{"id":2554,"date":"2013-02-21T09:00:54","date_gmt":"2013-02-21T14:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/?p=2554"},"modified":"2014-08-06T11:10:06","modified_gmt":"2014-08-06T15:10:06","slug":"how-to-say-a-and-the-even-if-you-think-you-already-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/how-to-say-a-and-the-even-if-you-think-you-already-know\/","title":{"rendered":"How to say \u201ca\u201d and \u201cthe\u201d \u2013 even if you think you already know\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

The letter ‘a’ is so many things, it is the first letter of the alphabet, a vowel, an indefinite article, and one of the shortest words in English!<\/p>\n

Today I wanted to talk a little about how to say \u2018a\u2019 when it is used as an indefinite article and also how to say ‘the’ the definite article.<\/p>\n

You might be surprised to know that there is more than one way to say both of these small simple words.<\/p>\n

First of all let\u2019s define what an indefinite article is.<\/p>\n

indefinite article<\/strong>: an article (either \u2018a\u2019 or \u2018an\u2019) that is used to introduce a noun phrase when the thing referred to is nonspecific<\/p>\n

There are two ways to say \u2018a\u2019 when it is used as an indefinite article, these two pronunciations are: \u201caye\u201d (\/e\u026a\/) or \u201cuh\u201d (\/\u0259\/).<\/p>\n

Both pronunciations are correct and it is really a matter of personal preference which one you use.\u00a0 Most American (as well as Brits and Australians) use both forms, switching between the two depending on which one flows best with the word that follows \u2018a\u2019.\u00a0 There are no real rules for deciding which pronunciation to use.\u00a0 Using the different pronunciations is something native English speakers don\u2019t consciously think about for the most part, it just happens.\u00a0 You might want to practice both pronunciations and see which one you like best.<\/p>\n

Now, the definite article \u2018the\u2019 in English also has more than one way that it can be pronounced too!<\/p>\n

definite article<\/strong>: a determiner that introduces a noun phrase and implies that the thing mentioned has already been mentioned, is common knowledge, or is about to be defined<\/p>\n

There are two ways to say this article.\u00a0 The can be pronounced as “thuh” (\u00f0\u0259) and “thee” (\u00f0i).\u00a0 With \u2018the\u2019 there is a general rule for knowing which pronunciation to use. If the word following \u2018the\u2019 starts with a consonant sound, you pronounce \u2018the\u2019 as \u2018thuh.\u2019 If the word following \u2018the\u2019 starts with a vowel sound, you pronounce \u2018the\u2019 as \u2018thee.\u2019 This is not a absolute rule and there is also a certain amount of personal preference in how native English speakers pronounce \u2018the\u2019 much like the preference in how English speakers pronounce \u2018a\u2019.\u00a0 So, there is no need to worry if you do not follow the \u201crule\u201d stated above.<\/p>\n

Luckily for you, there is only one more article in English, which is the article \u2018an\u2019 and this article can only be pronounced one way \u201cann\u201d (\u00e6n).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

The letter ‘a’ is so many things, it is the first letter of the alphabet, a vowel, an indefinite article, and one of the shortest words in English! Today I wanted to talk a little about how to say \u2018a\u2019 when it is used as an indefinite article and also how to say ‘the’ the…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":85,"featured_media":2556,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[135370],"tags":[14,11087,3153,3638,13470],"class_list":["post-2554","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english-vocabulary","tag-a","tag-an","tag-definite-article","tag-indefinite-article","tag-the"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t