A/an

We use a/an with countable singular nouns

1. In the meaning ‘one’:

He was waiting for her for an hour.

2. To refer to one of many people/things

He sat on a chair.

I bought a pen.

Can you give me a pencil?

3. At the first mentioning of a thing/person

I bought a book and a T-shirt as Christmas presents for my friends.

4. With jobs

She’s a lawer.

5. After phrases there is…, this/that is…, I have… (in most cases):

There’s a bus stop near here.

The

We use the with countable/uncountable nouns, singular/plural nouns

1. To refer to a particular person/thing:

I cleaned the car yesterday (my car).

It is clear from the context/satuation which one exactly we mean:

– Where are you going?

– I’m going to the shop. Do you need anything? (both speaker know which shop)

  • of – phrases

They are the authors of this book.

  •  There is often a relative clause:

Have you watched the film (that) I told you about?

  • We use the with things in a particular room: the door, the light, the floor, the carpet:

Turn off the light, please.

Why are you sitting on the floor?

Could you close the door, please?

2. At the second/further mentioning of a thing/person

I bought a book and a T-shirt as Christmas presents for my friends. The book was for Paul and the T-shirt for Emily.

3. With unique things, e.g. the sun, the moon, the earth, the sky, the ground, the horizon, the equator, the cosmos, the Internet, etc.

4. With superlative adjectives, e.g. the tallest, the most energetic.

5. With ordinal numbers: the first, the second, etc.

6. With some words: with the following words: the same, the right, the wrong, the next = the following, the last, the left, the main, the whole.

7. With adjectives to talk about groups of people (the + adj): the rich, the poor.

No article

We use no article  with plural nouns, uncountable nouns

No article is used to refer to people and things in general

Articles with georgraphic names

No article 

  1. continents: Europe, Asia, Africa; North America.
  2. countries, states, provinces: France, Japan, Arkansas, Ontario.
  3. cities, towns: New York, Moscow

But: the city of New York/Moscow.

  1. individual mountains, hills, volcanoes: Kilimanjaro, Capitol Hill, Vesuvius.
  2. individual islands: Greenland, Java, Cyprus, Madagascar,

Exception: the Isle of Man.

6. lakes: lake Michigan, lake Superior.

The

We use the with

  1.  poles: the North Pole, the South Pole;
  2. The Arctic, the Antarctic;
  3. The Far East, the Middle East;
  4. names of water reservoirs (river, seas, oceans, canals, gulfs, bays, straits, currents, waterfalls, channels): the Nile, the Red Sea, the Indian ocean, the Suez canal, the Gulf of Mexico, the Bay of Bengal, the Strait of Gibraltar, (the) Victoria Falls, the Gulf Stream, the Channel (between France and Britain).

But: no article is used with lakes (lake Ontario, Lake Baikal).

  1. mountain ranges: the Andes, the Alps

But: no article is used with individual mountains (Mount Everest).

  1. groups of islands: the Canary Islands, the Bahamas

But: no article with individual islands (Cyprus, Jamaica).

  1. countries that have plural names: the Netherlands, the Philippines;
  2. countries with words like kingdom, states, federation or republic in the names: the UK, the USA, the Russian Federation, the Czech Republic
  3. names of deserts: the Sahara (Desert)