Articles (a, an the)

Indefinite articles - a and an (determiners)

A and an are the indefinite articles. They refer to something not specifically known to the person you are communicating with.

A and an are used before nouns that introduce something or someone you have not mentioned before:-

For example:

"I saw an elephant this morning." "I ate a banana for lunch."

A and an are also used when talking about your profession:-

For                 "I am an English teacher."

example:    "I am a builder."

          You use a when the noun you are 
          referring to begins with a consonant
          (b,c,d,f,g,j,k,l,m,n,q,r,s,t,v,w,x,y,z), 

          for example, "a city", "a factory", 
          an "a hotel".

          You use an when the noun you are 
          referring to begins with a vowel 
          (a,e,i,o,u)

          Pronunciation changes this rule. 
          It's the sound that matters, not 
          the spelling

NOTE!!    If the next word begins with a 
          consonant sound when we say 
          it, for example, "university" then
          we use a. If the next word begins 
          with a vowel sound when we say
          it, for example "hour" then we use
          an.
          We say "university" with a "y" 
          sound at the beginning as 
          thought it were spelt 
          "youniversity".
          So, "a university" is correct.
          We say "hour" witha silent h as
          thought it were spelt "our".
          So, "an hour" is correct.

Definite Article - the (determiners)

You use the when you know that the listener knows or can work out what particular person/thing you are talking about.
For example:      "The apple you ate was 
                            rotten."
                           "Did you lock the car?"

You should also use the when you have already mentioned the thing you are talking about.

For example:      "She's got two children; a girl and a boy. The girl's eight and the boy's fourteen."                            We use the to talk about geographical  points on the globe. For example:       the North Pole,                              the equator We use the to talk about rivers, oceans  and seas For example:        the Nile, the Pacific,                              the English channel We also use the before certain nouns when we know there is only one of a particular thing. For example:      the rain, the sun,                           the wind, the world,                           the White House,                           the earth, etc.. However if you want to describe a particular instance of these you should use a/an. For example: " I could hear the wind." / "There's a cold wind blowing." "What are your plans for the future?" / "She has a promising future ahead of her." The is also used to say that a particular person or thing being mentioned is the best, most famous, etc. In this use, 'the' is usually given stonrg prounciation: For example: "Harry's Bar is the place to go." "You don't mean you met te Tony Blair, do you?" NOTE! -  The doesn't mean all:- For example: "The books are expensive." = (Not all books are expensive, just the one I'm talking about.) "Books are expensive." = (All books are expensive.) The articles a/an and the in Englisch - Exercise a)  http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/nouns_articles/a_the.htm b)  http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/nouns_articles/article_the.htm c)  http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/nouns_articles/article_the2.htm d)  http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/nouns_articles/article_a.htm e)  http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/nouns_articles/article_a2.htm f)   http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/articles/index.php