Theiling Online    Sitemap    Conlang Mailing List HQ   

Re: CHAT: Definite/Indefinite Article Distinction

From:Joe <joe@...>
Date:Thursday, September 12, 2002, 22:27
----- Original Message -----
From: "bnathyuw" <bnathyuw@...>
To: <CONLANG@...>
Sent: Sunday, September 08, 2002 2:48 PM
Subject: Re: CHAT: Definite/Indefinite Article Distinction


> --- Jan van Steenbergen <ijzeren_jan@...> > wrote: > --- Andreas Johansson wrote: > > > > > My French isn't rusty for the simple reason that I > > don't know it, but the sg > > > indefinite article _un_/_une_, derived from > > _unus_, hasn't prevented French > > > from acquiring a pl indefinite article _des_. > > > > If you count "des" really as an article, you ought > > to include "du", "de la" > > etc. as well. But in fact, this is just the > > combination of a preposition with > > the definite article. > > > > i' ve seen french described as having THREE articles : > > indefinite: un/une/des > partitive: du/de la/des > definite: le/la/les > > where the first two have convergent forms in the > plural ( with some exceptions of usage ) > > but this might have been the grammarian's pet theory . > . . !
In that case, english has 3 articles 'a/an', 'the' and 'some'.

Replies

Nik Taylor <yonjuuni@...>
Thomas R. Wier <trwier@...>
Christophe Grandsire <christophe.grandsire@...>