“A” and “An” are often confusing for writers of the English language. In terms of meaning, you can rest by knowing both have the exact same meaning, so no one will mistaken what you say or write because you used it wrong. The only thing it is really useful for is ease of pronunciation. It’s made so that the language flows better.

Just pronounce it out loud and you’ll know it looks weird:
- A flower
or
- An flower

Pronouncing the N and then the F feels awkward and unlinked. Just remember this simple rule: there can never be two consonants or vowels one after the other.

An flower and a alligator don’t work because there’s N and F following each other (2 consonants in a row) and A and A following each other (2 vowels in a row).

There’s also the plural trick. Look at the following:
1. “The flowers like the Sun.”
2. “The flower likes the Sun.”
That’s correct.

However, the following isn’t:
3. “The flower like the Sun.”
4. “The flowers likes the Sun.”

Case 3 is actually particular in that it is an incomplete sentence, however not an incorrect form. If the intent was to say the the flower likes (as in loving) the Sun light, then the grammar is wrong, however, by completing the sentence as follows it could be right: “The flower, like the Sun, has a nice yellow color.” A few punctuation differences and voila, it makes sense.

See how without the S at the end of like, the verb becomes the word like (as likeness, likely, likewise, alike). That’s why the S is there.

Case 4 is a major mistake, and an easy one to make because it doesn’t sound entirely wrong. Make sure to never put an S to the verb when the noun is plural.

If you have to have a trick to remember, think that there’s always only one S if it’s a verb.