Indefinite Articles—Somewhere Between Grammar, Pronunciation, and Language Change
Understanding when to use “a” and “an” can be tricky. Both are indefinite articles, but they follow specific rules: “a” precedes words starting with consonant sounds, while “an” comes before words with vowel sounds. However, there are exceptions, and neither is used with plural nouns.
What Articles Does the English Language Have?
Every so often, the most basic words cause the most trouble in languages. Simply put, there is one definite article (the), and one indefinite article (a). But why is there another option for the latter? We explain the origins of the determiner “an,” and prove that pronunciation is more important for the evolution of a language than you might have thought.
What Is an Indefinite Article?
An article is a part of speech that usually accompanies nouns. It cannot stand alone and is divided into two distinct categories: the definite article “the” and the indefinite ones, “a” and “an.” By the way, together with certain pronouns they are referred to as the group of determiners.
Articles are some of the most frequent words in the English language—something that you can recognize within this very blog article itself.
Please note, that the also serves as a plural article, whereas “a” and “an” cannot be used for plural nouns. Here, you simply don’t use any articles, or you stick to another type of determiner:
Note: The symbol [Ø] is used in linguistics and describes a gap. By using it, you can show that something could be at this position, but isn’t due to language singularities.
It’s also important to know that only countable nouns can appear with an indefinite article.
Differentiating “A” and “An” as Indefinite Articles
If you are certain about using an indefinite (and singular) article, you only need to distinguish between the two existing forms, “a” and “an.” This distinction is not a grammatical one, but rather traces back to phonetics (pronunciation).
This is valid for the majority of words. It’s just easier to connect two consecutive vowels if you put an “n” in between. Furthermore, this distinction is noticeable in oral speech. The definite article the is spoken /ðə/ (roughly the same vowel sound as then). But it becomes /ði/ (with the same vowel as in these).
| Exam-ples | Using “a” as the indefinite article | Using “an” as the indefinite article |
|---|---|---|
| Nouns | pair, plant, ship, cat, ghost, pseudonym, school, king, state, feeling, mind, child, etc. | airplane, oath, article, itch, angel, imagination, eagle, etc. |
| Adj. | great price, long distance, high status, etc. | eerie silence, early start, indefinite article, etc. |
It doesn’t matter if the following word is an adjective or a noun: Use “an” always in front of a vowel.
Unfortunately, there are exceptions to this rule. As the letters don’t necessarily correspond to identical sounds in each context, look out for distinct representations:
- Silent “h” at the beginning.
- The letters “u,” or “eu” sometimes represent the sound “yoo” at the beginning of a word.
- Moreover, words like one don’t start with a vowel phonetically, but with an invisible “w.”
But: a house, a humble person, a hint, etc.
But: an unclear situation, an umbrella, etc.
- A: 2, 3, 10, t, k, g, q, – (minus), + (plus), ? (question mark), etc.
- An: 8, 11, 853, f, e, n, (all vowels), * (asterisk), etc.
How the Determiner “An” Has Left Its Traces
Due to this distinction between “a” and “an,” there have been some etymological changes, too. Have you ever wondered why Spanish calls an orange “una naranja”—so starting with the letter “n,” as its Arabic origin “nārandsch” ( نارنج)?
English used to call it “a norange.” But over time, people misinterpreted the unit as an orange. The same phenomenon happened with these words.
| Word in Modern English | Original form |
|---|---|
| An apron | a “naperon” (Old French/ Latin, like napkin) |
| An adder | a “nadder” (Proto-Germanic) |
| An oak | a “noke” (Old Norse) |
Funnily enough, the opposite development occurred as well.
| Word in Modern English | Original form |
|---|---|
| A notch | an “otch” (Middle English) |
| A newt | an “ewt” (Middle English) |
| A nickname | an “eke name” (Old English) → “eke”: to lengthen |
LanguageTool is definitely helpful when using articles in general. Furthermore, it differentiates between “a” and “an,” and always knows which nouns are countable to help you pick the right determiner. LanguageTool is a helpful tool, an intelligent writing assistant, and the best choice for stylistically good texts.
