How to Say English Articles A and AN

A1–A2ArticlesMarch 12, 2026

Transcript

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hey there and welcome i'm keenan and

this

is the clear english corner in this

quick tip lesson

we're going to clear up any and all

confusion about the pronunciation

of these two tiny words

a and an right

actually no the only time

you would actually say a and an

is if you're specifically talking about

these words

for example the articles a

and n precede a non-specific noun

the rest of the time in connected

conversational speech

a and an will reduce

a becomes

a day what a day

a mistake i think it's a mistake

a discussion let's have a discussion

a solution we need a solution

the word and becomes an

it's super quick i'll have an orange

haven't haven't

have an orange i'll have an orange

it's an easy fix and easy it's in

it's in it's an easy

it's an easy fix he's an average student

he's in he's in he's an average student

that was an easy question was and

was an easy was an

easy that was an easy question

she has an interesting story has and

has has an interesting

she has an interesting story you can

always pronounce the words this way

they're always going to reduce

a is going to sound like a and

is gonna sound like an again unless

you're talking about these specific

words

you couldn't say i'm confused about uh

and also some quick clarification about

when to use a

versus an or a versus un

use a a before a word that begins

with a consonant sound a cat

a fan half a day one at a time

and use an or un before words that begin

with a vowel sound an option

an example an incredible day

an excellent meal now notice

i said vowel and consonant sounds

not letters don't get tricked up here

a university a european

a one-time thing even though you see a

vowel

a letter at the beginning of these words

the sound you hear pronounced

is actually a consonant sound

a university the

y consonant same thing in

european a european

and the word one it starts with the

letter

o but the sound is the consonant

w a one time thing

and don't be fooled by words like this

our

honor honest

even though you see the consonant letter

h

that h is silent and the first sound you

hear

in each word is actually a vowel sound

so it's an hour an hour

i'll be there in an hour the ow

is in brown sound an honor

an honor the ah as in olive is the first

sound in that word

an honor it's an honor to meet you

and honest and honest again we have our

ah as an olive sound at the beginning of

this word

he's not an honest person to sum it

up a and an will always reduce

to uh use a

in front of consonant sounds and use un

in front of words that begin with vowel

sounds

makes sense and what about this little

word

t-h-e the the

how do we say this one don't worry we'll

answer

that question in this lesson so be sure

to check it out

as always thanks so much for tuning in

and i'll see you next time

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