Why it’s so hard Learning Articles (a,an,the) and determiners for Slavic speakers.

a/an and no article

1. There’s an orange on the table. (Na stolu je naranča.)
2. I’m not a student. (Nisam učenik/student.)
3. She’s an English teacher. (Ona je učiteljica engleskog.)
4. There’s a nice restaurant in my street. (U mojoj ulici je dobar restoran.)
5. I have two children. (Imam dvoje djece.)
6. He doesn’t work on Saturdays. (On ne radi subotom.)

The first time we talk about one person/thing, we use a or an. (Kada prvi put govorimo o jednoj osobi/stvari, koristimo a ili an.)

• Jan lives in an old house in a village near Hull. (Jan živi u staroj kuću u selu blizu Hulla.)

We use a before consonant sounds(Koristimo a prije suglasnika)

• a shelf (polica)
• a university (sveučilište)

We use an before vowel sounds (Koristimo an prije samoglasnika)

• an airport (zračna luka)
• an hour

The first time we talk about people or thing using a plural noun, we don’t use an article. (Prvi put kada govorimo o ljudima ili stvarima u množini ne koristimo član.)

• Jo knows people all over Europe. (Jo poznaje ljude po cijeloj Europi.)
• I like penguins. (Volim pingvine.)

We also use a/an (singular) and no article (plural) to talk about jobs, or to talk about what things are. (Isto tako koristimo a/an (jednina) i bez člana (množina) kako bi govorili o poslovima ili kako bi govorili što su stvari.)

• She’s an engineer. (Ona je inženjer.)
• Is that a new tablet? (Je li to novi tablet?)
• Alex and Jan are journalists. (Alex i Jan su novinari.)
• Those are beautiful earrings! (To su lijepe naušnice!)
• We use a in some phrases, e.g. a lot of, once a week. (Koristimo a u nekim frazama, npr. puno, jednom tjedno.)
• We use no article… (Član ne koristimo…)
• for names, cities, streets and most countries. (za imena, gradove, ulice i većinu država.)
  1. 1. My name’s David. (Moje ime je David.)
     2. I’m from Bath. (Ja sam iz Batha.)
     3. I think this is Bond Street. (Mislim da je ovo ulica Bond.)
     4. We live in Venezuela. (but the USA, the UK) (Živimo u Venezueli.)
• with days, times and meals. (sa danima, vremenom i obrocima.)
• • 1. I’m free on Friday at nine o’clock. (Slobodan sam u petak od 9 sati.)
    2. I have lunch at one o’clock. (Ručam u 13 sati.)

the

1. My friend’s house is in the city centre. (Kuća mojega prijatelja je u centru grada.)
2. Lima is the capital of Peru. (Lima je glavni grad Perua.)
3. Sheena is from the USA. (Sheena je iz SAD-a.)
4. We have dinner at seven o’clock in the evening. (Večeramo u 19 sati.)

We use the to say ‘you know which one(s) I mean’. This can be… (Koristimo the da kažemo ‘znaš na koju(e) mislim. To može biti…)

• because we have already talked about it/them (jer smo već to spomenuli)
  1. 1. Jan lives in an old house in a village near Hull. The house was built in 1485. The village is near a lake. (Jan živi u staroj kuću u selu blizu Hulla. Kuća je izgrađena 1485. godine. Selo je blizu jezera.)
• because we make it clear in the sentence, e.g. the shops on my street, the woman who answered the phone (zato što je jasno u rečenici, npr. dućani u mojoj ulici, žena koja je odgovorila na poziv)
• where there is only one (kada postoji samo jedan)
  • the moon (Mjesec)
  • the Burj Khalifa (Burj Khalifa)
  • the city centre (gradski centar)
  • the capital of Australia (glavni grad Australije)
  • the Nile (Nil)
• We also use the for parts of the day: in the morning, in the afternoon (but at night) (Koristimo the za dijelove dana: ujutro, popodne(ali navečer))

1. He works for an American company.
2. We waited for an hour, but he didn’t come.
3. A I bought a tablet and a smartphone yesterday.
   B Was the tablet expensive?
4.  Neil Armstrong walked on the moon in 1969.
5. Could you open the window, please?
6.  Museums are more interesting than art galleries.

• We use a/an with singular countable nouns to talk about a person or thing for the first time. We use an if the next word (the noun or its adjective) has a vowel sound.

We bought a new sofa yesterday.

I need an old bicycle.

A few nouns start with the vowels ‘e’ and ‘u’ but have the consonant sound /j/ so we use a, not an, before them. Also, some nouns have a silent ‘h’ and so we put an before them:

The bus only costs a euro.

The bus only costs an euro.

• We use the before a noun (singular or plural] when the listener or reader knows what we are talking about. This can be because:
  • we have talked about the things before.
    • Grandma gave me her rings and watch. The watch is gold; the rings are silver.
  • there is only one of the thing and it’s inferred to the other person.
    • We put our new clock in the living room. (There is only one
      living room and the other person knows which living room you’re talking about.)
  • what we are talking about is obvious and also inferred by the other person .
    • The twins love their new toys. (There is only one pair of twins in the family.)
  • There is no article when you talk about plural and uncountable
    nouns in general .

• • • Knives are dangerous.
    • I love old furniture.

1. There’s a concert in Hyde Park at the weekend.
2. The minimum wage has gone up by around one pound an hour.
3. Did you see the full moon last night? It was spectacular.
4. The quickest way is to go by car; the bus takes ages.
5. I walked up to the Parthenon. The view over Athens was breathtaking.
6. The price of food has risen dramatically in the last year.

Indefinite article (alan)

We use a/ an when we don’t specify which exact thing is being talked about, for example when something is one member of a class or one of many. This is often when you first mention something.

I saw an amazing film last night.

Have you got a dictionary app on your phone?

a or an?

You use a or an depending on the pronunciation of the sound which follows. We use a before a consonant sound and we use an before a vowel sound.

a car          an apple          a house             an egg
an hour     a university   an umbrella      a euro

Definite article (the)

We use the when both the speaker and listener (or writer and reader) know the specific thing being talked about. For example, when it’s clear which one we’re talking about (often because it has previously been mentioned) or when it is the only one of something.

How was the concert last night?

Shall I open the window? (There is only one window in the room.)

The sun is hot today.

We also use the with:

• superlative forms.
  • Notting Hill is the biggest carnival in the UK.
• rivers, valleys, deserts, mountain ranges, oceans, seas, groups of islands and plural country names.
  • How long is the Amazon?
  • We flew over the Sahara Desert.
• the names of theatres, cinemas, hotels, galleries and museums.
  • Have you been to the Guggenheim Museum?

No article

We use no article in a number of ways. These include:

• to refer to something in a general sense (with plural or uncountable nouns).

My daughter’s always listening to music.

• with most country names, continents, states, lakes and mountains.

Have you ever been to Australia?

• with towns/cities, neighbourhoods and streets.

Have you been to Paris?

Article Powerpoint

1.  Far too many people drive to work every day. It causes terrible pollution in our cities.
2. Are you sure there are enough chairs for everyone?
3. Few people learn Latin at school these days. It’s such a pity.
4. All students must register before Tuesday.
5. Although they trained in Glasgow, both doctors now have practices in Edinburgh.

Determiners are words that come before a noun or noun phrase.

much, many, some, any, a few, etc.

We use (too) many, (a) few, several, a number of and hundreds/thousands of with countable nouns.

There are several multiple-occupancy houses on my road.

We use (too) much, (a) little, a great deal of and a large quantity of with uncountable nouns.

Did you do much sightseeing in Paris?

A little, but it was mainly work.

We can use a lot of, lots of, some, any and enough with countable and uncountable nouns.

There are a lot of cafés in the area.[/vc_column_text]

Note that few and little (without a) emphasize less than expected or hoped for

Few people passed the exam. 

A few and a little are more neutral.

A few people passed the exam.

All, each, and every

We use all, every, and each to talk about more than two things. We can, however, sometimes use each to talk about just two things (e.g. Each side of the coin is different).

All is used with plural nouns. You can use all the / all (of) the

All visitors must report to reception.
All (of) the apartments have been sold.

Every and each are used with singular nouns. You cannot use each the / every the

Every apartment has been sold.

Both, either and neither

We use both, either and neither to talk about two people or things

Both David and Andrew speak French.

Both is used with plural nouns. Before a determiner (eg. the, my, these) we can use both or both of. When we use a pronoun (e.g. them, us, you), we must use both of.

Both of them speak French. 

 Both them speak French.

Either and neither are used with a singular noun. We use either or and neither nor when there are two nouns. When we use a plural pronoun or a plural noun with a determiner such as the, my, or these, we use either of /neither of.

I don’t like either house.

Neither David nor Andrew speaks German.

I don’t like either of the houses.

1. I saw a great film last night.
2. Would you recommend the hotel you stayed In?
3. Did Oscar go to university?

There are a number of rules about the use of the indefinite article (a/an). the definite article (the) and the zero article (-). some of the main uses include:

a/an

• The basic use of a/an is when we are talking about something specific, but we don‘t know or we don’t specify the exact thing, for example, when we first mention something.

Do you support a football team?

• We also use also when we are talking in general about one example of a class (but not about the whole class).

Most of my friends support a football team.

• We also use a/an in phrases such as once a week, twice a year.

I generally go to the cinema once or twice a month.

We use a before a consonant sound and we use an before a vowel sound.
a game     a university     an hour     an umbrella

the

• The basic use of the is when both the speaker and the listener know the specific thing being talked about. For example. if it has previously been mentioned or when it is the only one.

I can ’t remember the name of the team that Lucas supports.

What was the film you saw last night?

• We also use the with a singular. countable noun to talk in general about a whole class.

The dolphin is the most intelligent animal after humans.

• We also use the with a plural or uncountable noun + of + phrase to generalize.

The establishment of a new political party is very complex.

No article (or zero article)

• The basic use of no article is with uncountable or plural nouns when we are talking about people or things in general.

Do you like football?

I hardly ever watch films.

• We also use no article with certain nouns when we are talking about the use of these things for their main purpose.

We’re having a few problems at went at the moment.

• We also use no article after phrases like amount of, number of, kind of, sort of.

A great number of sports stars earn millions every year.

ARTICLES POWERPOINT PRESENTATION