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The
A(An)
A and AN are called indefinite articles. "Indefinite" means "not specific". Use A(AN) when you
are talking about a thing in general, NOT a specific thing. A(An) is used before singular nouns.
Examples:
Use A(AN) when talking about a thing which is new, unknown, or introduced to a listener for
the first time. Also use A(AN) when you are asking about the existence of something.
Examples:
I have a car. THE CAR IS BEING INTRODUCED FOR THE FIRST TIME.
Is there a dictionary in your backpack? ASKING ABOUT THE EXISTENCE OF THE DICTIONARY
Look!
-You cannot use A(AN) with plural nouns because A(AN) means "one" or "a single".
-We use A when the following noun starts with a consonant and AN when it starts with a
vowel.
Examples:
The
THE is called a definite article. "Definite" means "specific". Use THE when talking about
something which is already known to the listener or which has been previously mentioned,
introduced, or discussed.
Examples:
Do you know where I left the car keys? THE LISTENER KNOWS WHICH SPECIFIC CAR KEYS YOU
ARE TALKING ABOUT.
Do you own a car? Is the car blue? YOU ASSUME THEY DO HAVE A CAR AFTER ASKING ABOUT IT
IN THE FIRST SENTENCE.
Nobody lives on the Moon. THE MOON IS KNOWN TO EVERYONE.
IMPORTANT: You can use THE with both singular nouns and plural nouns.
Examples:
Some/Any/No article
We can use some, any or 'no article' before plural or uncountable nouns. They all mean
something similar to a/an before a singular noun. For example:
Can I have some bananas? [More than one banana, but any small group is okay.]
Can you buy some milk? [We don't know exactly how much, but I'm talking about a
certain amount of milk I don't want all the milk in the world.]
On the other hand, we use 'no article' when we aren't thinking about the quantity. It's used to
talk about the noun as a category, rather than a certain amount of it:
We need milk to make pancakes. [I'm thinking about milk as a category. I'm not
thinking about a certain amount of milk.]
More examples:
We need to buy coffee [I'm talking about coffee as a category, not thinking about the
amount].
Would you like some coffee? [I mean a certain amount of coffee, probably a cup.]
Do you want some tea? [I'm thinking about the amount, but the meaning is really the
same as the first sentence.]
2: Any can also be used in positive sentences that have a negative feeling, for example if they
include never, hardly, without:
3: Some can be used in questions when we expect that the answer will be 'yes'. This is very
common in offers and requests:
Do you have any letters for me? [This is a real question. I don't know if you have any
letters or not.]
Do you have some letters for me? [I think you do, so I'm expecting that you will say
'yes'.]
So
Some (algunos, algunas, algo de) se utiliza en la forma afirmativa con sustantivos contables en plural y
con sustantivos incontables.
There are some apples on the table.
There is some rice in the bag.
Any (algunos, algunas, algo de) se utiliza en las formas negativa e interrogativa con sustantivos
contables en plural y con sustantivos incontables.