When to use "A" or "AN" in a sentence... and when NOT to! (Indefinite Articles)

In this grammar lesson, you will learn exactly when to use the indefinite articles "a" and "an" in an English sentence. Using these articles correctly will dramatically improve your English because they are so frequently used. Many English learners make mistakes because indefinite articles don't exist in many languages like Arabic, Hebrew, Turkish, and Polish. But even if your language doesn't have them, don't worry. I'll explain the clear rules for when you must use indefinite articles. You'll also see examples of how indefinite articles are used in common speech, so you get a feel for what is right. Let's get started, so you can master this important part of English grammar!
TAKE THE QUIZ: www.engvid.com...
TRANSCRIPT
Hi, everyone. In this lesson we're going to look at when to us "a" or "an". In these sentences if we remove "a" sometimes the sentence is grammatically incorrect or it sounds wrong, or sometimes the sentence is still correct but it changes the meaning. So this lesson is about when we need to use "a" or "an" in the sentence instead of "the" or not having it all so that we get the correct meaning. Let's start with... These are different grammar rules for when to use "a" or "an".
Let's start with when something is unspecified or known. Here are some examples, when I say: "He has a cat.", or I say: "I'm going to buy a tent.", or I say: "Do you want a beer?" these are all examples of something unspecified. I know he has a cat, but I don't know this cat personally, so I just say: "a cat". When I say: "He has the cat", I mean that one and you know the one I'm talking about. He has the cat. When I say: "I'm going to buy the tent", the meaning is different because that sentence, "the tent", "I'm going to buy the tent" is as if I've already decided it and talked about, and chosen the tent before. Not a tent. I'll go to the shop, I'll look at them, I'll buy that one. So this one is unspecified and this one is known. For anybody who doesn't know what the word "tent" is, we use a tent when we go camping and we sleep outside. We zip open the tent, we sleep inside there. And the last example, again: "Do you want a beer?" I mean a beer in general, one of these here, here you go. When I say: "Do you want the beer?" there's only one beer there, last one.
Moving on, one of something. "I'll have a glass of red wine." That means one. Perhaps you'd say that when you're ordering at a bar: "I'll have a glass of red wine, please." Number two here: "He has a daughter." Means the same as he has one daughter. And the next example: "I've got two apples and an orange." In this sentence we have the number two for two apples, but we only mean one orange, so we say "an orange". I can also say: "I've got two apples and one orange", but this sentence makes sense as well. If you're wondering: "Why is it 'an' here and not 'a'", go and check out Gill's lesson on when to use "a" or "an". So pause this video and come back after.
Moving on, looking at jobs now, we say: "She's a teacher.", "Mr. Smith is a police officer.", and we say: "Rachel is a nurse." These sentences are wrong if I remove the "a". "She's teacher", wrong. "Mr. Smith is police officer", wrong. And: "Rachel is nurse", wrong. Depends on your native language, but if you don't use articles... For example, in the Polish language or Arabic, many people speaking English, especially at intermediate level do not use "a" in their sentences. So it's a very common mistake to say something like: "She's teacher." And see if you can hear me saying "a", because if you're not used to those articles you might not even hear it. So listen carefully again this time: "She's a teacher." "a" becomes "e": "She's e teacher.", "Mr. Smith is a police officer.", "e". "Rachel is a nurse." So I say it really quickly. So you might not hear it so easily when I'm saying it, but if you don't say it... If you say: "Rachel is nurse", I can hear that every time, so remember that.
Number four, religions or ideologies. We say: "He's a Christian.", "They are Hindus." A quick note here about these capital letters: Because these religions are names, we use a capital letter there. "Karl Marx was a communist.", and "Margaret Thatcher was a conservative."
Moving on to number five which is social movements or trends. When we're describing that someone belongs to a group in this way or follows a particular trend, that's when we use "a". "He's a biker." means the same thing as: "He's a Hell's Angel." These are the people that ride the Harley Davidson motorbikes, they wear all leather clothes, beards, and bandanas, and ride around on their bikes in a motorcycle gang. We don't say: "He's the biker", or: "He's the Hell's Angel", because that changes the meaning of the sentence. If I say: "He's the biker", it would be in a situation where somebody said: "Where's the biker? Where is he here?" And I say: "He's the biker."

[@yapmeifern4120]

Dear Jade, I would like to confess to you that I started to love your videos when I first watched your English vocabulary introvert and extrovert video lesson . I was really sad when you said you were going to quit teaching us . But now i am extreamely happy to see you teaching us again. You are a great teacher that no one could ever replace you. I love you, Jade.

[@greta-bf2dd]

I'm so happy to see you again!!! Thank you for this useful video!!! You are the best English teacher I've ever met 👍🏻

[@agustinfromc]

greta 2010 met or known? It is not the same. ;)

[@janetdodds2160]

Thank you for teaching us how to speak😊​@@agustinfromc

[@mohanrajender]

I am more than happy to see you back. Thanks for not leaving the you tube. You tube needs good people.

[@syedshabnam6102]

Jade! You have brought about a revolution in my life! Please don't quit!

[@Felix_Ruber]

I'm a native speaker of English, and still love watching your vids. I look forward to sharing this with a couple of my ESL friends who have had trouble with this exact topic. Thanks!

[@CHRISTIAN30081975]

Thank you Jade for coming back and helping us again ! Greetings from Barcelona !!!

[@j38]

I think you are one of the best english teachers

[@asmaanaciri9046]

Thank you Jade...I really like your work...please keep making videos..we need you

[@walterjoosten5750]

Finally a chance to thank you for the wonderful work you do here on KZbin. And not only that. I think it's very brave to share so much of your own ups and downs on your personal channel. So please have confidence in your good qualities, because you have plenty of them. And last but not least: Jade is a beautiful name for a beautiful woman...

[@yacinebbouboau9448]

You are a wonderful teacher thank you

[@miyamotomoosashi159]

Thank you You come back to this chanel to teach us English I'm following you quite a long time.Thanks again

[@TeeGee782]

I just clicked on the video randomly to learn about this, and I must say I LOVE how you explain things, using your whole body so a person can also imagine it better. Awesome!

[@sherbabyclarke830]

ahhoknkstayfyshskgzissuesusjddjajsjfjagehksjsjrtdbukkhjjd

[@fernandorinaldi2367]

Thank you for the lessons! You are the best! Greetings from Brazil!

[@faithm.8201]

From now on, You would be my great Teacher here in youtube. thanks a lot.

[@knighttemplar2989]

Jade, you're a genuine and great teacher.

[@pliniolimajunior5185]

A REAL TEACHER ! The best.

[@NewThinkingView]

hello,you are a very very very till tomorrow .a beautiful teacher, and a very good lesson, I tried all the time search a videos for motivation, and after a long time I found one your Chanel,thank you So mach for your efforts .thank you ,thank you .

[@juliewalker251]

This is a very clear explanation. Also, I was told at Primary school that you use 'an' when it precedes a noun starting with a vowel - as in your examples. We use 'a' in front of a word starting with a consonant.

[@dr.phil.szilviarad1076]

Much has become clear! I learn faster because I like your pronunciation very much. I've seen a lot of english videos so far, but your language style impresses me the most! Thanks again!

[@trixxyvolt7811]

Welcome back, Jade! Hope you're doing well. Thank you for the lesson.

[@katerynavolkova-shapovalen995]

Thank you so much for this lecture! It has widened my mind, indeed… So much useful information 💖

[@blueline308]

You're back !! Awesome ! Luv you.

[@harmonik-5682]

Hey Jade, I hope you are okay. I had been watching your channel (other channel) since it started. Because back in those days I was in love with British accent (I still am). I so happy to met you thanks to youtube. I hope someday you may come back to your personal channel. Thanks for everything. Be safe, Love from Turkey. :)

[@kelseyng4553]

glad that you can come back

[@mayursharma7503]

Your too good. 😇😇. Cleared all the confusion.

[@pboxelement]

So happy to see you. Thanks

[@emiliovh437]

Welcome back Jade, great to see you again

[@A95-s8j]

you are a very good and beautiful english teacher! useful video. thanks Jade

[@sumankayal5932]

Nice to see you back. It's been long since all got to see ur smile last.......😀😀😃

[@bktamillessons7297]

jade teaches in british style of English..thanks a ton for articles..last time i watch your class on british slang you taught sorted! it's really cool to use those words in English...

[@stankormy5717]

Jade is back in full effect!

[@hwoilingtan7172]

I like your lesson,thank you!

[@missiridia2337]

I was always so confused about the correct using of "a" and "an," because sometimes in some sentences it is present and sometimes it is not and I think many times it has to do with people's grammar skills but I noticed how I'm kind of lost in this "a" and "an" thing. In my country we don't use it, it doesn't exist so it was a bit difficult to learn when I can use "a" and in which cases it would be a mistake. I think in my case I rather didn't add "a" when I wasn't sure about it or it didn't sound good in that specific sentence. I do still have a problem with it and many other things and I find your videos to be very educational, better than my whole 13 year experience with English classes in school. I guess there were always many questions left behind and no one answered me. So I'm glad you're here to do so :) thank you, Jade. Have a wonderful day!

[@ubaidrahman8360]

Easy tip : "An" is suppose to be used with vowels only.

[@muhammadrizkysaputrasalam4721]

Vowel sound, not only vowels. You still can have word that begins with vocal but accompanied only by "a"

[@andrewigumnov993]

It was a really good lesson. Thx Jade.

[@tomrox8921]

thanks a lot JadeI've been thinking about these articles...

[@ahmedalahmed7090]

nice to see you again

[@ziad-369]

I miss U i'm so happy to see u again

[@francisaston141]

your lesson so interesting ,especially your body language !!! love you.

[@johncharllirazan3363]

I like the way she explains things

[@-Nicolas-]

You are the best Jade!

[@abdo-pediall-1335]

You know that your explain is better than my university teacher ?....thanks alot..from morocco 😃

[@JustANormal-YTchannel]

Thank you, this is very useful

[@SudahWdGan-Danil]

I always miss you. I hope you regain your energy to make videos in your private channel. God bless you, my lovely english teacher. 😍

[@adeadasian8494]

I'm glad you are back

[@ibrahimhamed6650]

Thank you darling.. 👍🏻its so refreshing

[@chetanyadav]

Hi Jade. Good to see you back. You look good. I hope you are recovered now.

[@SudahWdGan-Danil]

You're my inspiration for me to learn British accent.

[@le-math9247]

you are such an hero to me

[@DianaPromiscuous]

Thank you so much, Jade! it was one of the most difficult topics for me and now I got it! Need to figure out how to use articles with geagraphycal names

[@salem4808]

This lesson is very interesting, I like it. Keep the good work.

[@zeiadabdou2597]

with my gratitude

[@srishtiparihar960]

nice information thanks a lot Jade

[@ikramsaady7416]

Thanks for everything I love you so much

[@brunooliveiradantas9254]

Hey Jade! Thanks a lot. I like your videos a lot and the way you explain things. Moreover I follow your channels and I want to say that you are awesome !

[@ImtithalSaeed]

very helpful thanks

[@welitoneduardo8975]

Nossa essas aulas são maravilhosas muito bom!!!

[@bktamillessons7297]

Aos filhos mais doces, amados, há muitoperdidoseagoraencontrados:amor,lembrançasebomdiada Mãe, do Pai, BapDada. O Pai espiritual diz namaste aos filhos espirituais. Essência: Doces filhos, Baba lhes dá notícias do ilimitado. Vocês agora se tornaram giradores do disco da autorrealização. Permaneçam conscientes de seus 84 nascimentos e também tornem todos os outros conscientes disso. Pergunta: Por que dizem que Brahma e não Vishnu é o primeiro filho de Shiv Baba? Resposta: Porque Shiv Baba cria a comunidade Brahmin por meio de Brahma. Se fosse dito que Vishnu era filho Dele, haveria então uma comunidade criada por meio dele. No entanto, não existe uma comunidade criada por meio dele nem alguém o chama de Mãe e Pai. Quando ele é o imperador na forma de Narayan com a imperatriz Lakshmi, apenas seus filhos os chamarão de mãe e pai. A comunidade Brahmin é criada por meio de Brahma. Pai senta-Se e explica para os filhos. O que o Pai explica aos filhos?EleexplicaqueméoPai.Apenas vocês sabem disso. Isso não pode ser dito em nenhumaoutrasatsanga.Emboraoutrossejamchamados de: Sai Baba ou Mehar Baba (nomes de gurus), eles não entendem nada. Eles não sãocapazesdefalar disso. Vocês sabemqueaqueleéoPaiilimitadoequeElelhesdánotíciasdoilimitado.Porumlado,há notícias do ilimitado e, por outro, há notícias do limitado. Ninguém mais nestemundosabe.OPaidiz: Eu lhesdounotíciasdoilimitadoevocês,portanto,têmnointelectooconhecimentodocomeço,meioe fim do mundo. Vocês sabem que o Pai verdadeiramente apresentou-Seeexplicou,comprecisão,como o ciclo do mundo gira. Nós entendemos isso e explicamos a outros. A Semente é chamada de Pai Supremo, Alma Suprema e de Pai. Nós somos filhos Dele, almas. Está nos intelectos de vocês, filhos, que vocês são os filhos de Deus. O Pai Supremo, a Alma Suprema, é o Residente damoradasuprema. Ele dá as notícias do mundo incorpóreo e de como o rosário inteiro é criado. A primeira coisaqueEle explica é: Eu sou seu Pai e resido na morada suprema. Eu sou chamado de Pleno de Conhecimento e Bem-Aventurado. Eu venho e dou a vocês, almas, a sua herança de pureza, paz e felicidade. Isso continua girando no intelecto de vocês, filhos. Onde nós residimos originalmente? Todos nós, almas, temos de desempenhar nossos papéis.Ninguémpodeentenderosegredodospapéis.Elessimplesmente continuam a dizer por dizer que renascerão e que a alma tem esse tanto denascimentos.Algunsdizem oito milhões e quatrocentos mil nascimentos. Quando vocês explicam para algumas pessoas, elas entendem que 84 nascimentos está correto. Vocês deveriam ter nointelectocomovocêspassampor84 nascimentos. Nós definitivamente éramos satopradhan, e então, passamos pelos estágios desato,rajoe tamo. Agora, na idade da confluência, nós estamos nos tornando satopradhan novamente. Certamente isso deve estar nos intelectos de vocês, filhos. É por isso que vocês são chamadosaquelesquegiramo disco da autorrealização. Estas coisas são tão simples que mesmo as mães idosas podem explicar que nós, e não as pessoas de outras religiões, somos aqueles que passamos por 84 nascimentos. Também tem de ser explicado que agora somos Brahmins, então, nós nos tornamos divindades, guerreiros, mercadores e shudras. Shiv Baba é o Mais Elevado nas Alturas. Agora está nos seus intelectos que vocês renascem. Vocês definitivamente têm de acreditar em renascimento. Vocês agora receberam a consciência de seu papel de 84 nascimentos. Esta explicação é muito fácil paraasmãesidosas.Nãohá necessidade de ler quaisquer livros, etc. O Paiexplicoucomovocêspassampor84nascimentos.Vocês eram divindades e tiveram 8 nascimentos na idade de ouro, 12 nascimentos na idade de prata e 63 nascimentos nasidadesdecobreeferro.Então,esteúniconascimentoéomaiselevadodetodos.Vocês facilmente entendem isto, não entendem? Vocês, mães idosas de Kurukshetra (cidade pequenaondese supõe que a guerra do Mahabharat tenha acontecido) entendem, não entendem? O nome Kurushetra é muito famoso. De fato, este (o mundo inteiro)éoKarmashetra(campodeação).AqueleKurukshetraé apenas uma cidade pequena. Este mundo é o campo onde todas as açõessãodesempenhadas.Aguerra ainda não começou aqui. Vocês conhecem este Kurukshetra (campo de batalha) inteiro

[@shimlasharma1902]

you are a very good English teacher 😂😂😇😂😂😂😂

[@learnarabic9277]

Hello , good to see you again . Please , Can you doing a GCSE lessons it ' ll be very helpful .

[@aqeelalbsre18]

Thanks a lot

[@Ig2011ify]

I've heard you say that you are over, that you finished to make lessons on youtube... So what have changed? Anyway, very good lesson, thanks.

[@mzhnj54]

You are a true gifted :)

[@jokeer3610]

Thank you

[@liklikboomsig]

As always pretty useful lesson)

[@foly1]

Hi Jade I was taking the quiz and I saw this question "What’s happened here? There is rubbish all over the floor!" I am wandering why there is no "a" before rubbish? thank you

[@mrdavinci9804]

Thanks a lot from Indonesia❤

[@haroonaslam4837]

Thanku so much thank you😊

[@francesscofibonacci5804]

10/10 on quiz. Great job and so helpful channel

[@ahmadjamali715]

Thank you so much.😊

[@thiagoosti8858]

I just loved your class and your accent , How Can I take private's lesson with you trough sykpe?

[@thedailydoc]

thank you so mch that was so useful to me but i have aproblem with the vocabulary saving can you tell me a solution for that problem

[@prlantakz9201]

thnx jade.!

[@e.vazquez124]

Thnaks so much!!, I like ur t-shirt.

[@chrisaw41]

Great lesson! I've learned a lot from it and by the way I miss your videos on your another channel.

[@MabelTyingTuts]

Christian Mejias maybe you would want to watch her last message there.

[@chrisaw41]

Mabel Marble Yeah! I already watched it.

[@sierrafoxtrotgolf1891]

Great!

[@sahsageo4365]

i know the rules.it doesn't help me to avoid mistakes though))may be because i did'n realize the meaning?if only i knew how stupid i sound when i mess it up)) you not just reminded the rules but pointed out the meaning and (the?) importance of the (?) -a -an and -the. now will be careful with them.thank you, Jade)

[@freakkitchen2131]

Thanks for the video, Jade! Yesterday I left a comment to the same topic of James' video (unfortunately the video's been removed). So my question is about exceptions because what was in your lesson are ground rules which are I suppoese for everyone quite easy. But I often watch films, series, hockey matches in English and sometimes get confused when actors or announcers say some word which according to rules should have an article but they omit it. For example as I know when we say some musical instruments we should put before a word "THE'' the guitar, the piano, the violin etc. When I watched ''Friends'' I noticed that Joey said I don't have A guitar and in another example he said it without any article just guitar. Also in an NHL broadcast the annoucner said ''an icing'' and during that game he also said just ''icing''. I was completely puzzled. Recently I was reading Sidney Sheldon's book and there was a sentence - ''There were three people in the room-a man in bed, a male nurse, and a doctor Mallory had not met before''. Why did the author put an article A before a specific word doctor Mallory? It's a name. Also I know there are a lot of words which seem to go with articles like when we say I'm going home, go to school/work, unversity. Something about words like prison/the prison, hospital/the hospital. Jade, could you make more advanced lesson about this kind of rules?

[@spispopd]

When "the" is used before an instrument, such as in "I play the guitar", it typically refers to the skill, rather than a specific guitar the speaker owns. When Joey omitted the article, you either must've misheard, or his speech was slurred, maybe because of talking very fast, which could make the article inaudible. When an article is omitted from a noun, it means the noun is a substance, such as in "a glass" vs. "glass", in the case of "guitar", it usually doesn't make sense for it to be a substance. "Icing" is a verb form from "ice", and "an icing" is that verb turned into a noun. Compare it to "meet", such as in "I went to a meeting" and "I am meeting some friends". You misunderstood the sentence in Sidney's book; "and a doctor Mallory had not met before" is a quicker way to say "and a doctor whom Mallory had not met before", meaning that Mallory has not met the doctor. The sentence doesn't make sense with doctor Mallory being a single noun. The last thing you mentioned are two grammatical features separate from the other things you mentioned. The "home" in "I'm going home" is a word in the same category as in "up", "down", "left" or "right", just meaning back to where you came from, or where you live. In this last one I might be wrong, since I'm just a speaker. The nouns in "to school", "to work", etc., are restricted to a few common words, like the ones you mentioned. It means to the place that you're expected to already know the location of, or you're not expected to care/it doesn't matter, and just you going to the place is important to the sentence.

[@freakkitchen2131]

Thanks for the reply. I could mishear an article in Friends, I'll try to find that episode and check out the subtitles. With the word ''icing'' I mean that in hockey it is a rule like offside and shootout. It is always a noun. So I don't know why the announcer said it with and without an article. The sentence from the book I've found in the internet because I don't remember the exact page of the book where I'd seen that example. I stand corrected if I'm wrong. GeneralIy understand all these rules but it's too difficult to digest them and I always get dumbed. like if I want to say to my friend ''Let's go to the cinema!'' For me it's a specific cinema in my district but my friend doesn't know which one we're going to visit so for him it's not specific. I hope Jade or other engvid teachers reads comments, maybe someone evolve the topic about articles.

[@spispopd]

Language is complex, undertones and abstract concepts are not easy to put into words. The last chunk of text in my previous comment were concepts that I've never previously thought about before, even though I've used them throughout my life. I believe that to be the subtle kind of grammar that can only properly be internalized through exposure to and use of the language, rather than systematic understanding. Evolution is chaotic; "let's go to the cinema" could just as easily have been "let's go to cinema", like "let's go to school", had the language happened to evolve that way. Both varieties would carry different undertones, generated by how you experience their usage. You don't have to find reason in every detail, because there probably is none, but your brain adjusts to it nonetheless.

[@lewismacmaster9522]

Thank you Jade. Also is 'communist' and 'conservative' irregulars or do they follow another rule that explains why they do not have capitals?

[@GilMarinho]

i love u and u videos!

[@IsilbrandoSciarconazzi]

Everything's clear! :-)

[@lucasmachado3830]

Amazing video! I just wanted to know why is that sometimes people pronounce the article "a" with two different sounds in some sentences? Is there a specific rule for that?

[@Generis10]

I LOVE YOU, JADE!!!!!!!

[@juliocrevoisier6616]

Good 2c ur still here! = )) THANKS!

[@Palendrome]

Great video, miss your personal but you gotta do you

[@DionneSier13]

I've always learned that when words start with aeiou you need to use 'an' and when it starts with any other letter you need to use a. Now I'm still figuring out what I need to use with the word 'hour'. Since hour doesn't start with a vowel do you say "I'll be there in a hour" or "I'll be there in an hour". The 2nd sounds more logical than the first one. Is that an exception or is there another explanation????

[@TheIngericksantana]

So nice

[@professorgeorge5759]

Thumbs up!

[@vidhusingh3204]

He drives car or he drives the car which one is correct and why thank you in advance

[@p1dru2art]

I don't understand I thought we were talking about A and AN

[@jinp6736]

Can not hesitate to say 'welcome back'

[@davidkuinov]

jade wants you to like her video, twice.

When are you supposed to pronounce /a/ and when /ei/?

[@enziiitttooo]

jade i missed you so much 😭! why you close your chanel if we still love you !!

[@wily99994]

Anyone noticed the /f٨mz ٨p/ on Jade's shirt :)

[@HumbleHuman-k7g]

On your T-shirt is written "thumbs up" ?

[@orksbaltazarbaltazar9636]

Isn't "beer" an uncountable noun?

[@aparecidoferreiravais321]

You are Amazing Jade

[@falkaa88]

17:33 - baloons and... cake for me - with no article in front of a singular noun *cake*?

[@chilfghfh1949]

Just thought I'd pop in here to say: You use an when a vowel follows. E.g (An Orange.) If you don't know what the vowels are, they are A, E, I, O and U.

[@JOEYZHANG37]

thumb up for your good looking and your British accent