Virtuous English AcademyAnimals — A1 English Vocabulary
This A1 vocabulary list gathers 20 beginner English words about animals — pets, farm animals and creatures from the wild. Every word comes with a simple definition, its British-English pronunciation and a natural example sentence, so you learn each one in real context. When you are ready, open the flashcards to practise and remember them for good.
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Using animals words in English
Animal words are among the easiest to remember, because almost everyone already has a picture attached to each one. They are also unusually useful for grammar practice: this list happens to contain three of the most common irregular plurals in English, and it is the natural place to meet the difference between talking about one animal, some animals and animals in general — which is where the quietly causes trouble.
What to watch out for
Three irregular plurals hide in this list
Mouse becomes mice. Sheep and fish do not change at all: one sheep, ten sheep. Everything else here is regular, though watch the spelling of foxes and foxes-type words — nouns ending in -x, -s, -ch or -sh add -es rather than -s.
For general statements, use the plural with no article
I like dogs means dogs in general. I like the dogs means some particular dogs you have both been talking about. And I like dog, without the -s, unfortunately means you like eating it — the missing plural changes the animal into a substance.
An before a vowel sound, not a vowel letter
It is an elephant and an ant, but a horse and a rabbit. The rule follows the sound, which is why it is a university — the word starts with a y sound — and an hour, where the h is silent.
Words learners mix up
Two tables. The first is about three farm animals whose meat has a completely different name in English. The second answers a question every learner asks sooner or later: is an animal it, he or she?
The animal on the field, the food on the plate
| Word | What it actually means | In a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| cow | The animal. Its meat is called beef, which does not sound like cow at all. | The cow is eating grass. |
| pig | The animal. Its meat is pork, and the thin salty slices are bacon. | They keep six pigs on the farm. |
| sheep | The animal, singular and plural alike. Its meat is lamb when the animal is young. | There are ten sheep in the field. |
This split happened for a historical reason: after 1066 the farmers spoke English and the people eating the meat spoke French, so the animal kept its English name and the dish took a French one. It is why chicken feels different — that one word covers both, because chicken was cheap enough for everybody.
Is an animal it, he or she?
| Word | What it actually means | In a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| dog | A pet with a name takes he or she. An unknown dog in the street is usually it. | This is Max. He is three. |
| cat | The same. Owners never say it about their own cat, and it sounds cold if you do. | Our cat is old. She sleeps all day. |
| bee | Small animals and insects are always it, and they in the plural. | A bee came in. It flew out again. |
The safe default is it, and nobody will think you rude for using it about an animal you do not know. The moment an animal has a name it becomes he or she, and asking Is it a he or a she? is the normal way to find out which. Farm animals sit in between: a farmer talking about one particular cow may well say she.
Collocations that sound natural
Four animals and the verbs that go with them. English is fussy about which verb belongs to which animal, and using the wrong one is instantly noticeable.
dog
walk the dogfeed the doga guard dogthe dog barkstake the dog out
You walk a dog even though the dog does the walking. The sound it makes is barking, and a small one yaps.
cat
a black catfeed the catthe cat is sleepingstroke the cat
British English says stroke the cat where American English says pet it. In Britain a black cat crossing your path is lucky, not unlucky.
bird
birds singbirds flya small birdfeed the birdsa bird’s nest
Birds sing rather than shout or speak, and the general statement takes the bare plural: birds fly, not the birds fly.
horse
ride a horsefeed the horsea race horseget on a horse
You ride a horse and a bike, but you drive a car. A horse is big enough to take get on, like a bus.
Where each word belongs
Five animals whose names do a second job in English. One is on your desk, three describe people — and two of those three are insults you should recognise without using.
- mouseAlso a computer partThe small grey animal, and the thing beside your keyboard. For the animal the plural is mice; for the computer part people say both mice and mouses.
- pigInsult · avoidCalling a person a pig means they are greedy or dirty. It is a real insult in English, so recognise it and do not use it about anybody.
- bearChildren’s wordA teddy bear is the soft toy every British child knows, and it is often the first word small children use for a bear at all.
- monkeyAffectionate · familiesBritish parents call a naughty small child a little monkey, and it is warm rather than cross. Said to an adult it would not be friendly.
- duckNorthern British · friendlyIn parts of the north of England, strangers say thanks, duck to each other in shops. It is friendly and old, and it has nothing to do with the bird.
Sentences to try
Four frames covering general statements, description and possession.
- I have got a dog and two cats.
- I like horses, but I do not like snakes.
- An elephant is bigger than a lion.
- There are ten sheep in the field.
Questions about animals vocabulary
What are the plurals of mouse, sheep and fish?
Mice, sheep and fish. Mouse changes its vowel, in the same way as foot/feet and tooth/teeth. Sheep and fish do not change at all — one sheep, twenty sheep — and they belong to a small group of animals, mostly ones that were hunted or farmed, which kept an old plural form that looked the same as the singular.
Do I say "I like dog" or "I like dogs"?
I like dogs, with the plural and no article, is how English makes a general statement about a whole category. I like dog without the -s turns the animal into an uncountable substance and means you enjoy eating it — a genuinely memorable mistake. And I like the dogs narrows it to particular dogs that both speakers already know about.
When do I use "a" and when "an" before an animal?
It depends on the first sound, not the first letter. An goes before a vowel sound — an elephant, an owl, an ant — and a before a consonant sound: a dog, a horse, a rabbit. The sound is what counts, which is why a European takes a despite beginning with e.