A European or An European

[Natou67]

Hi all,
I would like to know which one should I write "A European" or "An European". I learned that normally we use "an" in front of a word beginning with a vowel. So based on this knowledge, I wrote "An European" in a document, but someone told me that I should have wrote "A European".
Is that true? If so, why?
I am all confused now.
Hope anyone can help me.
Have a great day everyone!
Natou67

 

[svartnik]

It should be 'an' because European start with a vowel sound.
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?dict=CLD2&key=HW*16867&ph=on

 

[Natou67]

But why on this website http://aeuropean.org/ they write "a European" and on this website http://www.verycleanspace.co.uk/id80.htm they write "an European"?

 

[svartnik]

It is an European, I am pretty sure.

 

[Natou67]

Is there an influence whether we use "European" as a noun or as an adjective?

 

[svartnik]

No. It is only a matter of phonetics.

 

[rewboss]

It is most definitely "a European".

The word "European" does not start with a vowel sound, it starts with the syllable "you". The "y"-sound is in this case a consonant (or at least a half-consonant), so the indefinite article is "a".

Google returns 48.1 million hits for "a European" but only 1.3 million for "an European".

 

[svartnik]

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/esl/esliart.html
It is a European, sorry about that.

 

[Natou67]

Thanks rewboss!