The indefinite article - aThe indefinite article is the a is the same for all genders.a boy, a girl, a catThe indefinite article has no plural form.a boy - boysWe use an if the following word starts with a vowel.

the following word starts with a consonant the following word starts with a vowela boy an aunta school an old schoola girl an American girl

Mind the pronunciation of the following word.

a unit an uncleThis u sounds like a consonant, so we use a. This u sounds like a vowel, so we use an.

Use of the indefinite article a/an- before phrases of time and measurements (per week/weekly)

We have English 4 times a week.I go on holiday twice a year.Our car can do 220 kilometres an hour.Tomatoes are $2 a kilo.

- before phrases of jobs

My father is a car mechanic.

- with a noun complement

He is a good boy.

- before phrases of nationality

Bruce Springsteen is an American.

- half/quite

We need half a pound of sugar.This is quite a good story.

How do I know which one to use?That's a very good question. Fortunately, the answer is quite simple. It's about listening to the words you're using. The rule for indefinite article usage is as follows:Use a before nouns (or adjectives) that start with a consonant sound.Use an before nouns (or adjectives) that start with a vowel sound.

Here are some examples from our English editing professionals:Please give the dog a cookie. (The noun cookie starts with a consonant sound, so a must be used.)Please give the dog a delicious cookie. (Our editing professionals have put the adjective delicious in front of cookie, but as you can see, delicious still starts with a consonant sound, so a must still used.)That's an old car. (In this case, the word after the article is old, which starts with a vowel sound. Consequently, our English editors must use an.)

Remember that you're listening here. This isn't about the letter c or d being a consonant or the letter o being a vowel; it's about the sound they make (i.e., vowel sound or consonant sound). Here's another example that might help you understand:I need to work for an hour before we go to dinner.

You might think that because the indefinite article comes before a consonant, our English editing experts should be using a, but think for a moment about the sound that the word hour makes. It's actually pronounced like the possessive pronoun our, which starts with the o vowel sound. Therefore, because we're starting with a vowel sound (regardless of whether the first letter is actually a consonant), we must use an. The same is true for the opposite (i.e., a vowel that makes a consonant sound):A unionThe word may start with a u, but think for a minute about the sound that the word makes: you-nion. We know that y is a consonant, so consequently we must use a. Here are a few more tricky ones to keep your eye on:A university (again, the you sound made by a vowel)An x-ray (a consonant making the ex sound, which, you'll notice, starts with the e vowel sound)A European (again we see the y sound coming from a vowel)

The definite article (the)There is only one definite article in the English language (the), which means that you don't have to worry about listening for vowel sounds. The is used in front of singular or plural nouns and adjectives to refer to something with which both the speaker/writer and listener/reader are familiar. For example, if you're bouncing a basketball at school, your friend might say, "Give me the ball." In this case, both you and your friend recognize that there is only one specific ball being referred to, and that's the one you're bouncing. Your friend doesn't want a ball (meaning any ball); he or she wants the ball that you're holding.If you introduce a word with a or an, you may use the anytime thereafter because the introduction has made both the speaker/writer and listener/reader familiar with the word.