This is an All Ears English Podcast episode 2349. Should you use the article or the number in English? Welcome to the All Ears English Podcast, downloaded more than 200 million times. Are you feeling stuck with your English? We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection.
With your American hosts, Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer, and Michelle Kaplan, the New York radio girl, coming to you from Colorado and New York City, USA.
app. Would you like a coffee or one coffee? Today, learn about a common mistake that you might be making if you are translating from your native language and how to fix it immediately for more connection.
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Hello, Michelle. How's it going today? Good, Lindsay. Lindsay, I have a question for you. Okay, I'm ready. Okay, so what made you decide to get one dog? Don't you mean a dog to get a dog? What made me decide to get a dog? Oh, yeah. Sorry. Sorry about that. Yes, to get a dog. Correcting you live on the spot here, Michelle.
Yeah, I mean, that would be actually a different question, wouldn't it Michelle? Because that would mean I was debating between two dogs, one or two dogs, one dog. So, you know, which question were you asking? Is my question? I was asking, it was a mistake. I meant to ask,
Why, what made you just, what made you decide to get a dog? Yeah, it's true. Yes. Oh, well, I can answer that. Sure. Like, what was the pandemic? You know, the pandemic had just hit. It was April of 2020. And we just said, Hey, it's now or never. We're going to be working from home until eternity. And so we have time to raise a puppy. Is it? If you adopt a puppy, you have to be home to raise it. Otherwise you have a nightmare for 10 years. Um, and we were home. So we said, this is the time. Let's do it.
Yeah, nice. And I know you've been happy with Kiefer ever since. Oh, he's fantastic. Are you all going to get a dog at some point? You think you're going to add a dog to your family? At some point, when my kids are just a little bit older, right now, I think my son could be good with a dog, but I think I'm too nervous with the little one around dogs right now. Yeah, that makes sense. That makes sense. So what are we talking about today, Michelle?
Okay. So it goes back to this mistake I made in the beginning. So we're going to talk because this is a pretty common one. Lindsay, you actually chose, you actually came up with this topic, right? Because it's something you see frequently. Yeah. I email with a provider. I just a partner in Italy and I often get an email from him and he'll say, can you please send me one invoice for payment? And every month it's the same, it's the same mistake. And every month I say, we need to fix that.
I thought this would be a great topic for today's episode, right? And what should he say instead of, please send me one invoice for payment? Right. Probably say, please send me an invoice or please generate an invoice, right? Yes. Exactly. Because it was never a debate between one invoice, two invoices. Right. Five invoices. No, it's about an invoice. Please send me an invoice for payment. So this is what we're getting into today.
Yeah, this is an interesting idea. This is very important. So because even though, yeah, it actually can impact meaning, it can kind of, to me, if you're listening to that. And I say, like, when I said, what made you decide to get one dog, it kind of feels like, wait, what? Wait, you know, it makes things a little bit confusing. So it's, this is really huge to cover. I'm glad that you brought this to us today.
Yeah, this is a good one. So let's break it down, Michelle. Let's go into the details of what we need to know. How do we know what first before we do that though? Let's remind our listeners to hit the follow button, guys. Go ahead and hit follow right here on All Airs English. It's the beginning of the year. It's a great time to get All Airs English into your daily routine. That's how we build connection and fluency. All right. That's right. Absolutely. So
What's going on here so a and and they mean one so yeah I wonder why we have to talk about the why you would choose a or and over one or the other so yes so because one it means the number one and so does an and so let's talk about which we would choose how do we know so what about a or an.
Yeah. Well, I think generally when you're talking about or choosing a or an, first of all, it's way more common, right? So 95% of the time you're going to say a or an. And that's kind of the problem I'm seeing. I'm seeing people just swapping in one instead of a or an, it made a translation from Italian from Spanish. I have a feeling in it could be that though it's more general. And we're just talking about getting a dog, right? Not, not the number of dogs getting a dog.
Okay. Right. Whereas one, that's a number. Right. So here, right. Here, we're using this more to actually emphasize the number. Either it's important the person hears this number or you want to emphasize that you're not talking about another number. Like we were talking about like one dog, not two dogs, right? Exactly. Or just the number is very important. So
If the number isn't that important, I would say mostly stick with a or an. What do you think? 100%. Yeah. I mean, that that's really the essence of the, of the mistake that we're seeing and the solution, right? If the number doesn't matter, use a or an, and that means 95% of the time you're using a or an, okay? Because we're usually talking about a thing, not a number of things or how many things.
Right. Right. Okay. So let's go through some examples and see how this works. So I need a coffee versus I need one coffee. So how sound? So well, of course, it's really a cup of coffee, right? But we say very, very commonly, we say I need a coffee.
Yeah, no, that's true. So you might see someone wake up, maybe you're hosting a guest for the week or something, a house guest, they come down and they say, Oh, I need a coffee. They would not say I need one coffee. No, it's because they're saying they're rubbing the sleep out of their eyes, you know, they're stretching their arms. Oh, I need a coffee. You would never say I need one coffee that casually that broadly.
right right so that's more general and the second one sounds like if you say I need one coffee it sounds almost like you're giving a list of things that you need maybe you're maybe you are at the it's talking with a barista and you say okay I need one coffee to
Two breakfast sandwiches, blah, blah, blah. Yes, exactly, right? You walk into your cafe and you say, oh, I need one coffee. Exactly. You make a list. How many coffees do we need? Maybe you're bringing coffee back to your workplace at the office and you're putting it in those styrofoam that that carrier thing, right? I need one coffee. I need three coffees. Very different conversation.
All right. Exactly. Exactly. So what about the next example? You want to start us off on that? Yeah. We could say, please send the information in an email versus please send the information in one email. Now, what do we need to know here, Michelle? Same idea. The first one is more general, but the second one.
Sounds maybe the person sent it in two emails or is confused, right? So maybe I sent you some you asked me for some information and I just I was sending it in a couple different emails and it was getting a little disorganized. You might say, Michelle, can you just send it to me in one email?
Yeah, totally. And this is an internal conversation. We might have at our work. I know when we first started dollars English, my original co-founders, we were starting to send emails with a thousand items in the same email. And she said, hey, just send one email per topic and have the subject line be that topic. Because we use our emails as an index to find everything later.
And so that would be where the conversation of one email versus multiple emails would come in. But if you're just saying, hey, send me an email next week when you get back to work, you're not going to say send me one email next week. Right. Exactly. So, or one more example here before we take a break is I made a new friend versus I made one new friend. Very different. What's the difference there, Michelle?
So first one is more general. The second one sounds almost like maybe you're the number is important. Either you're proud. You made one new friend like I made one new friend already, right? I don't know. It's just important. Or maybe you're complaining you haven't met more friends. So I've only met made one new friend.
Yes, I like what you're saying. The number is important, right? Either you're happy about that number or you're unhappy about that number, but you're highlighting that number versus with the first one, I made a new friend. You're highlighting the word friend. That's right. That matters. Right. Good point. Good point. Yes.
Okay, Michelle, we have one more example. This one's a common phrase. Can you give me a second? Can you give me a second versus? Can you give me one second? Okay. What do we feel about the difference here?
To me, it could be both. Can you give me one second? But again, the number is more important. And also, to me, the second example with one second sounds almost like maybe that person is being impatient. And you just really need us. Can you give me one second, right? You're kind of emphasizing it.
Yeah, it might be the second time you're saying that, right? They're being impatient. Oh, come on. Just one more second or one second. You might say two seconds in that case, too, right? Exactly. Exactly. So again, it's not that one is wrong, but it can make it doesn't make you sound more fluent and natural if you know the general differences. And I think we boiled it down to one one.
Main one day, which is is the number important because it can sound a little bit awkward, a little bit strange if you're using one when you don't need to 100% 100% and this is it. So should we go through a role play Michelle and show our listeners how it's done? Let's do it. All right. So here we are friends at a coffee shop. Lovely. All right. Here we go. So do you want me to grab you something? Sure. I'll have a latte. Okay. Do you want one sugar or two?
I'll just have one shucker. Okay. Oh, there's a line. Oh, I only see one person. Oh, no, look over there. There's a long line. Ooh, ouch. Ouch. I think we've done an episode before, Michelle, about ouch, haven't we? I think so. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, great. So let's break this down and see where we used a or an and where we used one or more than one, right? Okay. So first you said, sure, I'll have a latte. And why didn't you say I'll have one latte?
because it would be a little overkill, don't you think? I was like, I'll have one latte. You're not really giving a list here. It's not, it's kind of assumed that you're just getting one drink for yourself. Yeah. And you're not, you're not like behind the bar taking orders, taking a list for the office, right? One latte, one cappuccino, one decaf espresso, right? No. You're just saying to your friend, I'll have a latte. Right? So in that case, you cannot say one. Doesn't make any sense. No.
Okay. And then you said, okay, do you want one sugar or two? So why didn't you say, do you want a sugar or two? Ooh, that would be strange if I said, do you want a sugar or two? Because now we're counting. Now the number does matter. So I have to say the number, right? Do you want one sugar or two or three, right? Not a sugar. We don't say do you want a sugar?
Do you want sugar? We would drop the A in that case. Yes, exactly. So, and then I said, I'll just have one sugar and I'm just mirroring what you said, right? And I mean, yeah, if I just said, I'll just have, oh, wait, just to make it clear, we mean maybe like a packet of sugar.
Yeah, to make it. Yes. Okay. That's important is because sometimes you get the big thing. Like if you go to a diner, you get the big glass thing that you pour in, right? In that case, we're not really counting. You would just say, can I have some sugar or is my sugar? But when you're getting little packets that you as my friend are going to bring over to the table, it's about counting. Yeah. Love that. Um, exactly. And then I just realized I didn't bold one. So what's the next one, Lindsey? You said, Oh, yeah. Oh, there's.
There's a line, right? Not one line. There's a line, right? Oh, there's a line and here it's clear, right? We're not counting lines. Okay. There's a line. It's right. And then you say, oh, no, I only see one person.
Right. So here the number is important because I wouldn't say, oh, I only see a person. It's not specific enough. I'm looking over here. I see, I only see one person because you're saying, oh, there's a line. I said, I only see one person. What are you talking about? Exactly. And then you said, don't look over there. There's a long line, right? Or I said that. There's a long line. Yeah. Interesting. This is a great example of where we're going back and forth the entire time between the number mattering and the number not mattering. It's the thing that you're talking about.
Michelle, what's your drink of choice these days? What's your coffee drink of choice? What do you typically order? I typically, I typically order regular coffee with a little bit of half and half. And then with if I'm somewhere that maybe has sugar free something, I'll have a sugar free vanilla or something like that. Nice. Sounds good. But then I like, if I'm out, I like to have a little bit of cinnamon on it too. Oh, fancy.
Sometimes I don't get the syrup in it. It depends on my food. Oh, you're just black coffee. Well, actually, so I switched over to decaf now. So I drink decaf at home. Yeah, because I know it's crazy. And then when I go out, I sometimes will have like a decaf espresso, or I'll have a regular coffee, but then I'll be wired.
It's not good. And then on the weekends, I like a good cappuccino, a little cappuccino. So yeah, we all have our drinks of choice, which by the way is a great conversation starter for a listener. Sure. There you go. Where else should we go to find a great episode, a great recent episode? Okay. So speaking of numbers, go to episode 2343. How to say that two people don't mix well in English. All right. And what's our takeaway for today, Michelle? Where should we leave our listeners?
I think the takeaway is think about it is the number important is the number not important. That's it. That's really the biggest thing to take away from today generally go with a or an unless the number is important. So don't you love it when an episode comes down to one one sentence one key point. Does the number matter or not? That's the answer.
And of course, the most important thing is the connection as we know, but sometimes we can confuse people like you would have confused me, Michelle, the top of the show with the dog question. I thought you were asking a completely different question, right? So to have that connection moment, we need to make sure people know what we're asking them, what we're seeing. Exactly. Exactly. Oh, well, I'm glad that you brought this topic to us today, Lindsey. This was a fun one and also very important. So I think that our listeners are going to get a lot of use out of this episode.
All right, sounds great, Michelle. I'll see you next time. All right, bye, Lindsay. Bye. Thanks for listening to All Ears English. Would you like to know your English level? Take our two-minute quiz. Go to allearsenglish.com forward slash fluency score. And if you believe in connection, not perfection, then hit subscribe now to make sure you don't miss anything. See you next time.