Tukukkk

In some class, I had in elementary we learned

I ate an apple.

I drove a car.

An only comes with apple everything other takes A.

Later on, I found this on google.

He is an education instructor.

Was the teacher tricking us??

We were in first grade and he was trying to make it simple.

Laughing xD.

PS. it was meant for objects Only if that makes it more clear :/
but it stuck with me since then.

(Sorry About that but it was all the English we learned from that list as in an exam at that time)

In English, we use a before words that sound like they begin with consonants.

We saw a book on the table.

There is a spider on your shoulder.

Some words begin with vowels, but when pronounced phonetically, sound like they start with a consonant:

The main character is a unicorn. (YOU-ni-corn)

The third number is a one. (WUHN)

We use an before words that sound like they begin with vowels.

I have an old clock in my living room.

An apple fell out of the tree.

Some words begin with consonants, but when pronounced phonetically, sound like they begin with vowels:

We only have an hour until the train comes. (OW-ur)

The second letter is an F. (EFF)

Was your teacher tricking you? Maybe. It depends on context. If the only word that you learned that used an was apple, then it isn't as bad, because they are trying to prevent confusion. If they stated that out of all words in the English language, the only word that used an was apple, that is definitely wrong and misleading.

an is used when the word which follows starts with a vowel sound, else a is used.

For example:

Since it's raining, I will need an umbrella; hopefully the rain will stop in an hour.

I thought I saw a unicorn, but I know it's an imaginary creature.

In the first example, notice that an is used even though hour starts with a consonant - this is because the pronunciation of the word hour starts with a vowel sound; similarly, in the second example, a precedes the word unicorn since the pronunciation of this word starts with a consonant sound.