i was wondering why they use "a university" instead of "an university"?

Question

i thought if the words start with a vowel it was suppose to be "an" instead "a" but it was wrong.

Answer 1

Same reason as "a unicorn," "a unicycle," "a unit," and "a ukelele!"

Wherever you find a grammatical rule, there will be an exception.

Answer 2

You know how many adults in the professional world still fumble with this? My understanding is that you're actually supposed to use the rule as if it were applied to the word spoken. So if a vowel sounds like a vowel when properly spoken, use "an" in front of it, but if not, us "a". How would you say this out loud? In this case, the U stands on it's own, it doesn't make the "uh" sound. So in this case, you should write "a university". An example (notice I used "an" before "example" because the E is not sounding it's own name but rather being a supporting letter in the word "example") would be "an understanding we once had".

A couple more examples:

Not sounding the vowel name in the true letter's sound, it's kind of like if you add an E at the end of the sentence, the vowel sounds it's own name.

"an underpass below the freeway"
"an unauthorized purchase"
"an adorable child"
"an unthinkable crime"
"an adult"
"an alley"

On the flip side:
"a uterus"
"a utopia"

Does that help? English is so tricky and there's exceptions to this rule just like all rules in the English language, but I find that you can generally apply this one. Just think of how it sounds when someone speaks it properly and write it that way.

Answer 3

Great question! For every phonetic rule, there is always an exception to the rule. I think it's because the long sounding "u" as in university or unicorn sounds like the consonant "y". Even though "y" is sometimes a vowel. Just like "ough" sometimes sounds like an "o" as in though, or sometimes it sounds like an "f" as in rough. The English language is very complex.

Answer 4

it doesnt matter whether or not it starts with a vowel, but whether or not it starts with a vowel SOUND

like "an hour" instead of "a hour" because it is a vowel sound

spelt phonetically university would be more like yuniversity or yooniversity

Answer 5

It goes by the pronunciation, not the spelling. "University" starts with a "y" sound, which is not considered a vowel sound.

Answer 6

That is a very good question...i think its just because its easier to say that way

Answer 7

What about "an honest man"?

Answer 8

if u sounds like y then you put an

Answer 9

that is a very interesting observation....