The, a or an?

Jo:  Welcome  to Question and Answer of the Week from BBC Learning English where we answer your questions about  the English  language.  I’m  Jo and with me today is Feifei.
 
Feifei:  Hello there. 今天我们要来回答来自青岛的 Victoria 提出的问题。
 
Jo:  Yes,  she  told  us  she  has  some  knowledge  about  the  article  the  but  still finds  it difficult  to use. Can we help?  In English  the, a and an are  called articles.
 
Feifei:  冠词，Victoria 说她觉得英语冠词让她有些头疼，那我们能帮帮她吗？ 
 
Jo:  Well, here’s English teacher Alex Gooch, who says it’s not unusual to have problems with this aspect of the English language. 
 
Feifei:  他给我们比较了定冠词  the 和不定冠词 a, an 之间的区别。 
 
Insert
 
Almost all students of English find our articles difficult. The basic rule is that we use a or  an for countable nouns, when we're introducing them for the first time. 
 
For example, we might say: I watched a film yesterday. 
 
This is the first time the film has been mentioned, and the listener doesn't know which  film we're talking about, so we use a. 
 
The is used when we're discussing something and we expect that the listener already  knows which thing we're talking about. 
 
For example: I watched a film yesterday, but it wasn't as good as the film we  watched last week.
 
We say the film we watched last week because this film isn't something new. We  already know about this film because we watched it last week.
 
Feifei:   听完上面的这些解释后 Victoria 你也不用太着急，看来对定冠词迷惑的不只你一人。
 
Jo:  Almost all students of English  find our articles difficult. He says  the basic rule is to use a or an for countable nouns, when we're introducing them for the first time. 
Feifei:  可数名词。可数名词有单数形式和复数形式，也就是说一个可以数得清的东西。 
 
Jo:  So  for example pen  - we say one pens  two pens. Apple  - one apple,  two apples. 
 
Feifei:  不过像 wind 风就是不可数名词。我们不说  one wind,  two winds  – 而我们只说 wind. 像风 wind 牛奶 milk 这样的名词就是不可数名词。Alex 说我们用  a 或  an 来形容首次出现在一个对话中的可数名词。
 
Jo:  So when a countable noun is introduced into the conversation for the first time you would use a or an. He gave us  the example  -  I watched a  film yesterday. 
 
Feifei:  刚刚这个例子里提到了电影，那么电影这个可数名词是第一次在这个谈话中出现，所以用 a 来修饰。 To mention 提到。
 
Jo:  I  watched  a  film  yesterday.  Now  the  is  used  when  we’re  discussing something  and  we  expect  the  listener  already  knows  which  thing  we’re talking about. Alex uses  the example  -  I watched a  film  yesterday but  it wasn’t as good as the film we watched last week.
 
Feifei:  当说话一方和听者都知道彼此说的一件事情或一个东西的时候我们就会用  the.  To expect 期待，预计。所以我们可以说  I watched a  film yesterday but  it wasn’t as good as the film we watched last week. 因为上周看的那部电影在上面的对话中已经提过，对于谈话双方来说都不陌生了。Listen to Alex again.
 
Insert
 
Almost all students of English find our articles difficult. The basic rule is that we use a or  an for countable nouns, when we're introducing them for the first time. 
 
For example, we might say: I watched a film yesterday. 
 
This is the first time the film has been mentioned, and the listener doesn't know which  film we're talking about, so we use a. 
 
The is used when we're discussing something and we expect that the listener already  knows which thing we're talking about. 
 
For example: I watched a film yesterday, but it wasn't as good as the film we  watched last week.
 
We say the film we watched last week because this film isn't something new. We  already know about this film because we watched it last week.
 
Jo:  On  this  week’s  BBC  Learning  English  Question  and  Answer  of  the Week we’re  answering  Victoria’s  question  about  the.  She wants  us  to  help her understand how to use it. Have a listen to these sentences.
 
Insert
 
-  The book you gave me last weekend was so exciting.
-  I need to find a book about Beijing.
 
 
Jo:  So in the first example, the is used because we know which book is being talked about.
 
Feifei:  是的，我知道你给的是哪本书。第二个例子里用了  a 是因为不知道究竟是哪本关于北京的书。Listen to this example. Squirrel 松鼠。
 
Insert
 
-  I saw a squirrel in the garden this morning.
-  Really?
-  Yeah, I think the squirrel was looking for a nut under the apple tree. 
 
Jo:  Let’s we look at the ways the and a were used there. I saw a squirrel in the garden. A squirrel because we haven’t seen  the squirrel before –  it's new to us. 
 
Feifei:  但是他说了  the  garden 因为从上下文种可以判断出来是在这个人家自己的花园看到了松鼠。
 
Jo:  But then things change. I think the squirrel was looking for a nut under the apple  tree.  We  use  the  here  because  it’s  the  second  mention  of  the squirrel.
 
Feifei:  名词第二次出现 – 这次我们知道了是哪只松鼠，因为刚才在花园里看到了一只松鼠。 
 
Jo:  And he was looking for a nut under the apple tree.  
 
Feifei:  Nut 坚果。这里用了  a nut 是因为这是名词第一次出现；而又说了  the  apple  tree 是因为上面提到过了花园，根据上下文逻辑判断应该可以推测出这个苹果树是在这个人家的花园里，而不是在其它地方。I guess using the and a is something you just do naturally, isn’t it Jo?
 
Jo:  As a native speaker, yes, but Alex Gooch from earlier in the programme is going to leave us with some advice in using articles and getting them right. 
 
Insert
 
The only really effective way to learn how to use articles in English well is practice. When  you've listened to enough spoken English, and read enough English written down, you  will gradually start to develop a feeling and intuition for which is the correct article to use  in a particular situation.   
 
Jo:     So the best way to learn is to practice.
 
Feifei:  练习。Alex 说当你听了还有看了很多英语后，逐渐的自然而然就会培养出语感，和一种直觉  intuition.
 
Jo:  You will  gradually  start  to  develop  a  feeling  or  intuition  for which  is  the correct article – the, a or an – in a particular situation. Good luck!
 
Feifei:  是的，熟能生巧，记得多多练习！非常感谢你的问题 Victoria. 如果你有任何英语语言学习方面的问题，欢迎发邮件给我们，邮箱地址是 questions.chinaelt@bbc.co.uk.
 
Jo:  Or  check  out  other  questions  on  our website www.bbcchina.com.cn.  Bye
for now. 
Feifei:   感谢收听，下次再会！

Victoria from Qingdao sent in this week's question about the use of the.

Words like the, a or an are called articles. She says she has some knowledge of them but still finds them difficult to use.

Alex Gooch is a teacher of English as a foreign language and he said almost all students experience problems with articles, so don't worry if you find them difficult too.

The best way to demonstrate how to use the is by comparing it with the use of a or an.

A or an is used for countable nouns (nouns with plurals like hat/hats, bottle/bottles - uncountable nouns are things that can't be counted like air, rice etc), when you're introducing them for the first time in a conversation.

- I watched a film yesterday.

We use a film here because this is the first time we have heard about the film - the listener doesn't know which film is being talked about.

However we use the when we're discussing something that we expect the listener already knows about.

- I watched a film yesterday, but it wasn't as good as the film we watched last week.

We say the film we watched last week because both the speaker and the person he is talking know about the film - because they watched it last week.

- The book you gave me last weekend was so exciting.

- I need to find a book about Beijing.

If we look at the examples above, we can see why one uses the book and one uses a book.

When we say the book you gave me last weekend we know which specific book it is so we use the. However if we need to find a book about Beijing it could be any book. We don't know which book.

The best advice Alex could give about using articles in English is to practise. The more you hear and speak English, the more you will get a feeling for which article to use. Good luck!

Great question Victoria - we hope the answer helped! Do you have a question about the English language? Send us an email: questions.chinaelt@bbc.co.uk and you might see your question answered here on our website.

Glossary 词汇

articles 冠词

to demonstrate 解释，示范

countable nouns 可数名词

uncountable nouns 不可数名词

specific 明确的

get a feeling for 获得语感