A or an?

APParently the rule is simple: you use the article "a" always, except when the word following (noun/adjective) starts with a vocal, in this case you use "an".
The aim of this rule is to make pronunciation easier.

i.e:
-a peach/ an orange
-a squid/ an octopus.
-a continent/ an island

However , as usual there are exceptions to the rule:

-some vowels are sometimes pronounced as if they were consonants.
-also "h" sometimes is not pronounced.


So  for example, we say:

-a unique event (this is because we pronounce the letter "u" in unique as a hard "y" sound (yoounique), but we say an unusual event.

-a horrid man (because we pronounce the "h" in horrid) but we say an honourable gentleman (as we don´t pronounce the "h").
So the rule is: if the "h" is pronounced the correct article is "a", if it is not, the correct article will be "an".


-a football match (because we pronounce the "f" sound in football), but we say an FA Cup final (as we pronounce that F as "eff", it sounds as if it begins with a vowel and so we say "an" and not "a". This applys to similar cases of abbreviations, like MP or SAS,...

So what you have to see is if the noun/adjective following the article starts with a vowel sound or not. You have to pay attention to the sound, not to the spelling of the word.


We also need to know that there are cases where we don´t use articles in Spanish, but WE DO in English:

1. With profeSSions/ oCCupation: She is a doctor (Ella es médico).
2. With numbers: A hundred/ a thousand (Cien/ mil).
3. With What...!: What a nice day! (¡Qué día tan bonito!).
4. With these expreSSions of frequency: Once a month/ twice a year (Una vez al mes/ Dos veces al año. No una vez a un mes/ dos veces a un año).

I hope you´re having an amazing Christmas!