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- [Voiceover] So we've covered the

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basic idea that divides the usage

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of "the" from "a" and "an".

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"The" is the definite article,

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and "a" or "an" is the indefinite.

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So when you're being non-specific

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in language,

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you would use

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the indefinite article

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as in,

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"May I have

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an orange?"

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Cause it doesn't matter

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which orange you're asking for,

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you don't care,

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it's any orange,

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as opposed to if you wanted

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the orange.

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This usage is much more specific,

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and it seems to indicate
that there is only

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one orange.

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You see the orange in
particular that you want,

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you're identifying it,

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you're asking for it.

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That's what this definite usage is.

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Something that's interesting about

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the word "the"

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is that it can be used for both singular

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and plural nouns.

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So it's both singular and plural.

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So you could say

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"May I have the orange?"

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You could also say

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"May I have the oranges?"

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And "an" does not really allow this,

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it is only singular.

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So you can't say

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"May I have an oranges?"

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This is not standard.

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What you'd probably say instead is

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"May I have some oranges?"

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So this is not standard,

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does not work in standard
American English.

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The other thing about "a" or "an"

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is that it's "a" or "an".

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The indefinite article changes

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depending on the vowel sound

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that comes after it.

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So changes for vowel sounds.

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Now what does that mean?

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Well it means that if you know

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that word that you're going to say next

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like ah or ooh or eh or uh or ee,

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then you're gonna change it to "an".

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So it's the difference between saying

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"A box,"

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and

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"An apple."

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What we don't say

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in standard American English

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is "a apple."

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It's not as easy on the mouth, frankly,

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it takes a little bit more effort.

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And any linguist will tell you

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that the way languages develop

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is that they were word laziness.

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So we say "a box"

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but we say "an apple."

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Something a little weird though,

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you want to make sure

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that you're looking for vowel sounds

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not just for vowels.

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Because some vowels,

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for example,

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the letter U

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don't always produce "ooh" sounds.

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Sometimes if they're at
the beginning of a word,

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like in word union,

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so if you say "a union,"

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that produces a "yuh" sound,

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and "yuh" is technically
a consonant sound.

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That's not a vowel.

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But there are certainly cases like

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"An underwater boat,"

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where the letter U does produce

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an "ooh" or an "uh" sound,

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and that's a vowel.

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So if you're gonna start the word

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with a vowel sound,

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what you wanna do is choose

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"an" instead of "a"

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but just be careful of
the letter U for example.

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So to recap,

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"the" is the definite article.

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You can use it for both
singular and plural usage.

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"May I have the orange?"

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"May I have the oranges?"

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"A" or "an" is indefinite

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and it's only singular,

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so you can say

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"May I have an orange?"

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or

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"May I have some oranges?"

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Before a vowel sound,

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"a" changes to "an"

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so you say "a box,"

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but "an apple".

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Not "a apple."

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You say "a union,"

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but "an underwater boat."

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You can learn anything.

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David out.