The Difference Between 'A' and 'An' | Grammar Genius

To tackle the two English articles, "a" and "an", we will first have to distinguish between vowels and consonants.  

For the sake of easy understanding, we can remember these two groups of sounds as: 

Vowels -> /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/ sounds 
Consonants -> all other basic sounds (e.g. /b/, /p/, /d/, /k/, /m/)

Contrary to popular belief, we do not simply look at the spelling of a word to determine the indefinite article we should tag to it. Instead of looking at the actual letters, we have to discern whether a word begins with a vowel or consonant sound.

The rules are as such: 

1. Use "a" before a consonant sound 

Example 1: a boy -> [boy] starts with a /b/ sound, which is a consonant sound. 

Example 2: a uniform -> even though [uniform] begins with a vowel letter, /u/, it actually starts with a /y/ sound, as in /yu/, which is a consonant sound. 


2. Use "an" before a vowel sound

Example 1: an apple -> [apple] starts with an /aih/ sound, which is a vowel sound. 

Example 2: an hour -> even though [hour] begins with a consonant letter, /h/, it actually starts with an /au/ sound, which is a vowel sound. 

Tip: If you are unsure, just pronounce the word out loud and listen to the starting sound of the word!

With that, I hope you would never be confused again!