These are a, an and the. I like to add unstressed some (pronounced /sm/), but see below for more on that.
First, the simple stuff.
We can use a/an before singular nouns, and the before singular or plural nouns.
a book, an apple, the book(s), the apple(s)
We use a/an before something we haven’t talked about before (“new”), and the before something we have already mentioned (“old”).
Look, I bought a book and a suitcase. I got the book in WH Smith, and the suitcase from a stall in Tottenham Court Road.
The “thing we’ve talked about before” could also be something we both know about (therefore “old”):
Can you put the butter in the fridge? It’s on the table.
(This is our kitchen; we know what we’re talking about)
We use a before nouns which start with a consonant sound, and an before nouns which start with a vowel sound (sound, not letter):
a book, a tomato, a hotel, a uniform, a European, a DIY manual
an apple, an opportunity, an hour, an honest man, an FBI agent
We don’t use an article when we’re speaking in general (generic), with nouns which are either plural or uncountable:
I enjoy games, but music is my greatest love.
Before an uncountable noun which specifies something we haven’t talked about before (“new”), we use [nothing] or some (pron: /sm/):
There’s (some) butter in the fridge.
In this case, some isn’t really a quantifier; it’s more like an indefinite article, and it’s always optional, and it’s always unstressed (/sm/). There’s another some (/sʌm/), which is a quantifier, and means “an indefinite amount”.
I made a video on A, THE and ZERO which you might want to look at here:
More complicated stuff
We mostly don’t use the before the names of: streets, roads, squares, avenues etc; palaces and castles; mountains and lakes; cities and countries:
Oxford Street, Broadway, Brick Lane, Buckingham Palace, Windsor
Castle, Mount Everest, Lake Windermere, London, Paris, Germany, China
But of course, language being a living thing that doesn’t follow standards, we sometimes do. Here are some of the best-known ones: the Strand, the Hague, the UK, the USA, the UAE . . .
We do usually use the before the names of rivers, seas, oceans and mountain ranges:
The (River) Thames, The North Sea, The Pacific (Ocean), The Pyrenees, The Himalayas . . .
And also with the names of galleries and museums
The Tate Gallery, The British Museum, The National Gallery . . .
For journals and newspapers, it varies; you have to learn them one by one.
The Times, The Evening Standard, The Washington Post, The Economist, The Journal of —, and more, but also Time, Newsweek, Private Eye and more.
We always use the if there is of in the title:
The House of Commons, The Palace of Westminster, The Castle of Otranto, The New England Journal of Medicine.
We can speak generically of a singular noun. In this case, we use the:
The horse was unknown in Mexico until the arrival of the Europeans.
This usage is hedged around with constraints. It’s quite formal and is found especially in academic language. And you don’t have to use it: you can equally say “Horses were unknown…”
Articles in English really matter. If you miss out the article, or use the wrong one, the meaning can be very different:
The internet is a source of information (= one of many sources)
The internet is the source of information (= the only possible source)
John is fitter (= he is healthier)
John is a fitter (= he is a gas engineer, or a mechanic)
That’s all for now!
© Shepherd School of English