[Grammar] It was a/the beautiful car.

[Dzidzi]

I have trouble with understanding the articles a little bit.
How do I know when to use indefinite or definite article before an adjective?
For example:

It was a beautiful car.
It was the beautiful car.

 

[jutfrank]

Re: Articles

That's not the right question, because adjectives are irrelevant to which type of article you need.

I suggest you find a resource from which you can learn about the basics of article usage.

 

[Dzidzi]

Re: Articles

I know the basics, but why do people keep saying stuff like "That's a nice car"(For example) if they are talking about the specific thing?

 

[Tarheel]

Re: Articles

I know the basics, but why do people keep saying stuff like "That's a nice car"for example) if they are talking about a specific thing?

I don't know. (But maybe somebody has an explanation.)

 

[GoesStation]

Re: Articles

I know the basics, but why do people keep saying stuff like "That's a nice car"(For example) if they are talking about the specific thing?

– What is that?
– It's a car.
– What sort of car?
– A nice one. It's a nice car.

 

[bubbha]

Re: Articles

You're walking along the street, and a car passes you. It's really fancy and expensive. You mention to your friend, "Hey, that's a nice car" and you start talking about that particular car. Some hours later, and you're in a different part of the city. The same car passes by. "Hey, there's the nice car!" you say.

"the" is used with something already known and discussed.

 

[jutfrank]

Re: Articles

One way to understand the use of the indefinite article here is this:

That's a nice car. = That specific car falls into the general class of 'nice cars'.

 

[Rover_KE]

Please note that I have changed your thread title.

Extract from the Posting Guidelines:

'Thread titles should include all or part of the word/phrase being discussed.'

 

[Dzidzi]

I heard a native speaker saying "I need advice" . Why didn't he use any article if the word "advice" is countable?

 

[Rover_KE]

The word 'advice' is actually uncountable.

 

[Tarheel]

I heard a native speaker saying "I need advice" . Why didn't he use an article if the word "advice" is countable?

If you were right we might say, "I need an advice." But we don't. We say, "I need advice" or "I need some advice".

 

[Phaedrus]

Re: Articles

One way to understand the use of the indefinite article here is this:

That's a nice car. = That specific car falls into the general class of 'nice cars'.

Putting the same point in a slightly different way, where "a" fades into nothingness or becomes "one":

That is a nice car.
= That car is a nice car.
= That car is nice. / That car is one of the nice cars. / That car is one of the cars that are nice.

 

[Dzidzi]

Re: Articles

Why do people (native speakers) very often post stories on Instagram and say "Swipe up for full video"? Why is there no article before full?

 

[Tarheel]

Re: Articles

They probably want to save words. The whole sentence would probably be:

Swipe up to view the entire video.

Too long!