When do we say "the cat" and when do we say "a cat"?

“The” and “A / An” are called "articles".

We divide them into "definite" and "indefinite" articles like this:

Definite　　　Indefinite

　The　　　　　　　A, An

We use "definite" to mean sure, certain.

"Definite" is particular.

We use "indefinite" to mean not sure, not certain.

"Indefinite" is general.

When we are talking about one thing in particular, we use “the”.

When we are talking about one thing in general, we use “a” or “an”.

Think of the sky at night.

In the sky there is 1 moon and millions of stars.

So normally we would say:

I saw the moon last night.

I saw a star last night.

Here are some examples:

Of course, often we can use “the” or “a / an” for the same word.
It depends on the situation.

Here are some examples:

We want to buy an umbrella.
(Any umbrella, not a particular umbrella.)

Where is the umbrella?
(We already have an umbrella. We are looking for our umbrella, a particular umbrella.)

This short story should help you understand the difference between “the” and “a, an”:

A man and a woman were walking in Ginza Street.

The woman saw a purse that she liked in a shop.

She asked the man if he could buy the purse for her.

He said: "Do you think the shop will accept a check?

I don't have a credit card."

Adjectives:

There are 2 basic positions for adjectives:

1. Before the noun
2. After certain verbs such as;
(be, become, get, seem, look, feel, sound, smell, taste).

We sometimes use more than one adjective before the noun:

I like big brown dogs.

She was wearing a beautiful short black dress.

What is the correct order for two or more adjectives?

The general order is: opinion, fact:

A nice Japanese car.

Not: A Japanese nice car.

“Opinion” is what you think about something.

“Fact” is what is definitely true about something.

The normal order for fact adjectives is;

size, age, shape, color, material, origin.

A big, old, square, black, wooden Chinese table.

Determiners usually come first, even though they are fact adjectives:

Articles, determiners, and quantifiers are those little words that precede and modify nouns.

1. Articles = (a, the)

2. Possessives = (my, your...)

3. Demonstratives = (this, that...)

4. Quantifiers = (some, any, few, many...)

5. Numbers = (one, two, three)

Here is an example with opinion and fact adjectives:

When we want to use two color adjectives, we join them with “and”:

1. Newspapers are usually black and white.

2. She was wearing a long, white and green dress.

These rules are not always rigid.

Consider the following conversations:

Conversation # 1:
A: “I want to buy a round table.”
B: “Do you want a new round table or an old round table?

Conversation # 2:
A: “I want to buy an old lamp.”
B: “Do you want a round old lamp or a square old lamp?”

We can use an adjective after certain verbs.

Even though the adjective is after the verb, it does not describe the verb.

It describes the subject of the verb, usually a noun or pronoun.

For example:

Subject　verb　 adjective.

1. Ritsuko is Japanese.

2. Because he had to wait, he became impatient.

3. Is it getting cold?

4. The examination did not seem difficult.

5. Your sister looks friendly.

6. This towel feels damp.

7. That new movie doesn't sound very interesting.

8. Dinner smells good tonight.

9. This milk tastes sour.

Tongue Twisters:

1. Unyielding umpires, usually use ugly underwear.
　Ukrainian ushers, unwisely unwrap umbrellas.

2. Vital Venetian vegetables, vibrate very violently.
　Vacationing Vikings, valiantly visit vampire vaults.

3. Writing wonderfully, will worry world writers.
　Wise whales wiggle, while watching white wombats.

4. Xmas xylophones, excite X-rated Xenophobia‘s. [Zen a phobias]
　Excellent x-rays, expel external xylem.

5. Yugoslavian’s yearly, yearn for yellow yachts.
　Yesterday, yawning youngsters yelled, “Yahoo”!

6. Zanzibar zodiac zealots, zap zippy Zulus.
　Zombie zones, make zealous zookeepers zany.

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