Is it 'a unique' or 'an unique'?

Use "a" before a consonant SOUND Use "an" before a vowel SOUND The word unique is pronounced "yoo-neek". The first sound is a y sound, which is a consonant sound. Basically if the next word starts with opening your mouth you use an to break up the vowel sounds. Otherwise you use "a. Edited. I had a brain fart and reversed the words I meant to use. Fixed now

The sound matters more than the vowel — “unique” begins with a “u” letter, but a “y” sound, which is a consonant in this case. Therefore, you should put “a” instead of “an”. This is the same case for words like “euphemism” or “utopia”.

"An" is used before a vowel ***sound***; "a" is used before a consonant ***sound***. "Unique" is pronounced "yooneek", so we write "A unique".

a unique, an umbrella. Those are the two common u sounds at the start of words, one is proceeded by a and the other by an

It's actually not "before a vowel" but "before a vowel *sound*" "Unique" is pronounced "yoo-neek" so the "an" is reacting to the "Y" sound rather than the letter "U" (EDIT: Y is considered a vowel if it makes the "ee" sound, but not when it sounds like "yes" or "yuck." Those are its consonant sound.) "A unicorn" but "AN umbrella" Similarly, something like "hour" has a silent "H" so it's pronounced "ow-er" Therefore, you say "an hour" (because the "an" is reacting to the "O" sound)

Unique doesn't begin with a vowel sound.

It’s “a unique”, not “an unique”, even though u is a vowel in writing. What matters in English is the sound, not the spelling. Unfortunately. Unique is pronounced more like “juniik”, and that counts as starting with a consonant.

The a/a rule applies to the sound at the beginning of the second word, not simply whether or not the first letter is a vowel. The “n” in “an” is used to separate the “a” from the next vowel sound. But in the case of “unique”, the “yoo-“ sound at the beginning is more of a consonant sound than a vowel sound, so you don’t need to separate two vowels. And so “a”, the default, works just fine.

The rule is that you use an before a vowel *sound* to prevent the vowel of the a bleeding into the vowel of the following word. Despite starting with the letter u, "unique" is pronounced with a consonant sound as /juːˈniːk/ with the same consonant /j/ sound that begins words like "yes" or "yellow". Many u words start with this sound like unique, union, universe, user, all of which use "a". This is unlike words like umbrella, udder, and underside which do start with a vowel sound (usually /ʌ/) and follow "an".

Your book is wrong. It is "an" before a vowel SOUND. So although "u" is a vowel, it doesnt always have a vowel sound. At the beginning of a word the sound is sometimes a vowel sound e.g. umbrella and uncle but it can also be a non-vowel "yu" sound as in university, and unique. In these cases you would use "a" not "an".

Hi. As has been said, it depends on the sound the word begins with, rather than the letter it begins with. "An" for vowel sounds, not necessarily vowels. Unique and umbrella both begin with the same vowel but only umbrella with a vowel sound. "A unique..." , but, "an umbrella". Also consider, horse vs honour. Both begin with the same consonant, but you would say, "a horse", and, "an honour", since the h of honour is silent meaning the word begins with an o sound.

“A unique” because “unique” begins with a consonant sound “y” /j/

it's "an" before a vowel *sound*, but "unique" begins with a consonant sound, "y". /j/. /ju:ni:k/, not /u:ni:k/

Unique doesn't start with a vowel sound. It starts with a consonant sound.

This is a weird one. “A unique” is right, because it’s based on the sound and unique starts with a consonant sound /j/. Same goes for acronyms. He’s a son of a bitch, but he’s AN SOB, because S starts with a vowel sound.

“a unique” is correct, because “unique” doesn't start with a vowel. Although it is commonly taught that vowels are the letters “a”, “e”, “i”, “o”, and “u”, it technically refers to the sounds those letters commonly make, and that's what's important for the “a” vs “an” distinction. “Unique” starts with a sound called the voiced palatal approximant (you don't need to know this) which is often represented with a “y” or “u”, and is not a vowel.

It's the pronunciation that matters, not the spelling. Unique starts with a phonetic consonant. "yoonique"

>we can use "a" before a consonant and "an" before a vowel. This is true, but it is about phonetics and not spelling. A word starting with a vowel *sound* might be spelled with a consonant at the beginning, and vice-versa. *Unique* begins with the /j/ sound, which is most often spelled as "y" at the beginning of a word in English. We say "a unique ..." just like we would say "a year".

Consonant and vowel letters don't directly refer to consonant or vowel sounds. The article changes its form because of the following **sound**. An hour A university And so on.

A unique

It's about how the word is pronounce, not how it's spelt

Forget about spelling and think about pronunciation. This has already been said by many others. Then, use *an* in two situations: 1. before a vowel (a vowel *sound*, of course) 2. before an *h* if (a) the first syllable of the word is unstressed, **and** (b) you're middle class and old fashioned. So, yes, you will sometimes hear *an historian* from people who pronounce the *h*, but it's rare these days.

We don't write the Y in Yu usually, but we speak it. That's why we call Yuganda Uganda.

The question has been answered but the reason *why* U and Y do this - and why W does it as well, eg. "a whale" - is that these are or include sounds we call *glides* in linguistics, a limited set of vowel sounds which are able to act as a consonant before or after other vowels and between vowels and consonants. Y is /j/ (as in other Germanic languages writing "ja" rather than "ya") which is equivalent to /i(:)/ as in "bee," "meat," and W is /w/ which is equivalent to /u(:)/ roughly as in "goose," more accurately in something like Spanish *usted*. When you say "unique" it is of course not pronounced [u.ni.kwe] but [juw.nijk] with a 'yod' at the front even though it isn't written, which is often how U is pronounced at the beginning of a word (though not always, eg. us, under, upper), and so you would use the consonant variant of the article. In other words Y and W do not represent two distinct sounds, one a consonant and one a vowel, and you have to just learn words with their articles to remember which is which; these letters represent sounds which can *function* as either without changing notably in quality, and additionally these can (unfortunately) pop up in speech yet not be written so for articles you have to go by sound not spelling.

#**A** unique thing. Unique is pronounced like You-neek. It starts with a Y sound. An FBI agent. Eff-Bee-Eye. A unicorn. You-ni-corn. It's the **sound,** not the spelling.

>we can use "a" before a consonant and "an" before a vowel. Not exactly. Use "a" before a consonant ***sound*** and "an" before a vowel ***sound***. So it's "a university" because the word begins with a consonant *sound*: \[ˌ***j***uːnɪˈvɜːsɪti\]. And it's "an hour," because the "h" is silent, so it's the same *sound* as "our": \[ˈaʊɚ\].

Technically, "vowels" and "consonants" are the sounds themselves. A/E/I/O/U are the letters that usually make vowels. Unique is typically pronounced "yoo-neek" and begins with a (phonetic) consonant.

What about "RFI" which means Request for information. I find myself automatically say "I sent an RFI"... "I sent a request for information"

"a" because the letter U in "unique" starts with the consonant /y/ sound. Same as if you said, "a yule log", "a yeti" or "a yak".

I know the answer to this: because it is based on the sound, not the written letter. But if I'm being honest, with those instructions, I would still write "an". Until quite late in my life, I never even thought that the "y sound" as in "yes" is considered to be a vowel. To me, it sounds like a variation of the same sound as in "gym" - a vowel. Apparently it is a "semivowel", meaning it sounds like a vowel, but is functionally distinct, which is why it is not considered to be one. If you ask me, without that clarification, the rule is not that clear.

The rule is "a" before a consonant sound. "Unique" starts with a consonant sound. There's a hidden "y" sound at the beginning.

It’s ‘a unique’ because it starts with a consonant sound (ju). I think also words that starts with the sound ‘wa’ (like one-way street) use ‘a’. English is my second language, sorry if I’ve made mistakes

The average person would understand "vowel" to mean a certain letter, but the meaning that should be used in the rule you have heard is the _phonetic_ one, which refers to the type of _sound_ being made. Phonetically, the word is /juːˈniːk/ which starts with a consonant sound (a "y" sound, represented as /j/). On the other hand, you would say "**an** X-ray", for example, because X is pronounced /ɛks/ That is, it starts with an "e" sound (the vowel, /ɛ/) like the "e" in "get". The point is that if you look at the pronunciation of the word, the phonetic representation gives you a guaranteed rule about whether it's an _an_ word or an _a_ word.

U need to learn the basic principles of phonetics.