Why you should know: The ‘a’ vs ‘an’ conundrum is not about what letter actually begins the word, but instead about how the sound of the word starts.

For example, the ‘h’ in ‘hour’ is silent, so you would say ‘an hour’ and not ‘a hour’. A trickier example is Ukraine: because the ‘U’ is pronounced as ‘You’, and in this case the ‘y’ is a consonant, you would say “a Ukraine” and not “an Ukraine”.

Tip: when in doubt, sound it out(loud).

Reference

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  • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 🇮 @pawb.social
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    2 days ago

    Ubisoft needs to hear this.

    It hurts my soul everytime I start up Farcry 5 and see “A Ubisoft Game” and not “An Ubisoft Game” on the intro splash screens.

    Unless they pronounce it something other than You-Bee-Soft or Ooo-bee-soft. In which case, that would hurt my soul even more.

    • Captain Aggravated@sh.itjust.works
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      2 days ago

      I’ve only ever heard it pronounced “You-Bee-Soft” and the “yuh” sound that starts with functions as a consonant. You wouldn’t say “An youtube video.”

    • bss03@infosec.pub
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      2 days ago

      I don’t know what the official pronunciation is, but I always read it as Ooo-bee-soft.

      • Decoy321@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        I always heard it as if it was an insult. Like they hated their customers.

        YOU BE SOFT, BIIIITCH.