A, An and The - an article about articles

One of the first things I learned about Polish was that it does not use articles such as the, a and an.

This is simple enough for me, an Englishman, Anglik.  I just need to remember that they are not required.

What occurred to me later, is that it can be difficult the other way round.  If your native language, like Polish, does not use a or the, it can be difficult to decide which to use.  Sometimes, if the wrong one is used, it is clear from the context what is meant and the sentence will just stand out as being written or spoken by a non native.  Sometimes, the meaning of the sentence changes completely.  Take the following example:

A woman is holding a baby.  She walks into a room full of men and asks a question.  If she asks:

"Who here is a father?"

it is a very different question from

"Who here is the father?"

Using a before a word shows that is isn't defined, it could be any example of its kind.  So asking who is a father, is asking who has a child of their own.

Using the before a word shows that it is defined, we are talking about a specific one.  So asking who is the father, is asking who is the father of the child she is holding.

This is why the is called the definite article and a is called the indefinite article.  An is used the same way as a but when the word after it starts with a vowel (samogłoska) like: an apple.

Here's more examples:

I am looking at my garden.  A cat has just jumped over the fence and into the garden.

It could be any cat.  Something has jumped into my garden and I am identifying that it is a cat, so I say a cat.  I have already said that we are talking about my garden, so I say the garden, because we have established that we are talking about a specific garden, my garden. Also, I say the fence because it is the fence around my garden.  If I continue to talk about what this cat is doing, I am talking about the cat that is in my garden.  We have now defined which cat it is, so we start saying the cat.

A dog has now entered the garden.  The dog is now chasing the cat.

This might not be the best explanation of when to use a and the, but I hope it is an explanation that will help you.

Przedimki angielskie: a, an, the - jak ich używać

Przedimki pojawiają się przed rzeczownikami.  Jeśli użyjesz niewłaściwego przedimka, może to trochę lub bardzo zmienić znaczenie zdania.

The to "konkretny" przedimek.  Tego przedimka używamy, gdy coś jest konkretne, wiadome lub jedyne.  Nasz rozmówca wie o czym lub o kim mówimy.

A and an to "niekonkretne" przedimki.  Używamy a i an jeżeli wspominamy o czymś po raz pierwszy i nasz rozmówca nie wie o czym konkretnie mówimy.  A używamy przed spółgłoskami a an przed samogłoskami.