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The indefinite articles a and an are very common in
English. They're
used to refer generally to singular
countable
nouns. (That
is, a or an
will probably be
used
when it isn't important
to know which particular
noun
is being referred to.)
The article a is used before singular countable nouns
that begin with a consonant sound:
a boy / a block / a brick
a cat / a cracker / a clasp
a chair / a chronometer
a fox / a flower / a friend
a gorilla
/ a glance / a grape / a group
a ham / a
horse / a house
a jewel / a job / a joke
a kid / a kiss / a knife / a knight
a lamp / a
lady / a lock
a man / a movie /
a mule
a nap / a
night / a nod
a person / a phone / a phrase
a plant / a prayer / a psychologist
a rope / a
rhinoceros / a rhyme / a rhythm
a salad /
a shoe / a shrimp
a splinter / a spring / a stove /
a string
a turtle / a trap / a theme / a threat
a wig / a weed / a wheel / a wrestler
a xylophone / a xerox
a yam / a yard
/ a year
a zebra / a zero / a zipper / a zoo
The article an is used before singular countable nouns
that begin with a vowel sound:
an alley / an answer / an
apple
an eagle / an effect / an effort
an icicle / an image / an island / an itch
an onion / an opportunity / an oven
an uncle /
an urn
Notice that some nouns begin
with a consonant letter
but have a vowel sound (because the consonant letter
is silent
(written, but not pronounced):
an honor / an hour
Notice also that when nouns
begin with the vowel
letters
eu, these letters are pronounced yoo ( [ iú ] ),
so the noun actually begins
with a consonant sound,
not a vowel sound. For this
reason, such words use
a, not an:
a eulogy / a ewe / a European
In a few words that begin
with u, the u
is pronounced
yoo ( [ iú ] ), and, for this reason, the proper
article
is also
a, not an:
a ukulele / a union / a university
a use / a Ute
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