Question

What does "indefinite articles" mean in english?

Answer 1

Hint: The words that define the identity of nouns are known as articles. We have three articles in English grammar, they are a,an,the. They tell if a noun is specific or unspecific. There are two types of articles 1) Definite 2) Indefinite

Complete answer:
Since articles tell us whether a noun is specific or unspecific. Therefore, we can determine from this characteristic itself, whether the nouns are definite or indefinite.
Definite implies something we are sure about/ something which is clearly stated.
Indefinite implies something we are not sure about/ something which is not clearly stated.

In the case of the articles if the article defines a specific noun then it is a definite article.
Whereas if the article defines a non-specific noun then it is an indefinite article.

Indefinite articles in English implies the articles ‘a and an’ because they do not specify the noun. For e.g. We can say ‘a girl’ but we cannot tell who the girl is. It can be any girl Reena, Meena Sheena etc.

Rules associated with indefinite articles:
- ‘A’ is used only with a singular noun whose identity is not known.
- ‘A’ is used with nouns that begin with a consonant sound.
- ‘An’ is also used only with singular nouns whose identity is not specific.
- ‘An’ is used with nouns that begin with a vowel sound.

Note: In indefinite articles ‘an’ is used with only those nouns that have vowel “sounds”. This does not mean that only the words starting with a,e,i,o,u will have ‘an’ instead it means that the words that start with a consonant but have vowel “sound” in the beginning will also use ‘an’. For e.g. Honour, honesty etc.