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Welcome back to the Coffee Break English Show.
I'm Mark.
And I'm Josie.
In these weekly episodes, we're helping you to improve your English while you have a
coffee break with us.
You can subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen to your podcasts.
Or if you're watching our video version, then why not subscribe to our channel on YouTube.
So Mark, what's our topic for today's lesson?
Today we're talking about a very important topic.
And that is when to use the for general and specific things.
Yes we are.
Let's get started.
There's something very important that we need to focus on at the beginning.
And that is that is always for singular things.
But the can be for singular or plural.
That's right.
That's really important to remember to start with.
A or an is for singular.
So we use an when the word we're talking about starts with a vowel.
So we say an elephant and egg and apple.
Okay.
So let's focus first on these singular things.
Yes.
So let's talk first about a.
So a is what we call an indefinite article.
Both a and the are articles.
But a is an indefinite article.
The word indefinite means that we're talking about something that's not specific or that
is general.
So I could say Mark.
I saw a dog yesterday.
So there you're not being specific about that dog.
You've you've never mentioned that dog before.
It's just a dog.
Absolutely.
And you don't know which dog it is.
Is a random dog.
A random dog.
I could say can you give me a pen please.
Yeah.
And in that case you're not asking me for a specific pen.
You just need any pen to write something.
Or we could make a statement, a general statement like a cheetah can run very fast.
That's right.
So we're not talking about one random cheetah.
We're talking about all cheetahs but in the singular form.
So we're talking in general there.
So here we're looking at general non-specific things.
But we would use the for more specific things.
We know which one we're talking about.
That's right.
The is called a definite article.
So A is indefinite.
The is definite.
It means we definitely know what we're talking about.
So going back to that dog that you saw yesterday, you said I saw a dog yesterday.
But you could give me more information about that dog speaking specifically about that
dog and see the dog was cute.
That's right.
So when we say the dog was cute, because we've already mentioned the dog, we both know now
which dog we're talking about.
It's the dog that Josie saw yesterday.
Yeah.
Okay.
I could also ask you Mark, did you watch the match last night?
So we perhaps haven't spoken about the match yet, but we both support the same team so
we know which match we're talking about.
Yeah, maybe it's a football match or a rugby match and we both like these sports so we
know which match it is.
Yeah.
So when Josie says, did you see the match last night?
I know exactly which match she's talking about.
Yeah.
Okay.
So that's an other for general or non-specific and specific things.
We can also use the for things where there is only one of these things.
So the sky.
That's right.
There's only one sky.
It's the sky.
Or we could talk about, for example, the internet.
There's one internet.
That's right.
We also say the earth.
There's one planet called earth.
Or the sun.
There's one sun for us.
Yep.
And similarly, the moon.
Again, for us, there's only one moon, the moon.
If we live in elsewhere, there may be more moons.
Yeah.
Maybe we would talk about a moon.
Yeah.
One of the moons.
Anyway, there's another situation where we use aah and that's for jobs and professions.
That's right.
So I would say I'm a teacher.
Or he is a doctor and so on.
Yeah, so we need to use this for all jobs and professions.
So far, we've talked about singular situations.
We've used aah as an indefinite article for one non-specific or general thing.
I saw a dog yesterday.
We've used the as the definite article for the specific one we're talking about, the
match.
I saw the match yesterday.
And we've used the four things where there is only one, the sky, the moon, the sun,
and aah for jobs and professions.
That's right.
Let's move on to talking about plural things now.
So the first thing to remember is that if we're talking about more than one thing, so
plural things, we never use aah because aah means one.
Yeah.
This is again, we're depending on which language you speak.
You may find this different because some languages do have indefinite articles in the
plural.
Absolutely.
Yeah, but not in English.
Not in English.
Okay.
So what do we use?
So if we want to talk about something non-specific or some things which are non-specific
because it's plural or general, we don't use an article.
We don't use aah and we don't use the.
Okay.
So for example, just see, I know that you love horror films.
Exactly.
So I love horror films.
This means I love horror films in general, all horror films.
Okay.
We're not being specific here.
We're not saying you love the horror films of a particular director.
We're saying you love all horror films.
So you love horror films.
That's right.
I could also ask you, Mark, do you have pets?
Okay.
And so there's no article in there because we're just being general, do you have pets?
I don't have pets.
Okay.
So we also don't use an article when we're talking about non-specific, uncountable
nouns.
Okay.
That sounds a little complicated.
I think we need some examples here.
Yeah.
So an uncountable noun is something that we don't count.
We think of it as one mass or one lump, one thing together.
Again, let's have an example.
Good idea.
So we say water is an uncountable noun because we can't count water.
It's a liquid.
Also rice.
We don't really count the individual tiny grains of rice, do we?
That would take quite a long time.
Exactly.
I guess you could say the same for pasta.
That's right.
We think of pasta as I'm going to eat some pasta, not five pastas.
So what do we do here about our article?
Do we need an article for non-specific, uncountable nouns?
We don't.
We don't use any article here.
So I could say, for example, I'm really thirsty.
I need to drink water.
Yeah.
I need to drink water.
I don't need to drink the water or not be specific.
I need to drink water.
Stop.
Any water.
It doesn't matter.
Okay.
I could also say, I need information about the project.
So there we're talking about information and that's the uncountable thing.
So I need information about the project.
It's not the information.
We've not been specific about that information.
It's just I need information about the project.
That's right.
So now, if we're talking specifically about plural things, about more than one thing,
we use the.
So before you talked about how I love horror movies, I can say I love horror movies in general.
And the horror movies I watched last week were very scary.
So now we're not talking about just horror movies in general.
We're talking about the specific horror movies that you saw last week.
So those are not general.
Those are specific.
Those ones.
Yeah.
I know which ones I'm talking about.
The horror movies I watched last week.
Yeah.
Before I asked you if you had any pets.
I said no, I don't have any pets.
But the dogs I know are friendly.
Good.
And there you're saying the dogs that you know, you're being quite specific about which
dogs you're talking about.
Yeah, just like your horror movies.
Exactly.
Yeah.
What about for specific uncountable nouns?
So for specific uncountable nouns, remember nouns that we don't count their one mass altogether.
We talked about the information.
Well, the information.
I need information about the project.
Good.
So I could say the information that you gave me is clear.
So there we're now being specific about that information because we are talking about
the information that I gave to Josie for that project.
Absolutely.
And I could say the water that comes from my tap at home is delicious.
Okay.
So now we know which water Josie's talking about.
It's not just water.
I need water.
It's the water from her tap is delicious.
That's right.
Okay.
Okay.
I think that was a lot of information for today.
Let's just review the plural situations.
Can you give us just a summary of the plural situations?
Good idea.
So when we're talking about plural things, we never use a.
If we're talking about non-specific plural things, so more than one thing, we don't use
an article.
I love horror movies.
Do you have pets?
If we're talking about non-specific uncountable nouns, we also don't use an article.
I need information.
I need water.
For specific plural things, we use the.
The horror movies I watched last week.
The dogs I know.
And for specific uncountable nouns, we also used the.
The information you gave me.
The water from my tap.
Excellent.
Lots of information, but hopefully we've all understood it now.
Brue.
We hope that you've enjoyed this lesson about the and a.
If you'd like to see the examples that we've given and more information about the and
a written down, you can have a look at the blog post for this lesson.
You can find the link in the description.
If you'd like even more help with your English, then we provide a free email lesson every week.
You can visit coffeebreaklanguages.com slash English to sign up for that and receive an
email lesson in your inbox.
So look out for your next mini lesson in your inbox and we'll be back next week.
See you soon.
Coffee-Breaking.
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