I packed three shirts and two pairs of shoes, but I completely forgot to bring a toothbrush!
Unlike Vietnamese, English requires an -s (or -es) at the end of countable nouns when there is more than one ("three shirts", "two shoes"). For a single item, always use the base singular form ("a toothbrush").
Grammatical Number
The plural form of a noun is usually created by adding the suffix -(e)s. The pronouns have irregular plurals, as in "I" versus "we", because they are ancient and frequently used words going back to when English had a well developed system of declension. English verbs distinguish singular from plural number in the third person present tense ("He goes" versus "They go"). English treats zero with the plural number.
Noun
A noun (from Latin nōmen, literally meaning "name") is a word that functions as the name of some specific thing or set of things, such as living creatures, objects, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas. Linguistically, a noun is a member of a large, open part of speech whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition.
Lexical categories (parts of speech) are defined in terms of the ways in which their members combine with other kinds of expressions. In English, nouns are those words which can occur with articles and attributive adjectives and can function as the head of a noun phrase.
A1 | Elementary | Beginners
CEFR A1 is the first level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), a widely used standard for measuring language ability. If you're just starting to learn English — or rebuilding from scratch — this is where you begin.
What can an A1 learner do?
At A1, you can handle the most basic, everyday communication. Specifically, you're expected to:
- Understand and use familiar everyday expressions — greetings, simple questions, common signs and instructions.
- Introduce yourself and others — say where you live, talk about people you know, describe things you have.
- Ask and answer simple personal questions — "What's your name?", "Where are you from?", "Do you have a car?"
- Have short conversations — as long as the other person speaks slowly and clearly and is willing to help.
What grammar does A1 cover?
A1 focuses on the building blocks of English grammar. You'll work with:
- Basic verb forms — the present tense of be, have, and do, plus simple regular and irregular verbs
- Simple sentence structure — subject + verb + object word order
- Common determiners and pronouns — a, the, this, my, he, she, it
- Basic prepositions — in, on, at, to, from
- Simple questions — yes/no questions and wh- questions (what, where, who)
- Everyday vocabulary and collocations — phrases that naturally go together, like make breakfast or do homework
How do you know if you're A1?
If you can read a short text like a menu or a bus sign, fill out a simple form with your personal details, and ask someone basic questions in English — you're operating at A1. If most of that still feels challenging, you're in exactly the right place.
Self-check: Try introducing yourself in five sentences — your name, where you're from, what you do, something you like, and one question for the other person. If you can do that (even with mistakes), you're solidly at A1.
What's next?
Once you're comfortable with A1 basics, you'll move toward A2, where sentences get longer, tenses expand, and you start handling more real-world situations.
To start practising, try these challenges: Are you A1/Beginner? Test your English CEFR Level!, "To be" in Present Tense, and Basics. Word Order..
Difficulty: Easy
Easy difficulty. Difficulty levels represent author's opinion about how hard a question or challenge is.