It’s “a user”, because “an” is used when the sound is a vowel sound, and the “y” sound of “user” (and “UFO” in my earlier example) is not a vowel sound, despite the fact that “u” is a vowel (and according to the rhyme I learned as a child) Y is sometimes a vowel.

Basically, a/an depends on the sound of the word when spoken, not the letter itself. Another good example would be letter sounds (again, I know I already mentioned this), where “an” is used before consonants that are sounded as vowels:

“An F”, “an H”, “an L”, “an M”, “an N”, “an R”, and “an X”

Meanwhile “a U” and “a Y”.

This link has more examples, including unsounded “H”, as in honor (which used “an”): https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/grammar/articles_a_versus_an.html

It’s English, it’s not supposed to make sense.

Tom


On Oct 21, 2024, at 4:02 PM, bbitsch@ipfire.org wrote:

If I understand the rules cited, is it a user or an user? Just to choose an example, which is apparent frequently.

On 21.10.24 21:38, Tom Rymes <tom@rymes.net> wrote:
If this is any help, I also always use “an” when in combination with an acronym that is pronounced with a vowel sound. I’d also say it isn’t terribly important, as mentioned already by Nick, and it doesn’t stick out to me as an error either way.
FWIW, the same rule does apply with letter sounds: “an F” is the same as “an eff”.
“…an FQDN…”
“…an SOP…”
“…a PDF…”
“…a BFH…”
I do wonder about “UFO”, and I wouldn’t say “an UFO”, so your guess is as good as mine there.
I don’t think I cleared that up at all, but it’s English, so that’s probably par for the course and a sign I’m on the right track.
Tom
> On Oct 21, 2024, at 1:14 PM, Nick Howitt <nick@howitts.co.uk> wrote:
>
> Technically, I think this update is incorrect and "an" is correct - https://www.reddit.com/r/grammar/comments/riql6s/a_or_an_before_acronym_that_is_pronounced_with_a/ and https://www.grammar.com/a-vs-an-when-to-use. But TBH, I really don't think it is too important.
>
> Nick
>
>
> On 21/10/2024 17:44, Bernhard Bitsch wrote:
>>
>> Reviewed-by: Bernhard Bitsch <bbitsch@ipfire.org> <mailto:bbitsch@ipfire.org>
>>
>> Am 21.10.2024 um 18:38 schrieb Michael Tremer:
>>> Signed-off-by: Michael Tremer <michael.tremer@ipfire.org> <mailto:michael.tremer@ipfire.org>
>>> ---
>>>    config/unbound/unbound-dhcp-leases-bridge | 4 ++--
>>>    1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
>>>
>>> diff --git a/config/unbound/unbound-dhcp-leases-bridge b/config/unbound/unbound-dhcp-leases-bridge
>>> index bc944a073..2cbdaa004 100644
>>> --- a/config/unbound/unbound-dhcp-leases-bridge
>>> +++ b/config/unbound/unbound-dhcp-leases-bridge
>>> @@ -279,9 +279,9 @@ class UnboundDHCPLeasesBridge(object):
>>>            self.unbound.update_dhcp_leases([l for l in self.leases if not l.has_expired()])
>>>          def _add_lease(self, lease):
>>> -        # Skip leases without an FQDN
>>> +        # Skip leases without a FQDN
>>>            if not lease.fqdn:
>>> -            log.debug("Skipping lease without an FQDN: %s" % lease)
>>> +            log.debug("Skipping lease without a FQDN: %s" % lease)
>>>                return
>>>              # Skip any leases that also are a static host
>>
>