Europe is an exception to the rule as are others. As a native speaker I’d never even noticed this; but An European immediately sounds wrong; just like putting ‘an’ instead of ‘a’ UFO/unit/one etc… sounds wrong.
Isn’t it consistent though? It’s pronounced “juropean”, so it does not start woth a vowel-sound, which is the (consistent) rule as I’ve learned it. I believe this only has to do with the ease of which it is pronounced. Preceeding “an” to any vowel-sound makes the pronounciation flow better. Same with “a” before any consonant-sound.
I wasn’t aware the rule was based on phonetics; I was one of the many under the impression that the actual lettering that is the defining article (much like OP). I think it’s due to being monolingual. English being the only language I know… a lot of the languages rules are known subconsciously.
IE: I knew it’s ‘a one’; rather than ‘an one’… But couldn’t have told you why, other than it doesn’t sound right.
It’s not so much whether the word is spelled with a vowel, but whether it makes a vowel sound.
In English, the y sound is considered a consonant when at the beginning of a word but a vowel elsewhere.
Europe makes a similar y initial sound as, e.g., yurt, young, yellow, yell, youth, etc. so in those cases the words take the “a” article instead of “an”.
A yurt, a youth, a yell, etc.
Likewise Euclidian, European, Uranus, ewe, union, user, universe, unit, usage, all take the “a” article instead of “an”.
And in the reverse, words like hour and heir become “an hour” and “an heir” because the initial sound is a vowel even though the first letter is a consonant.
I believe when preceding a vowel-prefixed noun you should use “an”, sincerely an hero
Europe is an exception to the rule as are others. As a native speaker I’d never even noticed this; but An European immediately sounds wrong; just like putting ‘an’ instead of ‘a’ UFO/unit/one etc… sounds wrong.
English eh, Why would it be consistent?
Isn’t it consistent though? It’s pronounced “juropean”, so it does not start woth a vowel-sound, which is the (consistent) rule as I’ve learned it. I believe this only has to do with the ease of which it is pronounced. Preceeding “an” to any vowel-sound makes the pronounciation flow better. Same with “a” before any consonant-sound.
@cyberwolfie @javiwhite but then you say “an EU diplomat”, and not “a EU diplomat”, right?
“An EU” follows the rule @cyberwolfie put forward.
when saying EU; the word starts with an E sound phonetically… Indicating it should be An rather than A.
I wasn’t aware the rule was based on phonetics; I was one of the many under the impression that the actual lettering that is the defining article (much like OP). I think it’s due to being monolingual. English being the only language I know… a lot of the languages rules are known subconsciously.
IE: I knew it’s ‘a one’; rather than ‘an one’… But couldn’t have told you why, other than it doesn’t sound right.
It’s not so much whether the word is spelled with a vowel, but whether it makes a vowel sound.
In English, the y sound is considered a consonant when at the beginning of a word but a vowel elsewhere.
Europe makes a similar y initial sound as, e.g., yurt, young, yellow, yell, youth, etc. so in those cases the words take the “a” article instead of “an”.
A yurt, a youth, a yell, etc.
Likewise Euclidian, European, Uranus, ewe, union, user, universe, unit, usage, all take the “a” article instead of “an”.
And in the reverse, words like hour and heir become “an hour” and “an heir” because the initial sound is a vowel even though the first letter is a consonant.