In this episode of The A to Z English Podcast, Xochitl and Jack talk about "a" and "an." Transcript: 00:00:00 Jack Hey, A is the English podcast listeners. It's Jack here and we just want to announce that we are now on WeChat. Our WeChat ID is A-Z English podcast that is A-Z English podcast, one word all lowercase. 00:00:17 Jack And if you. 00:00:18 Jack Join the group. You will be able to talk with me. You'll be able to. 00:00:22 Jack Talk with social. 00:00:23 Jack And we can answer your questions. We can read your comments on the podcast. So we'd love for you to join us and be active in our we chat group. Our WeChat ID is A-Z English podcast. Thanks. See you on the app. 00:00:50 Jack Welcome to the A-Z English podcast. My name is Jack and I'm here with my co-host social. And today we are in the grammar zone and we're going to talk about ohh and on. 00:01:02 Jack In social, what is the difference between those two articles? Why do we? 00:01:07 Jack Why do we separate those? We have two different words for them. 00:01:12 Xochitl UM. 00:01:13 Xochitl Because they have to agree with the next word. So if. 00:01:20 Xochitl The next word starts with a the vowel. Then it has to be a N. 00:01:26 Xochitl So, for example, an elephant an A A. 00:01:33 Jack An igloo. 00:01:34 Xochitl On apple. 00:01:35 Jack Yeah. 00:01:36 Xochitl Yeah, an English an apple. And if it's a, it's because the next the following thing that you're referring to. Uh. Noun that you're referring to, I guess, usually starts with a a consonant and not a vowel. So it'd be like a pie, a cake. 00:01:56 Xochitl A A car. 00:01:59 Xochitl And etcetera, etcetera. Just anything that starts with the continent and then on and. 00:02:04 Jack A podcast. 00:02:06 Xochitl Yeah, podcast. 00:02:07 Jack MHM. 00:02:09 Xochitl And an is for anything that starts with. 00:02:11 Xochitl A vowel, I think. 00:02:12 Xochitl It's because it it does sound. It does make it sound smoother, like think about saying a elephant or a elephant instead of an an elephant. It just avoids your vowel noises all mushing together. 00:02:21 Jack Yes. 00:02:27 Jack Right. It's very awkward in English to have two vowel sounds together. You we can't do that, right? They need to be interrupted by a consonant sound like uh. 00:02:39 Jack Uh, like a a egg is is 2 two vowel sounds together, right? 00:02:45 Jack So yeah, we can't. It's just a, it's a a phonetic rule in English that you just. 00:02:45 발표자 Yeah. 00:02:52 Jack It's much easier if you break it up with the with the consonant. So we say on an egg, an apple. Any glue like that. 00:03:02 Xochitl Well, thanks. 00:03:03 Jack Yeah. 00:03:05 Xochitl Yeah, I think that's pretty much it. It just keep in mind. 00:03:09 Xochitl If it's going to start with a consonant, make sure that you are using A and then if it's going to start with the vowel, the next following we're just going to start with the vowel. Make sure that you're doing AN on and yeah, that's. 00:03:21 Jack Right. 00:03:22 Jack What about? What about a an hour? 00:03:25 Jack And that's an H. 00:03:26 Xochitl Uh. 00:03:27 Jack So we should say our. 00:03:28 Xochitl Yeah, that's true. 00:03:30 Xochitl Yeah, but you don't you say an hour. Ha. There are some exceptions to this rule, and I think it comes down to if that consonant is silent and our age is silent. So you're still making two vowel sounds. So you would do an AM hour instead. 00:03:42 발표자 Right. 00:03:49 Jack What about source? Yeah. 00:03:49 Xochitl Of an hour. 00:03:52 Xochitl But see, that's not. 00:03:54 Jack It's not horse. Yeah, we say on horse. 00:03:56 Xochitl Yeah, I don't know why is it like that. Jake. Jack. 00:04:01 Jack My my name is Jack by. 00:04:02 Jack The way no, no, no, you're you. You are. You're exactly right. It it doesn't. The rule is not. It's not a spelling rule. 00:04:12 Jack It's a. It's a. It's a phonetic rule. It's a sound rule, so if it sounds like a vowel, we use on and so our is a silent H so we say