okay, that means all bananas.

Any banana is delicious.

“A banana is delicious.”

Okay, let’s jump over here.

If I’m talking about a specific banana…

maybe I have a banana in my hand.

It’s specific, not any banana, this one.

I have to use ‘the’,

“The banana is old.”

Okay. This one.

I can’t say, “A banana is old.”

Then that means all bananas are old.

And that’s not true. Just this one.

So, I say, “The banana is old.”

Okay, let’s move over here.

We also use ‘a’ or ‘an’ when we’re talking about something for the first time.

So, I have another example here.

“I watched a movie.”

Okay.

I’m talking about this movie for the first time, so I have to use “…a movie”.

But, if I want to talk about this movie again,

for the second time, or the third time or fourth, fifth…

it doesn’t matter.

I have to use ‘the’.

“The movie was fun.”

I’m talking about this one. The specific.

“The movie was fun.”

I can’t say, “A movie was fun.”

That means all movies are fun.

That’s not true.

“The movie was fun.”

Okay, and I also use ‘the’

when I’m talking about a noun where there’s only one and only.

Okay.

For example, there’s only one sun.

Okay, when I look at the sky, there’s only one sun.

So, I say, “The sun.”

“The sun is hot.”

I cannot say, “A sun.”

That’s wrong.

When there’s one and only, we say, “The sun.”

Okay.

Let’s look at some more examples.

The first example says, “A lion is dangerous.”

I have to use ‘a’ because I’m talking about any one lion.

Any lion is dangerous.

All lions are dangerous.

So, I use ‘a’.

The next sentence says, “It’s a dog.”

I’m talking about this dog for the first time, so I use ‘a’.

Now, I’m talking about this dog for the second time.

So, I say, “The dog is cute.”

Okay.

Here’s a similar example.

“It’s an ant.”

Well, I used ‘an’ because we have ‘ant’, which start with a vowel.

And I’m talking about this ant for the first time.

“It’s an ant.”

Now, I’m talking about this ant again.

“The ant is small.”

“The ant…”, this one, “…is small.”

Okay, and the last one.

“It’s the moon.”

I have to say, “the moon” because there’s only one moon.

I cannot say, “a moon”.

“It’s the moon.

The moon…”, only one, “…is round.”

Okay.

Let’s look at some more examples.

Okay, we have some more examples,

but this time I want you to think about whether we should put ‘a’, ‘an’ or ‘the’.

Okay.

So, “I see ____ desk and ___ chair.”

We don’t know which desk and chair.

And it’s the first time I’m talking about them.

So, we have to put ‘a’.

“I see a desk and a chair.”

The next one.

“I see ____ octopus.”

Okay, this is the same.

It’s the first time I’m talking about this octopus.

So, do I put ‘a’ or ‘an’?

Well here we have the vowel ‘o’.

So we have to put “‘an’ octopus”.

“I see an octopus.”

Okay, the next one.

“It’s ___ pen.”

Okay, it’s the same.

It’s the first time, so I say, “a pen”.

Now, I’m talking about the pen for the second time.

So I say, “The pen is red.”

Okay, I’m talking about this one.

So I say, “the”.

Okay, similarly…

“She is ____ girl.”

What do I say?

“a girl.”

We’re talking about her for the first time.

Okay.

And now we’re talking about this girl again, for the second time.

So, I have to say, “The girl is pretty.”

And the last example.

“I can see ___ sky.”

Now, we only have one sky.

Right…

So, if there’s only one and only, we have to put the article ‘the’.

“I can see the sky.”

Okay.

So in this video, we talked about the articles ‘a’, ‘an’ and ‘the’.

I hope you understand, and I’ll see you in the next video.

Bye.