Use of A/An/The ...... Articles

I'll try to focus my attention on it but I have a class in 5 mins. You are welcome, AS. I finish at 9pm so if my wife isn't using the laptop, I'll try and help out.

M, it's still 'a' in that case. It's like 'następnym razem', another time (meaning one other time in the future, czyli 'a'). We say 'a hard time'.

Thank you. Have a good class.

Poles do not wory so much about this because even native English speakers make these mistakes. The most famous example is surely that of the astronaut who was supposed to say "One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind" but instead said "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind". Without the article "a" before it "man" is synonomous with "mankind" and thus the astronaut's proclaimation contradicted itself.

Not true. Neil Armstrong has always said that he included the article, and a year or so ago an Australian audio engineer "found" the article on the recording. Native speakers of English are almost "hard wired" for articles, so it would be hard not to use one when it's needed.

This will be off topic and will be most likely deleted by our mods, but your example reminded me of JFK, when he went to Berlin. To express his unity with the city he said "Ich bin ein Berliner". Berliner used without the article would mean the inhabitant of Berlin, however using it with ein refers to some local kind of jelly doughnut.

If you ask nicely, I'll send you my worksheet on uses of "however".

Yes, Marynka. Interestingly, the Nordic languages' speakers perfectly understand the English articles since their languages involve at least definite articles. Example: "Dal" means a valley, while "Dalen" means the valley.

However, Hoover was a suspicious man, therefore...

Teflcat, by George, don't vex us! How could one use "however" wrongly?

wtf happened to this thread. If you want the skinny on the word, e-mail me.

Wrong, Armstrong said he "would hope that history would grant me leeway for dropping the syllable and understand that it was certainly intended, even if it was not said – although it might actually have been".

[The word] Berliner used without the article would mean the inhabitant of Berlin. However, using it with ein refers to some local kind of jelly doughnut.

I bet all knew the point being conveyed, however.

I've just googled the word "proofs" and I have more than 24 mlns results. So is it countable or uncountable?

So we should say:
Give me proof not Give me a proof
I need advice not I need an advice
Evidence show not An evidence shows or The evidences show

am I right?

What about I need more proofs ? Is it mean that the correct form is I need more proof?

The truth is that there are many meanings of 'proof,' and in some cases you'd say, I need more proof, and sometimes, I need more proofs.

A good dictionary helps.

The other thing to mention that languages evolve, and a lot of structures that would be considered grammatically (or stylistically) incorrect a short while ago, are now perfectly acceptable.

court proofs or court proof?
mathematical proofs?
proof of your loyalty, proofs of your lotalty?


My dictionary has only 3 meanings of that word. One the general meaning which is a synonym of evidence, 2 other are connected with pre-press.

Even among our own Slavic cousins, e.g. the Bulgarians use article clitics much as do the Scandinavians, except of course the Finns-:))

oxforddictionaries.com
merriam-webster.com

these are not the greatest, but good in a pinch

proof as in evidence is uncountable; proof as in a test copy, is countable
so legal proof, mathematical proof, proof of loyalty

but you have to remember that rules of grammar cannot be followed blindly. it depends on the meaning, or the situation.
education e.g. is technically uncountable, but you can say, I received a good education.
love is technically uncountable, but you can say, I have a deep love for books.
experience is also technically uncountable, but you can say, We're looking for someone with a solid experience in networking.

ItsAllAboutME

Thank you for your thorough explanation :)

Whenever I go over my parents English letters to important people for errors I always see them
missing a, an, the. But since Polish does not really have these I don't so much mind.
(Even though we've been in Canada for like 25 years now.)

Proof is just proof most of the time. We can incorporate 'a' when we add a counter or quantifier, e.g you don't have a shred of proof :) The thread has gone a bit haywire since I left it.

I've seen Poles write a + plural which is just horrible, e.g a chairs :( It could be a set of chairs.

Shit gets confusing when you begin to learn foreign languages other than English, eg. Spanish or German. The rules are similar but not quite the same and in specific situations you are likely to forget in which language you should apply (or not) the necessary article.

Examples:
English - I am a student.
German - Ich bin Student.

English - Alexander the Great
Spanish - Alejandro Magno
etc.

It's a nightmare, especially since for me, a proud Slav, the concept of definite/indefinite articles is artificial, unnecessary and garbage.

/whining

How is it artificial? A is one of sth and then we have plural forms. It makes things easier a lot of the time.

If you start a grammar thread, at least use the full spelling and not mobile phone text.

It's artificial since in Polish we don't use it at all and never miss its absence. So, yeah. Especially since in English you often skip the indefinite article in situations that you still use it in Spanish, which shows you that not using them may not use to ambiguities.

I know I'm ranting, it's an inherent part of Germanic/Romance languages and I need to accept it, but I get frustrated when I try to apply the same rules in German or Spanish as I do in English and often turn out wrong.

It was said, as exhaustive examination of the recording has shown. But let's move on.

What's the difference between "I speak little Polish" and "I speak a little Polish"?

I love to teach articles as it's probably the hardest thing for speakers of any language which doesn't use them to comprehend.

well the first one is negative, meaning you might know just one or two words, while the second is positive, meaning you do speak a bit, enough to "get by" perhaps.

Both of these may be correct, but in the first instance it must mean that one seldom speaks Polish without stipulating how fluent one is in Polish, while the latter instance is a statement about one's limited fluency in Polish.

cool example! Can I ask for more? :)))

I have a little money/I have little money....??

Wrong again. teflhead's explanation is pretty much what I tell students. To be fair, it could (not must) mean what DE says.

I have a little money means I have some but not much. I have little money means I am poor and don't have much.

Teflhead is right with the little Vs a little Polish.

OK, given that we don't say advices, informations, news's, furnitures or knowledges etc, can the resident Poles here add some counters to change them into having a plural meaning?!

For example, a beloved favourite of my students is 'an advice'. This is wrong!! How do we make advice singular without using the indefinite article 'an'?

More is on the way but that should serve as a teaser for now :)

For example, a beloved favourite of my students is 'an advice'. This is wrong!! How do we make advice singular without using the indefinite article 'an'?

I got a good advice from you, Seanus. The different pieces of advice I got from you were very useful.
I need some advice from you.
I've bought me some new furniture. I've bought a new piece of furniture.
I need to ask you for some information. The information gathered from different sources was not as good as that from Seanus.
The news about your ban was greatly exaggerated.
My knowledge about your absence is insufficient. Common knowledge is it is easy to get banned from PF.

Hard.

A piece of advice? Let me a give you a peace of advice.

I don't know about the rest.