Sparky: I saw a excellent movie recently.

Mr. Maru: Really? What was it about?

Sparky: It's about the man and the woman. They fall in love.

Mr. Maru: The man? Which man?

Sparky: You know the man in a movie I saw.

Mr. Maru: mm, OK. What happens?

Sparky: Well, he gets a new car. And the new car is the magic car!

Mr. Maru: Sounds interesting. Who was in it?

Sparky: The Arnold Stallone was in it.

Mr. Maru: mmm, OK. You mean THE Arnold Stallone.

When do I use a, an, and the? The articles a, an, the can be difficult to use fluently. There are many different rules and many unique rules for special situations. Let's talk about the basics of a, an, the articles today.

A, An

We use 'a' or 'an' to talk about something that the listener does not know about. The listener does not know the one specific thing the speaker is talking about. For example,

A hotel in Paris was nice. (I saw a hotel. It was not the hotel I stayed at. I didn't take a picture of it. You do not know the exact hotel I am talking about.)

Also, the object you are talking about has to be a countable noun.

Countable -

a rabbit, two rabbits, three rabbits, ...

a cup, two cups, three cups, ...

Uncountable -

water, beer, bread, pizza, ...

The

We use 'the' to talk about something that the listener knows about or can guess about. The listener can guess which object you are talking about.

Or the listener knows the object because -

A) you are pointing at it

B) there is only one you can see

C) there is only one in the world

D) there is only one in this category

For example,

The hotel in Paris was nice. (I stayed at a hotel. That hotel was nice. You can guess the hotel I'm talking about.)

Can you give me the book over there? (I'm pointing at the book, so you know the exact book I'm talking about.)

Be careful! You should not say the following:

I have a good book. Do you want to read the book? (This is a little unnatural)

Correct sentence -

I have a good book. Do you want to read it? (it = a good book)

Or

I have a good book and a good CD. Do you want to read the book? (We can't use 'it' because 'it' might mean 'a good book' or 'a good CD,' so we need to be specific ('the book').

Talking about things in general

When we talk about objects in general we use plural. We do not use 'a', 'an' or 'the.' For example,

I like cats.

I don't like frogs.

Typhoons come in September.

A, An, the quiz

A husband is talking to his wife.

1) I'm going to ____ post office near ____ grocery store we always go to.

A) the, the

B) a, the

C) a, a

2) ___ sun is bright today!

A) a

B) (nothing)

C) the

3) I like to eat _____.

A) the peanuts

B) peanuts

C) a peanut

Answers

1) A) - The wife knows where the grocery store is and can guess where the post office is.

2) C) - There is only one sun in the world.

3) B) - We are talking about peanuts in general, so we use plural.

Thanks for stopping by. If you have a grammar question, please email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and we will get your question answered as soon as possible.