in Latin or Sanskrit, nor in some

article may be the only indication

of the case. Many languages do
not use articles at all, and may use
other ways of indicating old versus
new information, such as topic–
comment constructions.

Tables
[edit]

Variations of articles in
definiteness and inflection among
major languages

Cas
Ind Nu
De Gen e-
efi mb
fini dere infl
nit ere
te d ect
e d
ed

Afrika
Yes Yes No No No
ans

Yes
, as
Albani
su Yes Yes No Yes
an
ffix
es

Arabic Yes Yes No No No

, as , as
pre su
fixe ffix
 s es

Yes
, as
Arme
su No No No No
nian
ffix
es

Yes
, as
Basqu
su Yes No Yes Yes
e
ffix
es

Belaru
No No No No No
sian

Yes
, as
Benga
su Yes No Yes No
li
ffix
es

Onl
y
Yes ma
, as scu
Bulgar
su No Yes Yes lin
ian
ffix e
es sin
gul
ar
Catala
Yes Yes Yes Yes No
n

Chine
No No No No No
se

Czech No No No No No

Cas
Ind Nu
De Gen e-
efi mb
fini dere infl
nit ere
te d ect
e d
ed

Yes
,
bef
ore
adj Yes
ec (if
Danis
tiv Yes Yes defi No
h
es nite
or )
as
su
ffix
es

Dutch Yes Yes Yes Yes No,

(if (if exc
defi defi ept
nite) nite for
) the
ge
 niti
ve
cas
e

Englis
Yes Yes No No No
h

Esper
Yes No No No No
anto

Estoni
No No No No No
an

Finnis
No No No No No
h[a]

Yes
Frenc (if
Yes Yes Yes No
h sing
ular)

Georg
No No No No No
ian

Yes
(if
Germ
Yes Yes Yes defi Yes
an
nite
)

Greek Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

 (if
defi
nite
)

Guara
Yes No No Yes No
ni

Cas
Ind Nu
De Gen e-
efi mb
fini dere infl
nit ere
te d ect
e d
ed

Yes
(if
Hawai
Yes Yes No defi No
ian
nite
)

Yes
, as
Hebre
pre No No No No
w
fixe
s

Hunga
Yes Yes No No No
rian

Icelan Yes No Yes Yes Yes

dic , as
su
ffix
 es

Interli
Yes Yes No No No
ngua

Irish Yes No Yes Yes Yes

Italian Yes Yes Yes Yes No

Japan
No No No No No
ese

Korea
No No No No No
n

Latvia
No No No No No
n

Cas
Ind Nu
De Gen e-
efi mb
fini dere infl
nit ere
te d ect
e d
ed

Lithua
No No No No No
nian

Mace Yes No Yes Yes No

donia , as
n su
ffix
 es

Yes
, as
su
ffix
es
Malay in
/ the
Yes No No No
Indon coll
esian oq
uia
l
lan
gu
age

Nepali No Yes Yes Yes No

Yes
,
bef
ore
adj Yes
ec (if
Norw
tiv Yes Yes defi No
egian
es nite
or )
as
su
ffix
es

Pasht No Yes Yes No Yes

 o

Mi
ght
be
use
Persia
d Yes No No No
n
op
tio
nal
ly

Polish No No No No No

Portu
Yes Yes Yes Yes No
guese

Yes
, as
Roma
su Yes Yes Yes Yes
nian
ffix
es

Russia
No No No No No
n

Sansk
No No No No No
rit

Scottis
h Yes No Yes Yes Yes
Gaelic
 Cas
Ind Nu
De Gen e-
efi mb
fini dere infl
nit ere
te d ect
e d
ed

Serbo-
Croati No No No No No
an

Slovak No No No No No

Slove
No No No No No
ne

Yes
, as
Somal
su No Yes No Yes
i
ffix
es

Spanis
Yes Yes Yes Yes No
h

Swahil
No No No No No
i

Swedi Yes Yes Yes Yes No

sh , (if
bef defi
ore nite
adj )
 ec
tiv
es
or
as
su
ffix
es

Tamil No No No No No

Thai No No No No No

Toki
No No No No No
Pona

Mi
ght
be
use
Turkis
No d No No No
h
op
tio
nal
ly

Ukrai
No No No No No
nian

Vietna
Yes No No No No
mese
 Cau
ses i
nitia
l
cons
ona
nt
mut
Welsh Yes No No No
atio
n to
sing
ular
femi
nine
nou
ns

Yes
(if
Yiddis
Yes Yes Yes defi Yes
h
nite
)

Cas
Ind Nu
De Gen e-
efi mb
fini dere infl
nit ere
te d ect
e d
ed

The articles used in some

languages

Lang definite par indefinit

uag article titiv e article
 e
e artic
le

Abk
a- — -k
haz

Afrik
die — 'n
aans

-a, -ja, -i, -

ri, -ni, -u, -
t, -in, -un, -
Alba n, -rin, -nin,
disa një
nian -në, -ën, -s,
-së, -ës, -të,
-it, -ët (all
suffixes)

Arab al- or el ‫ال‬

— -n
ic (prefix)

-ը -ë
(inbetween
Arm
consonants
enia — մի mi
), -ն -n
n
(elsewhere
)

Assa -tû, -ta, -ti, — êta, êkh

mes -khôn, - ôn, êzôn
e khini, -zôn, , êzôni,
 -zôni, -dal, êdal, êz
-zûpa etc. ûpa etc.

একটি,
-টা, -টি, -
একটা,
গুলো, -রা,
Ben কোন
-খানা (-ṭa, —
gali (ekôṭi,
-ṭi, -gulo, -
ekôṭa,
ra, -khana)
konô)

Bret un, ul, u

an, al, ar —
on r

един/
някакъв
,
-та, -то, -
Bulg няк една/ня
ът, -ят, -
aria олк каква,
те (all
n о едно/ня
suffixes)
какво,
едни/ня
какви

el, la, l', els,

un, una
Cata les
— uns, une
lan ses, lo, los,
s
es, sa

Corn
an — —
ish

— en, et
Dani Singular: -
sh en, -n -et, -
 t (all
suffixes)

Plural: -
ene, -
ne (all
suffixes)

de, het ('t);

archaic
since
1945/46
Dutc
but still — een ('n)
h
used in
names and
idioms: des
, der, den
Engli
the — a, an
sh
Espe
rant la — —
o
Finni
sh (c
ollo se — yks(i)
quial
)[a]
de,
d', d
u, d
Fren un, une,
le, la, l', les e
ch des
la, d
es,
de l'
Ger der, die, da — ein, eine
man s , einer, e
 ines
des, dem, d
einem, e
en
inen
ένας,
Gree ο, η, το
— μια,
k οι, οι, τα
ένα
Haw ka, ke
— he
aiian nā
Hebr ha- ‫ה‬
— —
ew (prefix)
Hun
garia a, az — egy
n
-(i)nn, -(i)n,
-(i)ð, -(i)na,
-num, -
(i)nni, -nu,
Icela -(i)ns, -
— —
ndic (i)nnar, -
nir, -nar, -
(u)num, -
nna (all
suffixes)
Inte
rling le — un
ua
an, na, a'
(used
Irish —
colloquially
)
Italia il, lo, la, l' del, un, uno,
n i, gli, le dell una, un'
o, d
ella,
dell'
 dei,
degl
i, de
gl',
dell
e
Khas u, ka, i
— —
i ki
hen
Kurd -eke dê, -êk
ish -ekan birr -anêk
ê
Latin — — —
däe
Luxe den, déi
rs/ en, eng
mbo (d'), dat
es, engem,
urgis (d')
däe enger
h dem, der
r/er
-от -ов -
он -та -ва
-на -то -
Mac нек еден ед
во -но
edo олк на едно
-те -ве -не
nian у едни
-та -ва -
на (all
suffixes)
Man
y, yn, 'n, ny — —
x
Mal -nya (collo — se- (+
ay a quial), classifier
nd I before s)
ndo names: si (
nesi usually
an informal), s
ang (more
 formal)
te (singular he (also
Māo
), ngā (plur — for
ri
al) "some")
(i)l-, (i)ċ-, (i
)d-, (i)n-, (i)
Malt r-, (i)s-, (i)t-
— —
ese , (i)x-, (i)z-,
(i)ż- (all
prefixes)
euta, eu
ti, ek, an
ek, kuna
i
Nep एउटा,
— —
ali एउटी,
एक, अ
नेक,
कुनै

Singular: -
en, -et, -a
Nor (all
wegi suffixes)
an ( Plural: - — en, et, ei
Bok ene, -
mål) a (all
suffixes)

Nor Singular: - — ein, eit,

wegi en, -et, -a ei
an (all
(Nyn suffixes)
orsk Plural: -
) ane, -
ene, -
 a (all
suffixes)

Papi
ame e — un
nto
yaow, y
aowə, y
Pash aowa, y
— —
to aowey
‫ يوه‬, ‫ يؤه‬,‫يو‬
‫ يوې‬,

in, ye(k) (pr

ān (preposi epositiv
Persi
tive) — e)
an
-e (suffixed -i (suffix
) ed)
um, um
Port
o, a a
ugu —
os, as uns, um
ese
as
Que
i, in, 'n — —
nya
-(u)l, -le, - un, o
Rom (u)a unui, un
ania -(u)lui, -i, - — ei
n lor (all niște, u
suffixes) nor
Scot
the — a
s
Sco
an, am, a',
ttish
na, nam, n — —
Gael
an
ic
Sind i, in, -in, -n, — —
arin en
un, una
Span el, la, lo,
— unos, un
ish los, las
as
Singular: -
en, -n, -et,
-t (all
suffixes)
Swe
Plural: - — en, ett
dish
na, -a, -
en (all
suffixes)

Wels
y, yr, -'r — —
h
‫( דער‬der), ‫( ַא‬a),
Yiddi ‫( די‬di), ‫( ַאן‬an)
—
sh ‫( דָאס‬dos),
‫( דעם‬dem)

1. ^ Jump up
to:a b c Grammatically
speaking Finnish has
no articles, but the
words se (it)
and yks(i) (one) are
used in colloquial
Finnish in the same
fashion
as the and a/an in
English and are, for all
intents and purposes,
treated like articles
when used in this
manner.
The following examples show
articles which are always suffixed
to the noun:

 Albanian: zog, a
bird; zogu, the bird
 Aramaic: ‫( שלם‬shalam),
peace; ‫( שלמא‬shalma),
the peace
 Note:
Aramaic is
written from
right to left,
so
an Aleph is
added to the
end of the
word. ‫ם‬
becomes ‫מ‬
when it is not
the final
letter.
 Assamese: "কিতাপ
(kitap)", book;
"কিতাপখন (kitapkhôn)":
"The book"
 Bengali: "বই (bôi)",
book;
"বইটি (bôiti)/বইটা (bôita
)/বইখানা (bôikhana)" :
"The Book"
 Bulgarian: стол stol,
chair; столът stolǎt, the
chair (subject);
стола stola, the chair
(object)
 Danish: hus,
house; huset, the
house; if there is an
adjective: det gamle
hus, the old house
 Icelandic: hestur,
horse; hesturinn, the
horse
 Macedonian: стол stol,
chair; столот stolot, the
chair; столов stolov,
this chair;
столон stolon, that
chair
 Persian: sib, apple.
(There is no definite
articles in the Standard
Persian. It has one
indefinite article 'yek'
that means 'one'.
In Standard Persian, if a
noun is not indefinite, it
is a definite noun. 'Sib e'
man' means 'my apple'.
Here, 'e' is like 'of' in
English, so literally 'sib
e man' means 'the
apple of mine'.
However, in Iranian
Persian, "-e" is used as
a definite article, quite
different from Standard
Persian. pesar,
boy; pesare, the
boy; pesare in'o be'm
dād, the boy gave me
this.)
  Romanian: drum,
road; drumul, the road
(the article is just "l", "u"
is a
"connection vowel" Rom
anian: vocală de
legătură)
 Swedish and Norwegian
: hus, house; huset, the
house; if there is an
adjective: det gamle
(N)/gamla (S) huset, the
old house

Examples of prefixed definite

articles:

 Hebrew: ‫ילד‬, transcribed

as yeled, a boy; ‫הילד‬,
transcribed as hayeled,
the boy
 Maltese: ktieb, a
book; il-ktieb, the
book; Maltese: għotja, a
donation; l-għotja, the
donation; Maltese: ċave
tta, a key; iċ-ċavetta,
the key; Maltese: dar, a
house; id-dar, the
house; Maltese: nemla,
an ant; in-nemla, the
ant; Maltese: ras, a
head; ir-ras, the
head; Maltese: sodda, a
bed; is-sodda, the
bed; Maltese: tuffieħa,
an apple; it-tuffieħa, the
apple; Maltese: xahar, a
 month; ix-xahar, the
month; Maltese: zunnari
ja, a carrot; iz-zunnarija,
the
carrot; Maltese: żmien,
a time; iż-żmien, the
time

A different way, limited to the

definite article, is used
by Latvian and Lithuanian. The
noun does not change but the
adjective can be defined or
undefined. In Latvian: galds, a
table / the table; balts galds, a
white table; baltais galds, the
white table. In Lithuanian: stalas, a
table / the table; baltas stalas, a
white table; baltasis stalas, the
white table.

Languages in the above table

written in italics are constructed
languages and are not natural,
that is to say that they have been
purposefully invented by an
individual (or group of individuals)
with some purpose in mind.

Tokelauan
[edit]
This section
may lend und
ue weight to
Tokelauan,
we should
not give a
separate
 lengthy
section to all
languages,
much less to
Tokelauan out
of all. Please
help to create
a more
balanced
presentation.
Discuss
and resolve th
is issue before
removing this
message. (Dec
ember 2023)

When using a definite article

in Tokelauan language, unlike in
some languages like English, if the
speaker is speaking of an item,
they need not have referred to it
previously as long as the item is
specific.[8] This is also true when it
comes to the reference of a
specific person.[8] So, although the
definite article used to describe a
noun in the Tokelauan language
is te, it can also translate to the
indefinite article in languages that
requires the item being spoken of
to have been referenced prior.
[8]
When translating to
English, te could translate to the
English definite article the, or it
could also translate to the English
indefinite article a.[8] An example of
how the definite article te can be
used as an interchangeable
definite or indefinite article in the
Tokelauan language would be the
sentence “Kua hau te tino”.[8] In the
English language, this could be
translated as “A man has arrived”
or “The man has arrived” where
using te as the article in this
sentence can represent any man
or a particular man.[8] The word he,
which is the indefinite article in
Tokelauan, is used to describe
‘any such item’, and is
encountered most often with
negatives and interrogatives.[8] An
example of the use of he as an
indefinite article is “Vili ake oi
k'aumai he toki ”, where ‘he toki ’
mean ‘an axe’.[8] The use
of he and te in Tokelauan are
reserved for when describing a
singular noun. However, when
describing a plural noun, different
articles are used. For plural
definite nouns, rather than te, the
article nā is used.[8] ‘Vili ake oi
k'aumai nā nofoa’ in Tokelauan
would translate to “Do run and
bring me the chairs” in English.
[8]
There are some special cases in
which instead of using nā, plural
definite nouns have no article
before them. The absence of an
article is represented by 0.[8] One
way that it is usually used is if a
large amount or a specific class of
things are being described.
[8]
Occasionally, such as if one was
describing an entire class of things
in a nonspecific fashion, the
singular definite noun te would is
used.[8] In English, ‘Ko te povi e kai
mutia’ means “Cows eat grass”.
[8]
Because this is a general
statement about cows, te is used
instead of nā. The ko serves as a
preposition to the “te” The
article ni is used for describing a
plural indefinite noun. ‘E i ei ni
tuhi?’ translates to “Are there any
books?”[8]

Historical

development
[edit]

Articles often develop by

specialization
of adjectives or determiners. Their
development is often a sign of
languages becoming
more analytic instead of synthetic,
perhaps combined with the loss
of inflection as in English,
Romance languages, Bulgarian,
Macedonian and Torlakian.

Joseph Greenberg in Universals of

Human Language describes "the
cycle of the definite article":
Definite articles (Stage I) evolve
from demonstratives, and in turn
can become generic articles
(Stage II) that may be used in both
definite and indefinite contexts,
and later merely noun markers
(Stage III) that are part of nouns
other than proper names and
more recent borrowings.
Eventually articles may evolve
anew from demonstratives.[9]

Definite articles
[edit]

Definite articles typically arise

from demonstratives meaning that.
For example, the definite articles
in most Romance languages—
e.g., el, il, le, la, lo, a, o — derive
from
the Latin demonstratives ille (mas
culine), illa (feminine)
and illud (neuter).

The English definite article the,

written þe in Middle English,
derives from an Old
English demonstrative, which,
according to gender, was
written se (masculine), seo (femini
ne) (þe and þeo in the
Northumbrian dialect),
or þæt (neuter). The neuter
form þæt also gave rise to the
modern demonstrative that.
The ye occasionally seen in
pseudo-archaic usage such as
"Ye Olde Englishe Tea Shoppe" is
actually a form of þe, where the
letter thorn (þ) came to be written
as a y.
Multiple demonstratives can give
rise to multiple definite
articles. Macedonian, for example,
in which the articles are suffixed,
has столот (stolot), the
chair; столов (stolov), this chair;
and столон (stolon), that chair.
These derive from the Proto-
Slavic demonstratives *tъ "this,
that", *ovъ "this here"
and *onъ "that over there, yonder"
respectively. Colognian prepositio
ns articles such as in dat Auto,
or et Auto, the car; the first being
specifically selected, focused,
newly introduced, while the latter
is not selected, unfocused, already
known, general, or generic.

Standard Basque distinguishes

between proximal and distal
definite articles in the plural
(dialectally, a proximal singular
and an additional medial grade
may also be present). The Basque
distal form (with infix -a-,
etymologically a suffixed and
phonetically reduced form of the
distal demonstrative har-/hai-)
functions as the default definite
article, whereas the proximal form
(with infix -o-, derived from the
proximal demonstrative hau-/hon-)
is marked and indicates some kind
of (spatial or otherwise) close
relationship between the speaker
and the referent (e.g., it may imply
that the speaker is included in the
referent): etxeak ("the houses")
vs. etxeok ("these houses [of
ours]"), euskaldunak ("the Basque
speakers") vs. euskaldunok ("we,
the Basque speakers").

Speakers of Assyrian Neo-

Aramaic, a modern Aramaic
language that lacks a definite
article, may at times use
demonstratives aha and aya (femi
nine) or awa (masculine) – which
translate to "this" and "that",
respectively – to give the sense of
"the".[10] In Indonesian, the third
person possessive suffix -
nya could be also used as a
definite article.[11]

Indefinite articles
[edit]

Indefinite articles typically arise

from adjectives meaning one. For
example, the indefinite articles in
the Romance languages—
e.g., un, una, une—derive from
the Latin adjective unus. Partitive
articles, however, derive
from Vulgar Latin de illo,
meaning (some) of the.

The English indefinite article an is

derived from the same root
as one. The -n came to be
dropped before consonants, giving
rise to the shortened form a. The
existence of both forms has led to
many cases of juncture loss, for
example transforming the
original a napron into the
modern an apron.

The Persian indefinite article

is yek, meaning one.

See also
[edit]

 English articles
 Al- (definite article in
Arabic)
 Definiteness
 Definite description
 False title

References
[edit]

1. ^ Recasens,
Marta; Martí, M.
Antònia; Taulé,
Mariona (2009-06-
16), Winkler,
Susanne;
Featherston, Sam
(eds.), "First-mention
definites:More than
exceptional
cases", The Fruits of
Empirical Linguistics
II, vol. 102, Berlin,
New York: Mouton de
Gruyter, pp. 217–
238, doi:10.1515/978
3110216158.217, ISB
 N 978-3-11-021347-8,
retrieved 2023-01-16
2. ^ New perspectives
on Hispanic contact :
linguistics in the
Americas. Melvin
González-Rivera, and
Sandro Sessarego.
Madrid:
Iberoamericana.
2015. ISBN 978-3-
95487-831-4. OCLC
969386958.
3. ^ Burchfield, R.
W. (1996). The New
Fowler's Modern
English
Usage (3rd ed.).
Oxford University
Press.
p. 512. ISBN 978-
0199690367.
4. ^ Argetsinger, Amy (1
September
2015). "Why does
everyone call Donald
Trump 'The Donald'?
It's an interesting
story". The
Washington Post.
Retrieved 3
October 2017.
5. ^ Lawrence, Erma
(1977). Haida
dictionary. Fairbanks:
Alaska Native
 Language Center.
p. 64.
6. ^ Master, Peter
(1997). "The English
article system:
Acquisition, function,
and
pedagogy". System. 2
5 (2): 215–232. do
i:10.1016/S0346-
251X(97)00010-9.
7. ^ Kusmenko, J
K. "The typology of
the language contact
on the Balkans and in
Scandinavia. A case
of the suffixed definite
article" (PDF). Archive
d (PDF) from the
original on 2021-10-
04. See s.5 Summary.
Retrieved 2 February
2012.
8. ^ Jump up
to:a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Si
mona, Ropati
(1986). Tokelau
Dictionary. New
Zealand: Office of
Tokelau Affairs.
p. Introduction.
9. ^ Greenberg, Joseph
H. (2005). Genetic
linguistics : essays on
theory and method.
William Croft. Oxford:
Oxford University
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19-151452-4. OCLC
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10. ^ Solomon, Zomaya
S. (1997). Functional
and other exotic
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11. ^ "20 Contoh
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External links
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Look up article, definite article,

or indefinite article in Wiktionary, the
free dictionary.

Wikisource has the text of the

1921 Collier's
Encyclopedia article Article.

 "The Definite Article,

'The': The Most
Frequently Used Word
in World's Englishes"
 Ing, John (September
17, 2019). "How to Use
Articles Correctly in
 English (A, An & The)".
Retrieved May 3, 2020.
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