Overview
Next up we will learn two very important things: articles and adjectives. Both articles and adjectives typically occur before the noun they modify, with articles occurring before adjectives.
Articles
Like other languages, English has a definite and an indefinite article. Unlike most Romance languages, English has no gender of nouns and so the articles don't change at all. * Definite article (used when the noun or nouns are already known): ** The * Indefinite article (used when the noun or nouns is not already known): ** For singular nouns: a ** For singular nouns beginning in a vowel or a silent "h:" an Note that often "a" is used in front of vowels for some words; you will have to learn the exceptions individually. ** For plural nouns, the closest thing to an article would be some.
Adjectives
Remember that an adjective describes a noun. In English, adjectives are always placed before the noun, for example: * The red apple. * A soft sheep. * An angry dragon. * The silly boys. * Some hard rocks. Also, English adjectives do NOT agree with number or gender: * The red apples, NOT The reds apples * Some tall women, NOT Some talles women The exception, however is the adjective "blond", which agrees with gender in writing: * The blond boy, but; * The blonde girl. This is not strictly observed, however. Either "blond" or "blonde" is acceptable, and you are unlikely to be noticed using the feminine form for a male noun or vice versa.