Use or articles

The great news is that there are only two kinds of articles in English: definite (the) and indefinite (a/an). The bad news is the use of these articles is not as simple as it may seem. To help you out, here's a list of cases you can use as a practical reference (From First Certificate Language Practice, by M. Vince)... hope you find it useful. Here's also some basic practice.

Use of indefinite article a/an

• With something we refer to for the first time I'll give you a call tonight. / I have a great idea
• Where we use an adjective to describe a noun. It's a beautiful day / Cairo is a really big city
• With someone's job Pet is a truck driver.
• With singular fractions, group numbers and large numbers. one and a half kilos/ a dozen eggs / a hundred envelopes
• Meaning per. He was doing ninety miles an hour / Julie earns $800 a week

Use of definite article the

• With nouns we have mentioned previously. There is a bedroom and a living room. The bedroom is quite large.
• With nouns we mention for the first time, but where it is clear which person or thing we are talking about. Can you pass me the jam?
• Where there is only on of something. It is clear which one we are talking about. The moon in full tonight.
• With nouns followed by a descriptive phrase, which makes them definite. This is the man I told you about.
• With national groups. The British drink far too much tea and the Mexicans love tequila.
• With classes of people. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
• With individual items which represent a class. The white tigger is fast disappearing.
• With names of musical instruments that we can play. I can't play the piano, but I can play the guitar.
• With some geographical names. In particular: oceans, seas, rivers, canals and regions. The Thames flows into the North Sea.
• With plural countries, or where the country name contains a noun. The Netherlands / the People's Republic of China / the United States / the United Kingdom
• With superlatives, ordinals, the same, the only. This is the best party ever / You are the first in line / This is the only restaurant I like
• With media. I went to the cinema (the movies) / What's on (the) TV?

Zero article

• With uncountable nouns and plural countalbe nouns where we are talking generally. Football is life / I hate bugs / All he talks about is cars
• With most continents, countries, states, islands, mountains, lakes, citiess, parks, roads and streets, squares, bridges, palaces, castles, cathedrals, stations and airports. We're going to France next month / Take the train from Paddington Station to Bath.
• With company names, years, months, days and special times of the year She works for American Airlines / I'll see you in January
• With names of meals when we are talking generally It's time for lunch/ What's for dinner? But note The lunch I had at Vips was awful / The dinner Sue gave us last night was delicious
• With unique jobs or roles (definite article is also possible in these cases) Jim is (the) chairman of the company.
• With prepositions of place with certain buildings, where the purpose of the buildingis more important than the place itself, for example: bed, church, class, court, hospital, school, prision. Sally is in univeristy (she's a student) / Sally is in the university (she's a visitor to that specific building).
• With means of transport when we are talking generally. We went there by car But note We went there in the car that Alex rented. If we use in or on, we need an indefinite article We went there in a car / on a bus.

PS When in trouble deciding the pronunciation of a word, try this site.