Articles with Singular Nouns: Using A, An, and The

Although there are few articles in English, using them can be quite confusing for those learning English as a foreign language. The good news is, once you understand the rules of articles, they are actually very straightforward. And it usually boils down to two questions: is the noun countable, and are you familiar with it?

Here is a little cheat sheet for reference but keep reading for a more in-depth explanation.

Singular Nouns	Countable	Non-countable
Unfamiliar	a, an	(no article)
Familiar	the	the

“Countable” versus “Non-countable”

Countable nouns are nouns that you can always know exactly how many there are. Either there is one pencil, two pencils, no pencils, etc. You are never in doubt of how many pencils there are.

Non-countable nouns are the exact opposite; despite being perfectly visible, you never know how much there is. My favorite example of a non-countable noun is water. You can see and feel water, but you cannot count water. To remedy this, we often use countable units associated with the noun. It is much easier to count cups or drops of water.

You may have noticed in the chart that non-countable nouns that are unfamiliar do not need an article. When using these nouns, the implication is that you are speaking in general terms. Take the following sentences:

Plastic is not biodegradable. (all plastic)

The most popular sport in the world is soccer. (the entire sport)

I think that Arabic is the hardest language to learn. (the entire language)

Each of these sentences address the non-countable noun as a general topic, applying overarching truths or opinions to them as a whole. Also, take note that all non-countable nouns are always in the singular, no matter what context they appear in.

-> Using the with familiar, non-countable nouns usually happens when emphasizing or separating a noun from another group of the same noun.

The air in the apartment feels musty. (a specific section of air, not all the air in the world)

Mom wants to know if you are going to take the bacon in the fridge. (only the bacon in the fridge, not any outside of it)

The health of my people in the most important thing to me. (only the health of their community, no one else’s health)

A/An versus The

If your greatest confusion is when to use a or the, look at the noun the article is meant for. Let’s use the noun “cat”. In this case, as “cat” is singular and countable, both a and the are appropriate articles. To decide which to use, you just have to ask: are you familiar with said cat? If you do not know the cat, use a. If you are familiar with the cat in any kind of context, use the.

Let’s see this in use.

- A cat walked across the street the other day.

-> using a here let’s the reader (or listener) know that you don’t know who the cat belongs to, and implies that you have never seen the cat before.

- The cat walked across the street the other day.

-> the use of the here shows that this cat is familiar in some way. Either you have seen the cat before, have mentioned it before, or the cat belongs to you. The reader/listener knows exactly which cat you are talking about.

“But, what about an?”

You use an instead of a when the noun it comes before starts with a vowel sound. Many people remember it as the article for all nouns beginning with a, e, i, o, or, u, but that results in many exceptions. The most common example is the word “hour.” Although it begins with an “h,” the sound we hear is the “o” from “ow.” Therefore, the correct article would be an.

Another common mistake occurs when using acronyms or letters. You might be working for a Master’s in business administration, but you are also working for an MBA. Let’s hope you don’t get an “F.” For both of these, although the following noun doesn’t begin with a vowel, their pronunciation does (M –> em, F –> eff), so they need the article an.