Articles are found in many Indo-European languages, Semitic languages (only the definite article)[citation needed], and Polynesian languages; however, they are formally absent from many of the world's major languages including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Mongolian, many Turkic languages (including Tatar, Bashkir, Tuvan and Chuvash), many Uralic languages (incl. Finnic[a] and Saami languages), Indonesian, Hindi-Urdu, Punjabi, Tamil, the Baltic languages, the majority of Slavic languages, the Bantu languages (incl. Swahili). In some languages that do have articles, such as some North Caucasian languages, the use of articles is optional; however, in others like English and German it is mandatory in all cases.

Linguists believe the common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, Proto-Indo-European, did not have articles. Most of the languages in this family do not have definite or indefinite articles: there is no article in Latin or Sanskrit, nor in some modern Indo-European languages, such as the families of Slavic languages (except for Bulgarian and Macedonian, which are rather distinctive among the Slavic languages in their grammar, and some Northern Russian dialects[7]), Baltic languages and many Indo-Aryan languages. Although Classical Greek had a definite article (which has survived into Modern Greek and which bears strong functional resemblance to the German definite article, which it is related to), the earlier Homeric Greek used this article largely as a pronoun or demonstrative, whereas the earliest known form of Greek known as Mycenaean Greek did not have any articles. Articles developed independently in several language families.

Not all languages have both definite and indefinite articles, and some languages have different types of definite and indefinite articles to distinguish finer shades of meaning: for example, French and Italian have a partitive article used for indefinite mass nouns, whereas Colognian has two distinct sets of definite articles indicating focus and uniqueness, and Macedonian uses definite articles in a demonstrative sense, with a tripartite distinction (proximal, medial, distal) based on distance from the speaker or interlocutor. The words this and that (and their plurals, these and those) can be understood in English as, ultimately, forms of the definite article the (whose declension in Old English included thaes, an ancestral form of this/that and these/those).

In many languages, the form of the article may vary according to the gender, number, or case of its noun. In some languages the 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

Definite

Indefinite

Gendered

Numbered

Case-inflected

Afrikaans

Yes

Yes

No

No

No

Albanian

Yes, as suffixes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Arabic

Yes, as prefixes

Yes, as suffixes

No

No

No

Armenian

Yes, as suffixes

No

No

No

No

Basque

Yes, as suffixes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Belarusian

No

No

No

No

No

Bengali

Yes, as suffixes

Yes

No

Yes

No

Bulgarian

Yes, as suffixes

No

Yes

Yes

Only masculine singular

Catalan

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Chinese

No

No

No

No

No

Czech

No

No

No

No

No

Definite

Indefinite

Gendered

Numbered

Case-inflected

Danish

Yes, before adjectives or as suffixes

Yes

Yes

Yes (if definite)

No

Dutch

Yes

Yes

Yes (if definite)

Yes (if definite)

No, except for the genitive case

English

Yes

Yes

No

No

No

Esperanto

Yes

No

No

No

No

Estonian

No

No

No

No

No

Finnish[a]

No

No

No

No

No

French

Yes

Yes

Yes (if singular)

Yes

No

Georgian

No

No

No

No

No

German

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes (if definite)

Yes

Greek

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes (if definite)

Yes

Guarani

Yes

No

No

Yes

No

Definite

Indefinite

Gendered

Numbered

Case-inflected

Hawaiian

Yes

Yes

No

Yes (if definite)

No

Hebrew

Yes, as prefixes

No

No

No

No

Hungarian

Yes

Yes

No

No

No

Icelandic

Yes, as suffixes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Interlingua

Yes

Yes

No

No

No

Irish

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Italian

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Japanese

No

No

No

No

No

Korean

No

No

No

No

No

Latvian

No

No

No

No

No

Definite

Indefinite

Gendered

Numbered

Case-inflected

Lithuanian

No

No

No

No

No

Macedonian

Yes, as suffixes

No

Yes

Yes

No

Malay/Indonesian

Rarely necessary

No

No

No

No

Nepali

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Norwegian

Yes, before adjectives or as suffixes

Yes

Yes

Yes (if definite)

No

Pashto

No

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Persian

Might be used optionally

Yes

No

No

No

Polish

No

No

No

No

No

Portuguese

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Romanian

Yes, as suffixes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Russian

No

No

No

No

No

Sanskrit

No

No

No

No

No

Scottish Gaelic

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Definite

Indefinite

Gendered

Numbered

Case-inflected

Serbo-Croatian

No

No

No

No

No

Slovak

No

No

No

No

No

Slovene

No

No

No

No

No

Somali

Yes, as suffixes

No

Yes

No

Yes

Spanish

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Swahili

No

No

No

No

No

Swedish

Yes, before adjectives or as suffixes

Yes

Yes

Yes (if definite)

No

Tamil

No

No

No

No

No

Thai

No

No

No

No

No

Toki Pona

No

No

No

No

No

Turkish

No

Might be used optionally

No

No

No

Ukrainian

No

No

No

No

No

Welsh

Yes

No

Causes initial consonant mutation to singular feminine nouns

No

No

Yiddish

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes (if definite)

Yes

Definite

Indefinite

Gendered

Numbered

Case-inflected

The articles used in some languages

Language

definite article

partitive article

indefinite article

Abkhaz

a-

-k

Afrikaans

die

'n

Albanian

-a, -ja, -i, -ri, -ni, -u, -t, -in, -un, -n, -rin, -nin, -në, -ën, -s, -së, -ës, -të, -it, -ët (all suffixes)

disa

një

Arabic

al- or el ال (prefix)

-n

Assamese

-tû, -ta, -ti, -khôn, -khini, -zôn, -zôni, -dal, -zûpa etc.

êta, êkhôn, êzôn, êzôni, êdal, êzûpa etc.

Bangla

-টা, -টি, -গুলো, -রা, -খানা

একটি, একটা, কোন

Breton

an, al, ar

un, ul, ur

Bulgarian

-та, -то, -ът, -ят, -те (all suffixes)

няколко

един/някакъв,

една/някаква,

едно/някакво,

едни/някакви

Catalan

el, la, l', els, les

ses, lo, los, es, sa

un, una

uns, unes

Cornish

an

Danish

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

Plural: -ene, -ne (all suffixes)

en, et

Dutch

de, het ('t); archaic since 1945/46 but still used in names and idioms: des, der, den

een ('n)

English

the

a, an

Esperanto

la

Finnish (colloquial)[a]

se

yks(i)

French

le, la, l', les

de, d', du, de la, des,

de l'

un, une, des

German

der, die, das

des, dem, den

ein, eine, einer, eines

einem, einen

Greek

ο, η, το

οι, οι, τα

ένας, μια, ένα

Hawaiian

ka, ke

nā

he

Hebrew

ha- ה‎ (prefix)

Hungarian

a, az

egy

Icelandic

-(i)nn, -(i)n, -(i)ð, -(i)na, -num, -(i)nni, -nu, -(i)ns, -(i)nnar, -nir, -nar, -(u)num, -nna (all suffixes)

Interlingua

le

un

Irish

an, na, a' (used colloquially)

Italian

il, lo, la, l'

i, gli, le

del, dello, della, dell'

dei, degli, degl', delle

un', uno, una, un

Khasi

u, ka, i

ki

Kurdish

-eke

-ekan

hendê, birrê

-êk

-anêk

Latin

Luxembourgish

den, déi (d'), dat (d')

dem, der

däers/es, däer/er

en, eng

engem, enger

Macedonian

-от -ов -он -та -ва -на -то -во -но

-те -ве -не -та -ва -на (all suffixes)

неколку

еден една едно

едни

Manx

y, yn, 'n, ny

Malay (Both Malaysia and Indonesian)

Si (usually informal), Sang (more formal)

Māori

te (singular), ngā (plural)

he (also for "some")

Maltese

(i)l-, (i)ċ-, (i)d-, (i)n-, (i)r-, (i)s-, (i)t-, (i)x-, (i)z-, (i)ż- (all prefixes)

Nepali

euta, euti, ek, anek, kunai

एउटा, एउटी, एक, अनेक, कुनै

Norwegian (Bokmål)

Singular: -en, -et, -a (all suffixes)

Plural: -ene, -a (all suffixes)

en, et, ei

Norwegian (Nynorsk)

Singular: -en, -et, -a (all suffixes)

Plural: -ane, -ene, -a (all suffixes)

ein, eit, ei

Papiamento

e

un

Pashto

yaow, yaowə, yaowa, yaowey

يو, يوهٔ, يوه, يوې

Persian

in, ān

yek, ye

Portuguese

o, a

os, as

um, uma

uns, umas

Quenya

i, in, 'n

Romanian

-(u)l, -le, -(u)a

-(u)lui, -i, -lor (all suffixes)

un, o

unui, unei

niște, unor

Scots

the

a

Scottish Gaelic

an, am, a', na, nam, nan

Sindarin

i, in, -in, -n, en

Spanish

el, la, lo,

los, las

un, una

unos, unas

Swedish

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

Plural: -na, -a, -en (all suffixes)

en, ett

Welsh

y, yr, -'r

Yiddish

דער (der), די (di), דאָס (dos), דעם (dem)

אַ (a), אַן (an)

^ 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: שלם (shalam), peace; שלמא (shalma), 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: "Bôi", book; "Bôiti/Bôita/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. (The Persian language does not have definite articles. It has one indefinite article 'yek' that means one. In 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; an so literally "Sib e man" means the apple of mine.)

Romanian: drum, road; drumul, the road (the article is just "l", "u" is a "connection vowel" Romanian: 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: ċavetta, 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: zunnarija, 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. They do, however, all belong to language families themselves. Esperanto is derived from European languages and therefore all of its roots are found in Proto-Indo-European and cognates can be found in real-world languages like French, German, Italian and English. Interlingua is also based on European languages but with its main source being that of Italic descendant languages: English, French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, with German and Russian being secondary sources, with words from further afield (but internationally known and often borrowed) contributing to the language's vocabulary (such as words taken from Japanese, Arabic and Finnish). The result is a supposedly easy-to-learn language for the world. As well as these "auxiliary" languages the list contains two more: Quenya and Sindarin; these two languages were created by Professor Tolkien and used in his fictional works. They are not based on any real-world language family (as are Esperanto and Interlingua), but do share a common history with roots in Common Eldarin.

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