Universityof Bejaia

Lecturer:Miss.$.
Aouiche

The articles

A- The indefiniteartictes:

1ïhe indefinite
articlesare "a"and"an",theymeanonerweusethemwhen
we do not knowexacily
whichthingwe mean,when it is thefirsttimewe speakaboutit
eq:
a boy, a year,anarm
- a manwasstanding nearthedoor
- therewasanaccident thismorning
- a carcrashedintoa tree

2"a"and"an"areusedonlybeforesingular
countabale
nouns.

3Weuse"a"beforenounsthatbeginwitha consonant
eq:
a room,a chair,atable

4We use "ân" beforenounsthat beginwitha vowel

es
an orang, an elephant,an article

SWeuse "a" or "an"beforejobs

c$
Myfatherworksasa doctor
Hewantsto beanarchitect
The definitearticle"the,.
 1-we usethedefinite
article"the"whenweknowwhichthingor thingswe
arespeaking
about
eq:
I sawa manstandingat the corner.Themanwaswearinga darksuit

2- Thedefinitearticlecanbe usedwithcountalenounssingularor plural

eq:
the teacher- the teachers
thewindow- the windows
3- Thedefinitarticleis usedwithuncountable
nouns
cs
Passmethe bread,please
I will takethe advice

When do we use "The"?

a) Beforethepreposition
"of'or the relativepronoun"that',
es
Thecarof my father
TheEnglishthatyou speakis quitegood

b) lf we havealreadymentioned
whatwe are speakingabout
es
Theylivedin a smallvillage.The
villagewasverynice
A womanentredthe shop^The womanwasweaiinga coat
c) Beforethingsthatare uniquein theircategory
es
thesun, themoon, theearth, theuniverse
d) Beforenameof riversandrangesof mountains
cs
TheNileis a greatriver
TheDjurdjura tiesin theofAtgeria
e) Beforenamesof musical
instruments
9s.
He playsthe pianoverywell
I likethesuitar

rÆ
f) Beforeadjectivesusedas nouns
es
The richshouldhelpthe poor
Thebooldandthe beautiful

When do we suporess the article "the"?

a) Beforenounsof materials,
foodanddrinks
es
Algeriaexportsoil to Europe
Goldis morevaluabethansilver
Peopleenjoydrinkingcocacola

b) Beforenamesof countries
eq:
He settledin Swedenbeforeleavingto France

c)_Before
coloursand languages
es
Red,orangeandpurolearewarmcolours
I canspeakFrench,English
and ltalian

d) Beforesubjectsthataretaughtat school,sport,hobbies
and
religions
eq:
My favouritesubjectsarebiologyandmathematics
Do youlikehardrock?
Themostpopularsportis football

f) Beforeseasonsandmeals
eq:
Theseasoni likemostis spring
We generallyhave breakfastat 7 O'clock