Count Nouns

Count nouns refer to people, animals, things or places that can be counted. Count nouns can be singular or plural and are generally preceded by words indicating quantity or number (one, four, many, several, a few, every, a lot of) or by an article (a, an, the).

An afternoon

A science project

The new recipe

Ten pies

 

A and an are indefinite articles and do not point to any person, animal, thing or place in particular.

I drove by a gas station before I got home yesterday.

I saw a blue 1950 Corvette on my way to work.

 

A and an always precede a singular noun. Use the indefinite article a before words which start with a consonant, a sounded h(example: a horse) or a long u(example: a utensil). Use an before words which start with a vowel, except long u, and before words beginning with a silent h
(example: an hour)

A cherry pie
A house
An apple pie
An urgent message

The is a definite article and is used to indicate a specific person, animal, thing or place. The can precede singular or plural nouns.

Did you see the new recipe that was posted on Today Cooking's website?
I looked at the new houses on Bolsa Street yesterday.

 

Note:
The is not used with nouns indicating people, animals or things in general.

Most of the times, cats do not like dogs. (No the because we are talking about cats and dogs in general)
I hate to listen to distressing news. (No the because we are talking about distressing news in general)