a / an before a vowel or consonant sound | Indefinite Articles | Learn English Grammar

Hi, I'm Alexandra.

嗨，我是亚历山德拉。

In today's lesson, I am going to teach a basic English video about the indefinite articles:

在今天的课程中，我将教授一个关于不定冠词的基本英语视频：

‘a’ and ‘an’

“a”和“an”

and how to use them before a noun.

以及如何在名词前使用它们。

Let's look at the board.

我们来看看主板。

Let's focus on ‘a’ and ‘an’.

让我们关注“a”和“an”。

When do we use ‘a’ and ‘an’?

我们什么时候使用“a”和“an”？

All right, so first sentence here:

好吧，第一句话是：

“I'm ____ woman.”

“我是____女人。”

So woman starts with a ‘w’.

所以女人以“w”开头。

The answer here is ‘a’.

这里的答案是“a”。

“I'm a woman.”

“我是一个女人。”

Okay, second one.

好的，第二个。

“I'm _blank_ artist.”

“我是_空白_艺术家。”

‘artist’ starts with an ‘a’

“艺术家”以“a”开头，

so the answer is ‘an’.

所以答案是“an”。

“I'm an artist.”

“我是一名艺术家。”

All right. Now, if we keep going, we've got a little bit longer sentence.

好的。现在，如果我们继续下去，我们的刑期会更长一些。

“My niece is _blank_ university student.”

“我的侄女是_空白_大学生。”

So ‘university’ starts with the vowel ‘u’, right?

所以“大学”以元音“u”开头，对吧？

That's the letter ‘u’. It's a vowel.

那是字母“u”。这是一个元音。

So what's the answer?

那么答案是什么呢？

“My niece is a university student.”

“我的侄女是一名大学生。”

Okay, put that in.

好的，把它填进去。

“There's an ‘a’.

“有一个‘a’。

Okay, last question.

好的，最后一个问题。

“My aunt is _blank_ honest person.”

“我姨妈是_空白_诚实的人。”

Is it ‘a’ or ‘an’?

是“一”还是“一”？

Well ‘honest’ has an ‘h’, right?

那么“诚实”有一个“h”，对吧？

It starts with the consonant ‘h’.

它以辅音“h”开头。

And it's pronounced honest.

而且这句话听起来很诚实。

“My aunt is an honest person.”

“我姑姑是个老实人。”

All right, so if you don't understand when or why to use ‘a’ or ‘an’,

好吧，如果您不明白何时或为何使用“a”或“an”，

then this is the video for you.

那么这个视频就是适合您的。

I will explain exactly when to use ‘a’ and ‘an’ before a noun.

我将准确解释何时在名词前使用“a”和“an”。

Also keep watching until the end because there will be homework and a quiz.

还要继续观看直到最后，因为会有作业和测验。

So let's get started.

那么让我们开始吧。

Before we learn about ‘a and ‘an’,

在我们了解“a”和“an”之前，

it's important to know what consonants and vowels are.

了解什么是辅音和元音很重要。

The English alphabet has 26 letters.

英文字母表有26个字母。

21 letters are consonants and there are five main vowels:

21 个字母是辅音，有 5 个主要元音：

a e i o u

aeiou

Now is a good time to learn the rule of when to use ‘a’ and when to use ‘an’ before a noun.

现在是学习何时在名词前使用 'a' 以及何时在名词前使用 'an' 规则的好时机。

As young learners your English teacher probably taught you this rule:

作为年轻的学习者，你的英语老师可能教过你这条规则：

‘If a noun begins with a consonant, we use ‘a’.’

“如果名词以辅音开头，我们使用‘a’。”

‘If a noun begins with a vowel, we use ‘an’.’

“如果名词以元音开头，我们就用‘an’。”

Let's take a look at the board again to check this rule.

让我们再次看一下棋盘来检查这条规则。

First, we have “a bag.”

首先，我们有一个“袋子”。

‘bag’ starts with a ‘b’. That's a consonant so “a bag.”

“bag”以“b”开头。这是一个辅音，所以“一个袋子”。

Second, we have “a cat.” ‘cat’ starts with ‘c’.

其次，我们有“一只猫”。 “猫”以“c”开头。

That's a consonant so this is correct.

这是一个辅音，所以这是正确的。

“a cat”

“一只猫”

Next, we have “an apple.”

接下来，我们有“一个苹果”。

‘apple’ starts with ‘a’ which is a vowel.

“apple”以“a”开头，这是一个元音。

So ‘an’ is correct.

所以“an”是正确的。

Then we have “an eraser.”

然后我们就有了“一块橡皮擦”。

‘eraser’ starts with an ‘e’.

“橡皮擦”以“e”开头。

‘e’ is a vowel.

“e”是元音。

This is correct.

这是对的。

Next is “an iron.”

接下来是“熨斗”。

‘iron’ starts with an ‘i’.

“铁”以“i”开头。

‘i' is a vowel.

“i”是元音。

“an iron” is correct.

“熨斗”是正确的。

Then “an oven.”

然后是“烤箱”。

‘oven’ starts with an ‘o’.

“oven”以“o”开头。

‘o’ is a vowel.

“o”是元音。

This is also right.

这也是对的。

And finally, “an umbrella.”

最后，“一把雨伞”。

‘umbrella’ starts with a ‘u’.

“umbrella”以“u”开头。

‘u’ is a vowel.

“u”是元音。

This is correct.

这是对的。

If you look at it, it's the vowels:

如果你看一下，它是元音：

a e i o u

aeiou

So it looks like the rule is working very well

所以看起来这个规则运行得很好，

but actually this is not the real rule.

但实际上这不是真正的规则。

Let's take a look at the next board.

我们来看看下一块板。

So again, let's look at these two first examples:

再次，让我们看一下这两个第一个例子：

“a cat”

“a cat”

‘cat’ starts with a ‘c’.

“cat”以“c”开头。

That's a consonant.

那是一个辅音。

That's right.

这是正确的。

“an apple”

“an apple”

‘apple’ starts with an ‘a’.

“apple”以“a”开头。

That's a vowel.

那是一个元音。

So that's also correct.

所以这也是正确的。

“an apple”

“一个苹果”

Now, let's look at these two.

现在，让我们看看这两个。

“a university”

“一所大学”

‘university’ starts with a ‘u’.

“大学”以“u”开头。

So ‘u’ is a vowel.

所以“u”是元音。

Why does it go with ‘a’?

为什么它要跟“a”呢？

“a university”

“一所大学”

And what about this one,

那么这个

“an hour.”

“一小时”呢？

‘hour’ starts with an ‘h’.

“小时”以“h”开头。

And ‘h’ is a consonant.

而“h”是辅音。

So why is it “an hour”?

那么为什么是“一个小时”呢？

You can see ‘a’ before a vowel

您可以在元音之前看到“a”

and ‘an’ before a consonant.

，在辅音之前看到“an”。

The real rule is

真正的规则是

‘a’ comes before a consonant sound.

“a”出现在辅音之前。

And ‘an’ comes before a vowel sound.

'an' 出现在元音之前。

‘c’ is a consonant sound

“c”是辅音，

so we use ‘a’.

所以我们使用“a”。

‘a’ is a vowel sound

“a”是元音，

so we use ‘an’.

所以我们使用“an”。

The ‘u’ in university sounds like ‘ya’.

大学里的“u”听起来像“ya”。

‘ya’ is the ‘y’ sound.

“ya”是“y”的声音。

And ‘y’ is a consonant.

'y' 是辅音。

Because it has that y consonant sound

因为它有我们使用的 y 辅音

we use, ‘a’.

“a”。

And ‘h’ is silent.

而“h”不发音。

‘hour’ begins with a vowel sound.

“hour”以元音开头。

“hour”

“hour”

Because it has that vowel sound, we use ‘an’.

因为它有元音，所以我们用“an”。

So it's important when choosing ‘a’ or ‘an’,

因此，在选择“a”或“an”时，重要的是

not to focus just on the letter,

不要只关注字母，

but also the sound that the letter is making.

还要关注字母发出的声音。

All right, let's move on.

好吧，我们继续吧。

All right, let's take a look at these four examples.

好吧，我们来看看这四个例子。

Remember, don't look at the letter,

记住，不要看字母，

but listen to the sound that it makes.

而要听它发出的声音。

“a uniform”

“auniform”

‘uniform’ starts with the consonant sound ‘y’

“uniform”以辅音“y”开头，

so it gets ‘a’.

所以它是“a”。

Again, “a European”.

又是“欧洲人”。

‘European’ also starts with the consonant sound y - "ya"

“欧洲”也以辅音 y 开头 - “ya”，

So “a European”.

所以“欧洲人”。

“an honor”

“荣幸”

Remember, before we saw ‘hour’?

还记得我们看到“小时”之前吗？

And the ‘h’ in honor and hour is silent.

荣誉和小时中的“h”不发音。

So it starts with the vowel sound.

所以它从元音开始。

So “an honor”.

所以“荣幸”。

Now look at this one.

现在看看这个。

“an F.B.I. agent”

“FBI 特工”

Let's focus on the ‘f’.

让我们关注“f”。

The sound that the ‘f’ makes:

“f”发出的声音：

f

f

f

f

So it's a vowel sound.

所以它是元音。

So it gets ‘an’.

所以它得到“an”。

“an F.B.I. agent”

“联邦调查局特工”

All right let's move on to some extra practice.

好吧，让我们继续进行一些额外的练习。

All right let's practice using ‘a’ or ‘an’.

好吧，让我们练习使用“a”或“an”。

“Let's meet in … hour.”

“我们……一小时后见面吧。”

Listen closely -

仔细听——

“hour”.

“小时”。

We know from before that the ‘h’ is silent.

我们从之前就知道“h”是不发音的。

So, “Let's meet in an hour.”

于是，“我们一个小时后见面吧。”

Okay.

好的。

“He will study … M.B.A. course.”

“他将学习……MBA课程。”

Listen closely to M.B.A.

仔细听 MBA

em

em

M.B.A.

MBA

Obviously ‘em’ is the vowel sound,

显然“em”是元音，

so “He will study an M.B.A. course.”

所以“他将学习 MBA 课程”。

“She's … happy student.”

“她是……快乐的学生。”

Okay, look up here.

好吧，抬头看这里。

Here, the ‘h’ was silent,

在这里，“h”不发音，

but here, we pronounce the consonant ‘h’ sound.

但在这里，我们发辅音“h”音。

‘happy’ ‘ha’

'快乐' '哈' '

‘happy student’

快乐学生'

So, “She's a happy student.”

所以，“她是一个快乐的学生。”

“He has … excellent score.”

“他的成绩……非常出色。”

Listen closely.

仔细听。

‘excellent’

'excellent'

‘excellent’

'excellent'

That's a clearly a vowel sound.

这显然是一个元音。

So, “He has an excellent score.”

所以，“他的成绩非常好。”

“That's … useless book.”

“那是……无用的书。”

Listen closely here.

在这里仔细听。

‘useless’

“没用”

Ya, it's that consonant ‘y’ sound.

呀，就是那个辅音“y”的声音。

‘useless’

'无用'

So, “That's a useless book.”

所以，“这是一本无用的书。”

All right. Great students! Let's move on.

好的。很棒的学生们！让我们继续。

Now you know when to use ‘a’ and ‘an’ before a noun.

现在您知道何时在名词前使用“a”和“an”了。

But you're not finished.

但你还没有完成。

This video is not enough practice.

这个视频还不够练习。

It's time for homework and a quiz.

到了做作业和测验的时间了。

Please check the description of the video to find links to the class homework

请检查视频说明，找到课堂作业

and a quiz.

和测验的链接。

Also be sure to comment below

另外，请务必在下面发表评论

and let me know if you have any questions.

，如果您有任何疑问，请告诉我。

If you want to see more videos from me in the future,

如果您以后想看到我的更多视频，

please remember to like this video and watch my other videos, too.

请记得喜欢这个视频并观看我的其他视频。

Bye-bye.

再见。