Advanced Grammar Topics: Articles

Written by Blackkdark on 28th June 2007

In English we have both definite and indefinite articles. In some languages, they have both. In others, they have neither. Fewer still, have one. Languages also will make the article a morpheme (and ending).

Interestingly enough, the indefinite article originates for most Indo-European languages from the word for One. Even the English word an came from the Old English an meaning one. In Spanish and Italian, the word for one is uno, and the masculine indefinite article is un. The French, Portuguese, and Romanian are similar. They were originally from the Latin word Unus, meaning one. In Germanic languages it's similar. In German, the word for a is ein(e)(en) depending on gender and such, but the word for one is eins. In Norwegian, it's similar, en or ett mean one, and en or et mean a. Also in the Norse languages, when there is an adjective it sometimes generates a second definite article that appears separate to the one attached to the noun. Here is a chart comparing some of the indefinite articles, using the masculine form. (The Norwegian and Swedish forms are neuter, the Dutch is general).

The definite article finds itself in many of those languages as well. Although the origins aren't as easily found. I believe in some of the romance languages the word is related to the Latin words for he and she, especially because they are related words in the languages themselves (el -masculine the, él - he). In the three main Norse languages (Norwegian, Danish, and Swedish) as well as in Romanian, the definite article is attached to the end of the noun. This changes it from a separate word to a morphological ending.

In many languages such as Russian, Polish, and Latin don't have any articles at all. Most cases of languages which are heavily declined usually don't have articles. Romanian is one that has both and they affect each other. German has a system where their articles (all of them) are actually affected by the declension, usually more than the noun is. Languages like Chinese and Japanese don't have articles of any form.

In many cases, articles have to agree in number, gender, and sometimes even case with their noun. In some cases it has to change for phonetic reasons. In French and Italian the articles become l' when the noun starts with a vowel. This also happens in English when we say an insteady of a and un' in Italian. Memorizing the article with each noun helps one to learn the gender of the noun. The number also affects some languages' articles. In German, the articles also change for case, but some of the articles overlap in form, so one must pay attention to understand it.

When articles are used also vary from language to language. In English, abstract nouns tend not to get an article, whereas in French and German they do. Articles are something to watch out for when learning a new language.