A, An, and The ...or is it THEE?! - Learn Articles in English

my goal for this video is that you don't finish watching it if I do a good job teaching articles then before the end of this video you will be like oh it all makes sense now stop so articles ah and and the I've taught articles to literally thousands of students and I've never understood why this is called the indefinite article and this is called the definite article that name is very stupid and it doesn't help you so I'm changing the names this is now called the non specific article the is called this specific article and the easy way to understand the difference between the two is with that name so the nonspecific articles a and an actually in conversation we don't pronounce them a an an like that when teachers teach articles that's pretty much the only time the pronunciation is R and an usually just pronounce them lazy right just a schwa sound ah say it with me ah and when you have one thing you can count it I have one cookie no replace one with ah da pronunciation ah I have a cookie now we call it the nonspecific article because we use it for nonspecific things things that you the listener don't know why don't you know it maybe I haven't introduced it to you yet maybe it doesn't matter which thing it is either way it's nonspecific the the specific article now this is when we both know exactly what we're talking about a quick comparison I want to give you a cookie one cookie doesn't matter which I have a chocolate cookie and I have a raisin cookie so I mention it for the first time which do you want tell me now in your answer you should use the why because now we both know which cookies we are talking about so do you want the chocolate one or do you want the raisin one tell me shout it at your screen you want this one can't have it whoa basically basically that's the difference now what's the difference between those two hmm if that next word begins with a consonant sound like cut yeah sir we use for example and say it with me a cookie but when the next word starts with a vowel sound then use n for example an amazing cookie amazing begins with a vowel sound and the most important thing is it's a vowel sound not a vowel letter for example which university did you go to I didn't go to a university I went to space college ah University why that's a vowel right you but listen to how it sounds yeah you that starts with a year a consonant sound so ah a university so make sure that next word is a vowel sound for example your head looks like an egg by douche and of course be careful with abbreviations like MBA yes the words mean a master's of business administration master's begins with a consonant sound but not the abbreviation M BA err that's a vowel sound so Masters of Business Administration but an MBA remember I'm talking about one thing which isn't specific for example can I have a coffee yeah you learned in your lessons that coffee is uncountable that's true if you're talking about the level of coffee how much coffee but when you order coffee can I have a coffee one coffee two coffees because we all know that I mean a cup of coffee a bottle of water can have a water near just have the water on the window the waters yellow brown yeah yeah well the water in the toilet connects to the water in the kitchen so next time your teacher says coffee water they're not countable you can tell them that they absolutely can be even abstract nouns like darkness love hate won't have an article like love is blind however again if you're talking non-specifically like Faith Evans said I never knew there was a love like this before or to be specific the love that we share is special don't forget also with your job you need that article example what do you do what's your job I'm journalists ah but you're one journalist of many ah sorry I'm a journalist don't forget that when you talk about your job I'm a journalist I'm an engineer so that's non specific things how about the or is it v what about that pronunciation what the hell well remember the rule with an N about the next word having a consonant sound or a vowel sound exactly the same rule with the and the example I don't have the internet on my phone can I use Wi-Fi the Wi-Fi the with a consonant sound what why fight but internet starts with a vowel sound V Internet but also notice if I say the Internet that sounds weird we like to use connected speech so the internet we have two vowel sounds in the middle we put a year sound in connected speech this is called intrusion the internet see how it goes together the internet say it with me via internet another example the egg the melon the amazing cookie if I'm in your house I might ask sorry I really need to pee where's the toilet we both know which toilet I'm talking about the toilet in your house now you could ask this a nicer way with bathroom I'm so sorry I'm in pain can I use the bathroom some people think that's more polite so it's an option so we're talking specific things things that both of us know other common examples might be I need money where can I get money banks so for me it doesn't matter which bank so I'll say I need to go to a bank a bank any bank it doesn't matter which one but if I say I need to go to the bank the bank my bank specifically if I invite you to drink coffee I might say two ways do you want to go to a coffee shop neither of us know which coffee shop but maybe we both really like one specific coffee shop near my house so I'll say let's go to the coffee shop the specific coffee shop that can be used for singular things can also be used for plural things when it's plural we introduced it without an article but when we're being specific we are specifying something different from other things an example conversation might be like this are you hungry I bought some cookies and I bought some fruit I want the cookies fine do you want the chocolate ones or the raisin ones I want the cookie with the little chocolate in it imagine that you are at a bar with your friend and one guy keeps looking at you so you tell your friend a guy keeps staring at me but your friend doesn't know which guy so now she will give some specific detail the guy with a big chin now she uses the because we're being specific that guy with that chin the so really that's it but let's talk about pronunciation and emphasis you want to emphasize one thing not two things not three things one thing we pronounce it a different way not just a but a a watch how my mouth shape changes a a less commonly we might pronounce it like aa but that's not as common use a for example have a cookie I said you could have a cookie a cookie one now all of this the rules the pronunciation it's the same in American English and remember I said V can be used when the next word begins with a vowel sound the internet for example well you can use thee for any word if it's special or famous for example are you Becky I mean I'm a Becky no no I mean are you the Becky the one on YouTube their one and only no the Becky wah okay but start this is embarrassing you're distinguishing something is special and different from everything else you know I have lots of students but you you are the student for me I mean you're the best you're amazing you you're perfect but when do we not use an article well I already told you that when you introduce something that's plural don't use an article I got some cookies for example when you're talking about something new or in general don't use an article Italians love pineapple on a pizza it's true we're talking plural and general but if we mention a specific group now we need the for example the Italians in the south of Italy they also love Starbucks they say it's the best coffee also don't use an article for proper nouns this is things like names nationalities languages for example I speak Spanish but if we are specific for example in espanol killer blow is Colombian or the Spanish I speak is Colombian then we use the specific article countries except groups the you cave got England Ireland Scotland Wales that's a group of things the United States that's a group of States the EU okay not a country but it's a group of countries I miss you take me back sports I play basketball not I played the basketball no universities but those are strange for example Oxford University no article but switch it the University of Oxford I don't know why just it just is holidays - like Christmas it's going to be Christmas soon but again if we be specific do you remember the Christmas a few years ago when Santa came down the chimney and died also when you have a noun and a number together for example oh cool I'm reading Harry Potter - which chapter are you on I'm on chapter 10 noun number or maybe in a hotel enjoy your stay you're in room two noun number let's look at an example which uses nonspecific specific articles and no article do you like wine no article it's a proper noun yeah I would love a wine a wine one wine and we both understand I mean a glass of wine yeah sure the wines over there the wine I'm being specific we both know which wine I'm talking about okay - very common mistakes I hear with articles are these talking about someone's hair color I don't say she has a black hair because remember that article means one thing so if you say she has a black hair you mean this with hair color don't use an article she has black hair or she's got black hair also my Colombian friend would often invite me to lunch and say this let's go take the lunch with meals no article let's go have Oh yet the verb is different - lets go have lunch no article so thanks for watching I hope that you didn't make it this far in the video hopefully everything makes sense now if you have a request for a future lesson let me know in the comments also there's a worksheet for this lesson available on my patreon you can sign up using the link in the description see in the next class [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Learn English with Papa Teach Me

Views: 54,353

Keywords: Learn English, Papa teach me, Learn English Grammar, Learn English Vocabulary, IELTS, CAE, CPE, aprender ingles, выучить английский язык, English Vocabulary, Phrasal Verbs, ESL, English Teaching, TEFL, TESOL, TOEFL, TOEIC, Study English, English Prepositions, papa english, prepositions papa, english grammar papa, english articles a an the, english articles, articles in english, a an the rules, rules for articles in english, a or an, a or the in english

Id: fA-7FtB39j4

Length: 15min 39sec (939 seconds)

Published: Sun May 10 2020