hello and welcome to the next video
today I'm going to teach you about a
very difficult confusing fun may be
grammar point called articles oh really
yeah
articles are confusing they are there
are many many rules in English about
articles I do not have the time the
energy to teach you all of them but I'll
do my best
ok and what are articles first of all
articles are ah and and the articles
come before a noun a noun is a person a
place or a thing so I'm going to
generalize here and say that before most
nouns in English you have to use an
article of course there are millions of
exceptions to what I've just said and
sometimes we do not use an article with
a noun that's a whole other lesson all
of the time-warp for your brain we're
gonna stick to these ones when to use ah
and and the before a noun in a proper
English sentence we use these when we
speak when we write and they're very
important in grammar so there's no way
to avoid these I'll help you don't worry
the first one is an and Zizi it's the
easiest we'll do this one first and is a
singular noun is used in the singular
now it's an article and we use it before
the noun that starts with a vowel now
the pronunciation of this word
sounds like vow will the vowels in
English we have five vowels in English
they are a e i o and you now everyone
who speaks Spanish Portuguese Italian
any of our Latin American friends or our
Latin language speakers you're gonna mix
up these two vowels E and I let me teach
you one thing that'll help you if you
can remember that you have to dot your
eye you're gonna get the pronunciation
of this word so this word or this letter
sorry when you write this letter you
always have to put a big a dot in the
middle of a word so you're gonna
remember this this I you can make a nice
little eye here to help you so I when
you write this word by itself you have
to use a capital so this would only be
in the middle of a word but the
pronunciation is the same I so if you
have a vowel AEIOU that begins the noun
you have to use an for example hi yay we
have to say and I because the word I
begin to the vowel if the word begins
with this word with this letter I for
example ice cream yay
we have to say I'd like an ice cream do
you like ice cream or if the word begins
with a vowel sound how can what is a
vowel sound Ronnie a vowel sound is
usually always the letter H for example
the word our we do not even say the H
word
it sounds like we're saying our so
because this word our sounds like a
vowel because the H is silent we have to
say an hour okay you got it you're with
me an hour so and we used before a vowel
or before a vowel sound usually a noun
that begins with an H the next one is ah
the very first letter of our alphabet ah
Isabel don't let that confuse you
ah we use for again a singular noun all
of these are going to be used with
singular now if the noun is plural if
the noun has an S do not use an article
so ah we use for a singular noun in a
general form you can think of this
easier as using replacing it with the
word any so if you go to a coffee shop
and they have five muffins and they're
all the same muffin you're going to say
to the person that works at the coffee
shop hello I'd like a muffin you do not
get to choose or pick what muffin you
get you can choose the flavor but you
cannot specifically choose which muffin
you would like it's the same as saying
any it's like saying I'd like any muffin
just give me I'm off and I wanna my
friend I'd like anything just give me
something okay it's used for when you
don't care which one it is you just want
one of something ah if my nose was
stuffy and I had to blow my nose
I would ask someone do you have
ah Kleenex I don't have to go through
the box of Kleenexes no I don't want
that one no yes this no bit you're just
gonna get a Kleenex and you're gonna
blow your nose okay so uh and an the
only difference is and you use before a
vowel as an example you can say I'd like
ah
cookie I was gonna write coffee maybe I
want to copy right now but I would
definitely rather have a cookie I don't
care which cookie you give me dish every
hour okay
Cookie Monster okay so I'd like a cookie
I'd like any cookie the next is the next
is the the is opposite to ah the means
something very very very specific
general and specific are opposites
this means you actually choose which one
you are going to get think about this
when you go shopping you do not walk
into a store and go hi could I have a
shirt I don't care what it looks like I
don't care how much it is just give me a
shirt this never happens ladies when you
go shopping for shoes you just don't go
into the shoe store and say just a pair
of shoes please just a pair of shoes
don't care size 8 find anything no we
want to go through all of the shoes we
want to try them all on
we want to get a handbag and match them
with our shoes and choose the shoes of
our dreams so you're gonna snot say ah
pair of shoes you're gonna say the shoes
another very confusing thing about song
is the second time you talk about the
same noun in a phrase you have to put
the second noun with da for example this
is a little more difficult
I bought some fruit okay fruit is an
uncountable noun if the noun is
uncountable we do not use an article I
bought some fruit the fruit was bad but
Ronny you just said if it's an
uncountable noun we don't use an article
what are you doing
have you lost your mind no this is a
grammar rule the first time I talk about
the fruit I use no article because it's
uncountable but then the second time I'm
talking about the same noun I have two I
don't know why I just have two it's a
rule so I have to say the fruit the
fruit was bad the third point when we
use the article da the article da
amusing articles all the time is when
the speaker and the listener or the
reader whatever if you're reading or
listening no they both know which now
you are talking about for example if you
and your friends go to the same school
you have to say the school if I was
talking to my friend on the phone and I
said hey yeah oh I left my book at the
school my friend and I both know what
school I am talking about in my city
there are two point five million schools
there's a lot of schools in Toronto
there are two point five million people
I
and a lot of people go to different
schools but because my friend and I go
to the same school I have to say the
school I'm going to go to the school
tomorrow
you and I both know we're talking about
the same one okay the next one is we use
with countries but only 1% of the
countries of the world so I ask you what
country are you from I am from Canada we
have listeners from all over the world I
would guarantee that 99% of you would
not use an article with your country
name I come from Canada below Canada
there's a country it's a big country
called anyone know hello Canada
geography time the United States of
America or shorter the USA a lot of
people their ancestors in Canada came
from a country or a group of countries
called the United Kingdom the United
Kingdom and there's a country in the
Middle East's called the United Arab
Emirates is anyone from there I went
there once in an airplane school and the
United States the United Kingdom the
United Arab Emirates all of these three
countries we have to use the because
there is the word United in the title of
the country I do not say that Canada I
do not say that Japan if the word has
United in it I say that the second one
is if the country has more than two
words in the name you're gonna say the
for example New Zealand New Zealand only
has two words I do not say that New
Zealand if it has more than two words I
have to put da in front of the country
the last one is the most difficult if
you are like me and did not do well in
geography class
this one's hard we have to use the if
the country is comprised of tiny or
small islands I do not expect everyone
in the world to know which countries are
made of small islands but to help you
out off the top of my head the
Philippines if you look at a map the
Philippines has many many little islands
that make one country another example
would be the West Indies the Canary
Islands these are all places that have
small islands that form one country so
if you look at Japan for example Japan
has maybe five or more Islands but
they're quite large see we cannot use
this as the Japan they have to be very
small Islands
I hope you understand this if you have a
question please leave me a comment if
you need more help with this please ask
me bye