Indefinite articles with singular countable nouns

Hi guys, Dan from BBC Learning English here. In this lesson I’m going to talk to you about the indefinite article.

Now I’m not going to waste your time telling you that English has two indefinite articles - a and an . And I ‘m also not going to waste your time telling you that the indefinite article is only used with singular countable nouns. For example, look - a cup.

That means no plural nouns, so no pens and no uncountable nouns, so no tea.

And all in 90 seconds! I hope. Are you ready? Here we go.

We use the indefinite article with singular countable nouns when we introduce something to someone for the first time. Often in the context of stories, but not always. For example:

I have a really big house and in my house is a big TV. And a big dog - so don’t touch my TV! OK? Good.

We also use the indefinite article when classifying nouns into groups. And this is very common when we talk about people’s jobs, for example:

I’m a teacher. Hey, don’t laugh! I am. I can prove it. Oh, it doesn ‘t matter.

Look, OK. Oranges are a fruit. Tigers are a dangerous animal.

Finally, we use the indefinite article when making exclamations particularly with the word ‘what’. For example:

What a lovely day! What an interesting teacher! What a useful video!

If you want to include a verb, this goes at the end of the sentence and the subject and the verb change places.

So: What a lovely day it is! What an interesting teacher he is! What a useful video this is!

Have you got it? Good.

If you need more information you can check on our website at bbclearningenglish.com

I’ve been Dan. You’ve been amazing. Have a fantastic day.

Ah! So good! Bye guys.