1) What are indefinite articles?
Indefinite articles are 'a' and 'an'. They come before nouns to talk about something in general.
Examples:
I work in a library.
She ate an apple.
2) How to use indefinite articles
- We use the article 'a' before a singular countable noun that begins with a consonant sound (b, c, d, f, etc.) and 'u', 'eu' or 'o' when they sound like y or w.
Examples:
This is a bank.
She has a car.
He works in a hotel.
Is there a university in this town?
The festival was just a one-off.
She is a European.
- We use the article 'an' before a singular countable noun that begins with a vowel sound (a, e, i, o, u) and a silent 'h'.
Examples:
Would you like an orange?
She is holding an umbrella.
I spent an hour on the phone.
- If an adjective come before a noun, it is the adjective that determines the article to be used.
Examples:
He is an intelligent student.
Mary is a nice friend.
3) When do we use indefinite articles?
❖ We use 'a' and 'an':
- To talk about jobs.
Examples:
I want to be a doctor.
Katy is an engineer.
- To talk about one person or thing.
Examples:
We saw a boy at the cinema.
We are trying to buy a house.
- To introduce a noun for the first time.
Example:
I saw a girl yesterday. The girl was reading under a tree.
- With non-specific nouns.
Example:
We found a key on the ground. (we don’t know which key, the house key or the car key.