Article English – Rules
Articles have the same function in German and English. They are accompanying words of nouns.
So you can find the English articles, just like the German ones, right before a noun:
I am reading a book.
I read a book.
Unlike in the German language, words in English have no gender. That means they are not assigned a gender. That is why the English language has only two articles – the definite article the and the indefinite article a/at.
Here are examples of the definite article the and the indefinite article a/at:
der Baum – the tree
the school – the school
the car – the car
So you see that «der», «die» and «das» are always included the can be translated.
a tree – a tree
a school – a school
a car – a car
Also with «a» or «an» there is not much difference in English: you use always a or on.
In which cases you a and when you on used, you will learn below! Spoilers: It has nothing to do with the grammatical gender of a word.
Certain Articles English – the
The definite article the can be used for nouns that are both singular and plural – i.e. singular and plural. You do not have to change or adapt the article. You can see that in this example:
Singular: the child the chair
Plural: the children the chairs
You use thewhen you are talking about a specific noun – for example like this:
I read the book.
I read the A book.
Through the it is stated that not just any book, but a very specific book is meant. This assumes that the reader knows which book you are talking about. If this is not the case, you can also add the necessary context – for example like this:
I read the book that I borrowed from the library.
I read the A book, that I from the librarythek borrowed.
If you are not sure whether the reader is aware of the context, you should always state it to be on the safe side. This way you can avoid ambiguities.
Proper names
You use the definite article the also for proper names of all kinds. Before family names (surnames), before famous sights/buildings or works of art, before hotels and restaurants, even before newspaper names.
Here are some examples of the definite article before proper nouns:
The apartment next door belongs to the Parkers.
The President lives in the White House.
the Sunflowers is a famous painting by Van Gogh.
You must also use the definite article before geographic locations the put. For example in front of seas, rivers/canals, islands and mountains:
theAtlantic
the thames
the Easter Island
the Mount Everest
The definite article also belongs the before proper names in the plural – for mountain ranges, island groups or country names in the plural:
the Rocky Mountains
the British Isles
the Netherlands
Even in countries that states, republic or kingdom or similar in the name becomes the definite article the used:
the United Kingdom
the Republic of Finland
the United States of America
the United Arab Emirates
But beware! Before countries that are not in plural or states, kingdometc. in the name, you can Not the indefinite article the put –tHey Germany or the Japan would be not correct!
Indefinite articles English – a/at
The indefinite article has two forms in English: a and on.
If you put the indefinite article in front of a word that begins with a consonant, you use a.
Consonants are letters whose sounds you can only pronounce in conjunction with the vowels a, e, i, o, u. For example, you pronounce the letter h like «ha», or the letter g like «ge». That is why they are also called consonants.
In this example, pay attention to the first letters of each word:
Pencil, shoe and backpack all begin with a consonant. So you use the indefinite article in the form of a.
If the following word of the indefinite article begins with a vowel (vowel), it becomes a to a on. This makes the words easier to pronounce.
Vowels are the letters a, e, i, o, u. They are only pronounced as individual sounds and not in conjunction with other sounds. That is why vowels are also called vowels.
Again, pay attention to the first letters of the words.
to apple
to eraser
on idea
For a, e, i, o and u as the first letters, you have to use the on-Use the form of the indefinite article – before apple, eraser and ideal so come on on!
application of a/on
Other than the definite article theyou can use the indefinite article a/at not in the plural use! This example shows you:
Right: a school an idea
Wrong: a schools an ideas
In the plural, you simply leave out the indefinite article and just say, for example schools and ideas.
The item a/at is used when you are talking about an indefinite noun.