a/an (the indefinite article)

Used: a before a word beginning with a consonant (ex. a man a street a hat) BUT: a European an before words beginning with a vowel (ex. an egg an uncle an island) BUT: an hour a/an before nouns mentioned for the first time (ex. I need a visa. He bought an ice-cream.) before nouns which are used as an example of a class of things (ex. A child needs love. (all children need love)) in expressions of price, speed, ratio, etc. (ex. four times a day 50 kilometres an hour) Used:

the (the definite article)

when the object or groups of objects are unique (ex. the earth the equator the stars) before a noun which has become definite as a result of being mentioned the second time (ex. His car struck a tree; you can still see marks on the tree. ) before a noun made definite by the addition of a phrase or clause (ex. the place where I met him the girl in blue the man I love) before certain proper names (ex. the Alps the Atlantic the Sahara the Nile) before adjectives representing a class of people (ex. the old (old people in general))