English as an Additional Language/Articles and Adjectives

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Next up we will learn two very important things: articles and adjectives.

[edit] Articles

Like other languages, English has a definite and an indefinite article. Unlike most Romance languages, English has no gender of nouns and so the articles don't change at all.

• Definite article (used when the noun or nouns are already known):
  • The
• Indefinite article (used when the noun or nouns is not already known):
  • For singular nouns: a
  • For singular nouns beginning in a vowel or a silent "h:" an Note that often "a" is used in front of vowels for some words; you will have to learn the exceptions individually.
  • For plural nouns, the closest thing to an article would be some.

[edit] Adjectives

Remember that an adjective describes a noun. In English, adjectives are usually placed before the noun, for example:

• The red apple.
• A soft sheep.
• An angry dragon.
• The silly boys.
• Some hard rocks.

Also, English adjectives do NOT pluralize, or agree with gender:

• The red apples, NOT The reds apples
• Some tall women, NOT Some talles women