A, AN, THE – Articles in English

it’s another question from students this
one is asking about articles
specifically the definite article the
when we use it and when we don’t
specifically with plural nouns thanks
for the question
really good one and we get asked a lot
about articles articles are very
confusing for students because some
languages don’t use them and the ones
which do don’t usually have the same
rules as us so let’s start with the easy
one the indefinite articles a and an
these are easy you have a singular
countable noun
you put a or an in front of the noun for
example one iPhone an iPhone a fairy why
are you here again you’re always here
ruining the lesson yeah no one likes you
but yeah I suppose I mean you can count
that one fairy two fairies really sick
okay so one fairy is a fairy ello mate
that’s your first rule a singular
countable noun we use out and another
rule for the indefinite articles at and
an remember these are indefinite or
nonspecific when you mention something
for the first time in a story the
listener doesn’t specifically know which
object you’re talking about so we use
that again for singular countable nouns
for example I met a girl yesterday
I killed a theory today late what we use
the the definite article when we’re
talking about a specific group of
something or one singular noun which is
specific and we both know which now and
we’re talking about so for example I
killed a fairy today both don’t know
which fairy in the second sentence I’m
referencing the same fairy again
so I say I killed our fairy today
I killed the fairy the fairy because it
was stupid I’m not dead pretty hard
though huh that’s blood yep I’ve lead in
her call me an ambulance so those with
singular countable nouns
we’re being general we use app we’re
being specific we use the but your
question is about plural nouns and when
we use and don’t use them easy you just
have to apply that logic to plural nouns
remember with singular nouns we were
being general we used app where we were
being specific that with plural nouns
it’s the same logic when we talk about a
specific group we use the example let’s
see Russian people are very nice but the
Russian people I’ve met specific group
though Russian people I’ve met are crazy
I’m joking Russians you’re cool another
example babies are very annoying babies
are very annoying so I’m being general
when it’s a plural noun we don’t use any
article remember a single nouns we used
at for a general situation plural nouns
we don’t use any articles for being
general babies are annoying
however the babies in my family are very
cute I said the babies because this is a
specific group of babies general no
article specific group though that’s
with plural nouns remember again with
singular nouns general app-specific
the plural nouns general no article
specific though we use this one we want
to indicate a specific group or a
specific thing which we both understand
another example with babies imagine
you’re sitting on a plane and you feel
this
the baby behind me is very annoying I
say that because we both understand
which baby
I wouldn’t say for example a baby behind
me is annoying no I’m not being general
and being specific there are many more
rules with articles and I think we’ll do
another one later explaining all of the
rules but I hope that answers your
question on plural nouns and when we use
and don’t use the definite article the
bye bye
you