student asking question

How come the article "a" was used before "European"?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

"European hamster" refers to the species of the hamster, so the indefinite article "a" was used here since they are referring to the type of species the hamster is in general, and not this hamster specifically. Most words that start with a vowel use the indefinite form "an". Although the word "European" begins with a vowel, the pronunciation sounds like the consonant "y", so the indefinite form "a" is used.

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