19 - articles : "a/an" and "the"

The use of articles is not always very easy, especially as they are employed slightly differently in English and French.

"A/an" - the indefinite article - is used when:

1/ introducing something new or which has not been mentioned previously, eg: Our neighbours are having a party this weekend, and we have been invited.

2/ referring to things (countable objects!) which are members of a group, eg: I would like a ham sandwich, please.

3/ referring to professions, eg: She gave up her job in finance to become a teacher.

"The" - the definite article - is used when referring to something singular or plural which has been defined previously or is specific/definite in other ways.

1/ The teacher gave us a long reading list, but said that the most important books to read are the course books at the top of the list.

2/ The foreign student who came to the class is on an Erasmus exchange. (This suggests that there is only one foreign student in the class.)

NO articles are used:

1/ When making general statements about things, eg:

Water is becoming more and more expensive. (In this case, water, which is a mass or uncountable noun is not defined or specified in any way. It therefore does not take an article - this is different from French.)

Cars are an important source of pollution. (This too is a general statement about cars and so takes no article.  It should be noted, however, that "car" is a countable noun.  When countable nouns are used to make a general statement, they are usually used in the plural!)

2/ No articles are used for countries and languages, eg:
-France is western Europe's largest country. (With the United States, the United Kingdom or the French Republic, the "States", the "Kingdom" and the "Republic" are specific, and so they do take "the" - NOTE, the US takes a singular verb).

- French is spoken in many countries.