Definite and indefinite articles | The parts of speech | Grammar | Khan Academy Video Lecture | Complete Course on English Grammar: Upgrade your Speaking & Listening - Personal Skills

so we've covered the basic idea that
divides the usage of V from a and an you
know and these the definite article and
a or an is the indefinite so when you're
being nonspecific in language you would
use the indefinite article as in may I
have an orange question mark cuz 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 you see the orange
in particular that you want you are
identifying it and 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 most
singular and plural so you could say may
I have the orange you could also say may
I have the oranges a and an does not
really allow this it is only singular so
you can't say may I have and oranges
this is this is not standard what you
would probably say instead was 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 and 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 the word that you're going to say
next like aa or or or a
or e then you're going to change it to
an so it's the difference between saying
a box and an apple and 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
laziness so we say a box but we say an
apple something something a little weird
though you want to make sure that you're
looking for vowel sounds not just for
vowels because some some vowels for
example the letter you don't always
produce sounds sometimes if they're at
the beginning of a word like in the word
Union so if you say a union that
produces a yes sound and yeah is
technically a consonant sound that's not
a it's not a vowel but there are
certainly cases like an underwater boat
where the letter U does produce you know
an O or an a sound and that's a vowel so
if you're going to start the word with a
vowel sound what you want to do is
choose an instead of a but just be
careful of the letter U for example
so to recap thee 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
Dave it out