I am unable to explain why we use the non-definite article ‘a’ or ‘an’ before words like headache, fever, cold, rest etc.?
Could any of you, particularly @Alan and @Torsten, give me an idea?
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Hi Lawrence,
Bit mystified by your question. If you omit the indefinite article and say - I have headache, you are merging verb and noun and creating a structure that doesn’t work in English. You need therefore an article to define what it is you have. Any help?
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Hello Alan, I thank you for your reply that confirms the position. However, I’d like an easier-to-understand exemplification of ‘merging verb and noun’ which might be capable of enlightening an ordinary non-native user of the English language.
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What’s interesting is that in German the formation of these collocations follows similar patterns as in English, but there are some differences. For example, we say “Ich habe eine Erkältung” (I have a cold), but we don’t say “Ich habe ein Fieber” but “Ich habe Fieber” (without the article). Maybe this is because there can be different kinds of colds, while there is only one kind of fever.
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Thank you, Torsten. But we use ‘a fever’ too.
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“Why?” Is always hard to answer.
I have a fever.
I have a temperature of 101° F.
I am feverish.
I think that a fever is a condition or symptom, a noun, so it needs the article.
Is there an example you are contrasting these with?
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As a native speaker I use articles and other determiners automatically without thinking. Probably a large majority of natives speakers could not give a reason why a certain determiner is used (or omitted).
I did some digging into this. Whether an article is used or not is a combination of rules and memorization of the exceptions.
By default, most nouns need some kind of determiner.
Words like headache, fever and illness are a little tricky. They might seem like non-count nouns, but they are actually countable. They seem like non-count nouns because they are usually used in the singular. A person has a headache (only one). But they can have five headaches in five days. So it really is countable.
A countable noun will take an indefinite article.
A headache
A car
A house
Non-count nouns will generally take the definite article.
The water
The sky
Nouns that have been previously mentioned, or nouns that refer to specific things can take the definite article whether it’s countable or not. But it is not always required.
Jane has a headache. Because of the headache, she will not go to the party.
Other determiners can replace articles.
Jane has a headache. Because of her headache, she will not go to the party.
She had five headaches in five days.
When NOT to use an article. These have to be memorized.
Languages. He speaks English.
Sports. She plays football.
Subjects in school and branches of science. She studies biology.
Many specific geographic locations. He lives in Tokyo. She climbed Mount Everest.
Most countries that do not have an article as an official part of their name.
He lives in Spain.
She lives in The United States.
There are exceptions to the exceptions. But I think this is already information overload so I’ll stop.
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My profound thanks to @Alan, @Torsten, @Arinker and @NearlyNapping for having elucidated the concept.
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But not in German.
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