Definite and indefinite articles | Modifiers | The parts of speech

- [Voiceover] So we've covered the

basic idea that divides the usage

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

"The" is the definite article,

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

So when you're being non-specific

in language,

you would use

the indefinite article

as in,

"May I have

an orange?"

Cause it doesn't matter

which orange you're asking for,

you don't care,

it's any orange,

as opposed to if you wanted

the orange.

This usage is much more specific,

and it seems to indicate
that there is only

one orange.

You see the orange in
particular that you want,

you're identifying it,

you're asking for it.

That's what this definite usage is.

Something that's interesting about

the word "the"

is that it can be used for both singular

and plural nouns.

So it's both singular and plural.

So you could say

"May I have the orange?"

You could also say

"May I have the oranges?"

And "an" does not really allow this,

it is only singular.

So you can't say

"May I have an oranges?"

This is not standard.

What you'd probably say instead is

"May I have some oranges?"

So this is not standard,

does not work in standard
American English.

The other thing about "a" or "an"

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

The indefinite article changes

depending on the vowel sound

that comes after it.

So changes for vowel sounds.

Now what does that mean?

Well it means that if you know

that word that you're going to say next

like ah or ooh or eh or uh or ee,

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

So it's the difference between saying

"A box,"

and

"An apple."

What we don't say

in standard American English

is "a apple."

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

it takes a little bit more effort.

And any linguist will tell you

that the way languages develop

is that they were word laziness.

So we say "a box"

but we say "an apple."

Something a little weird though,

you want to make sure

that you're looking for vowel sounds

not just for vowels.

Because some vowels,

for example,

the letter U

don't always produce "ooh" sounds.

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

like in word union,

so if you say "a union,"

that produces a "yuh" sound,

and "yuh" is technically
a consonant sound.

That's not a vowel.

But there are certainly cases like

"An underwater boat,"

where the letter U does produce

an "ooh" or an "uh" sound,

and that's a vowel.

So if you're gonna start the word

with a vowel sound,

what you wanna do is choose

"an" instead of "a"

but just be careful of
the letter U for example.

So to recap,

"the" is the definite article.

You can use it for both
singular and plural usage.

"May I have the orange?"

"May I have the oranges?"

"A" or "an" is indefinite

and it's only singular,

so you can say

"May I have an orange?"

or

"May I have some oranges?"

Before a vowel sound,

"a" changes to "an"

so you say "a box,"

but "an apple".

Not "a apple."

You say "a union,"

but "an underwater boat."

You can learn anything.

David out.