The definite article - the
The definite article the is the same for all genders in singular and in plural.
the boy, the girl, the cat, the computers
If the following word begins with a vowel, we speak [
with a consonant, we speak [ ].
[ ]
the following word starts with a spoken
consonant
the girl
the book
the school
the unit
Here a [ ] is pronounced at the beginning of
the word.
We have listed some examples in the following table. There you can see when we use the
definite article and when we don't.
without the definite article
general words (indefinite)
Life is too short.
I like flowers.
names of persons on the singular, relatives
Peter and John live in London.
Aunt Mary lives in Los Angeles.
public buildings, institutions, means of
transport (indefinite)
Mandy doesn't like school.
We go to school by bus.
Some people go to church on Sundays.
names of countries in the singular; summits
of mountains; continents; towns
Germany, France;
Mount Whitney, Mount McKinley;
Africa, Europe;
Cairo, New York
single islands
Corfu, Bermuda, Sicily
parks; lakes; streets
Central Park, Hyde Park;
], if the following word begins
[ ]
the following word starts with a spoken
vowel
the English girl
the blue book
the old school
the uncle
Here a [ ] is pronounced at the beginning of
the word.
with the definite article
general words (definite)
I've read a book on the life of Bill Clinton.
I like the flowers in your garden.
family names in the plural
The Smiths live in Chicago.
public buildings, institutions, means of
transport (definite)
The school that Mandy goes to is old.
The bus to Dresden leaves at 7.40.
The round church in Klingenthal is famous.
names of countries in the plural; mountain
ranges; regions
the United States of America, the
Netherlands; the Highlands, the Rocky
Mountains, the Alps; the Middle East, the
west of Australia
groups of islands
the Bahamas, the British Isles, the Canaries
name with of-phrase; oceans; seas; rivers
the Statue of Liberty, the Tower (of London),

Lake Michigan, Loch Ness;
42nd Street, Oxford Street
months, days of the week (indefinite)
The weekend is over on Monday morning.
July and August are the most popular
months for holidays.
the Isle of Wight;
the Atlantic (Ocean);
the Mediterranean (Sea);
the Nile, the Rhine, the Suez Canal
months, days of the week (definite)
I always remember the Monday when I had
an accident.
The August of 2001 was hot and dry.

We use the seasons of the year (spring, summer, autumn, winter) with or without the
definite article.

in summer or in the summer

The American English word for autum >fall< is always used with the definte article.

Sometimes we use the article and sometimes we do not. It often depends on the context.
Watch the following example:

The student goes to school.

The mother goes to the school.

In the first sentence we do not use the definite article, in the second we do. The student
goes to school for its primary purpose, so we do not use the article.

The mother might talk to a teacher, for example. She visits the school for a different
reason. That's why we use the definite article in the second sentence.
The indefinite article - a
The indefinte article is the a is the same for all genders.
a boy, a girl, a cat

The indefinte article has no plural form.

a boy - boys

We use an if the following word starts with a vowel.

the following word starts with a consonant the following word starts with a vowel
a boy an aunt
a school an old school
a girl an American girl

Mind the pronunciation of the following word.

a unit an uncle
This u sounds like a consonant, so we use a. This u sounds like a vowel, so we use an.

Use of the indefinite article a/an

- before phrases of time and measurements (per week/weekly)

We have English 4 times a week.

I go on holiday twice a year.
Our car can do 220 kilometres an hour.
Tomatoes are $2 a kilo.

- before phrases of jobs

My father is a car mechanic.

- before phrases of nationality

Bruce Springsteen is an American.

- half/quite

We need half a pound of sugar.

This is quite a good story.