Articles

Articles
Indefinite article

or

an

The indefinite article means ONE.

It can only be used with singular

countable nouns

Concept
One of the same class
My brother is a

Patricia is a

lawyer

descendent of an Irish family

Concept

When something or someone is

mentioned for the first time
I bought a

radio today

Concept
Phrases showing frequency

There is a boat once a day at 8 oclock

Articles
Definite article

the
The definite article refers to
countable or uncountable,
singular and plural nouns.
It refers to something specific.

 Los artculos definen a un nombre y siempre estn situados delante del

nombre. En ingls, a diferencia del castellano, no tienen gnero ni forma
plural. En castellano decimos "el coche" (gnero masculino, singular) o
"las casas" (gnero femenino, plural) y en ingls es "the car" y "the
houses". "The" corresponde a los siguientes artculos en espaol: el, la,
los, las.
Este artculo puede ir precedido de las preposiciones "of" o "to". En ingls
no hay contraccin de preposicin y artcula ("Del" = "of the" y "al" = "to
the").

 Cuando sabemos de quin o de qu estamos hablando.

Who is the president of the United States?
Con los nombres de regiones geolgicas, cadenas de montaas, mares,
ocanos, grupos de islas, ros y pases en plural.

The United States (Los Estados Unidos)

The Netherlands (Los Pases Bajos)
The Andes (Las montaas Andes)
The Atlantic Ocean (El ocano Atlntico)
The Canary Islands (Las islas Canarias)
The Nile River (El ro Nilo)

Para hacer referencia a direcciones (right, left, top, bottom) y a los

puntos cardinales (north, south, east, west).

the south of France (el sur de Francia)

the house on the left (la casa de la izquierda)

Con los adjetivos en grado superlativo y nmeros ordinales:

the second floor (la segunda planta)

Concept
Thing or person was
mentioned before
This is Marion. She is the
daughter of a friend of mine.

Concept
Thing or person is unique

Dont look at the sun.

Youll hurt your eyes

Concept
Thing or person
is clearly specified
Meet me at the statue on
the corner of Park Road and
Elm Avenue

Concept
The context makes it clear
Weve got a new fountain
in the garden

Concept
The person or thing is defined
by the words that follow
My family have been here
since the turn of the century

Remember
We also use definite articles with...
Superlatives
This is the highest mountain in the world

Ordinal numbers
Decades

I live on the second floor

I was born in the 80s

Centuries

Millions left Ireland in the 19th century

Articles
Zero article

0
General references

Concept
When were referring to things
in general,
we dont need an article
Holidays are so relaxing!
Butter is very fattening

Concept
However...
We also use NO article with

Most
A group
places
of states
names
I went
The
to United
Cape Town
States
in Africa in 2007

Months
A
group and
of countries
years
Nicholas
The United
was born
Kingdom
in December 2007

The or Zero?
The
________

life of an immigrant is often very hard.

________Life
life in the 21st century is changing fast.
________Children
children

grow up faster nowadays.

The children in my street are very noise.
________
________Love
love

makes the world goes round.

The love he had for his country was huge.
________
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