English/Parts of Speech/Articles
Articles are used with names. In the next sentence the articles are bold and the names (or nouns) are in italics: The time is 20:11. A purse would look nice with that.
There are two types of articles: definite and indefinite. A and an are indefinite articles. The is a definite article. Definite articles name one specific thing. "The pencil" is talking about a certain pencil. "A pencil" is talking about any pencil.
When talking about things for the first time, the indefinite article a is often used. Afterwards, the definite article the is used. For example:
"There is a sofa and a table in my living room. The sofa is red and the table is made of glass."