à
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Danish
Alternative forms
Preposition
à
Dutch
Etymology
Pronunciation
Audio (file)
Preposition
à
- indicates an approximate number
- Kook 2 à 3 aardappelen per persoon. ― Boil 2 or/to 3 potatoes per person.
- indicates the price etc. each
- 10 blikjes à 0,06 € is 0,60 € in totaal. ― 10 cans at €0.06 each is €0.60 in total.
Finnish
Etymology
Pronunciation
Adverb
à (not comparable)
French
Pronunciation
Notes
- In Canada, à and a are not homophones, à , a .
Etymology 1
Letter
à (lower case, upper case À)
- A with grave accent, a letter used in French mostly to distinguish some homographs and in transliteration.
Usage notes
- Use of accents on capital letters is variable. European usage is sometimes to omit accents, though the French Academy considers it incorrect. This is partly due to the keyboard layout used in France. Quebec usage is to put accents on capitals.
Etymology 2
Inherited from Old French a, a merge of Latin ad and ab.
Preposition
à
- to (destination)
- aller au bout ― go to the end / go all the way
- Je vais à Paris. ― I am going to Paris.
- to (until)
- Le spectacle sera de 18h à 21h. ― The show will be from 6 pm to 9 pm.
- on the, to (some directions)
- Tournez à gauche ! ― Turn left!
- Ne tournez pas encore à droite ! ― Don't turn right yet!
- Le vent vire au nord. ― The wind turns north.
- L’école est à gauche. ― The school is on the left.
- at (said of a particular time)
- à dix heures et quart ― at quarter past ten
- Je pars à cinq heures précises. ― I am leaving at exactly five o'clock.
- at, in, on (said of a particular place)
- à la maison ― at home
- à l’hôtel ― at the hotel
- au comptoir du bar ― at the bar
- au bois ― in the woods
- J’habite à un demi-kilomètre d’ici. ― I live half a kilometer from here.
- La maison qui a été détruite hier soir ne se trouvait qu’à trois kilomètres de chez nous.
- The house that was destroyed last night was only three kilometers from our place.
- Found in various interjections used as warnings or exhortations
- au voleur ! ― stop thief!
- à l’assassin ! ― murderer!
- au meurtre ! ― murder! murderer!
- à moi ! ― help!
- à l’aide ! ― help!
- au secours ! ― help!
- au feu ! ― fire!
- aux armes ! ― to arms!
- à l’attaque ! ― attack! forward! charge! up and at 'em!
- à l’abordage ! ― on board!
- au boulot ! ― get to work! let's get to work!
- au travail ! ― get to work! let's get to work!
- from (origin)
- Nous prenons de l’eau au puits. ― We get water from the well.
- Je l’ai eu à la bibliothèque. ― I got it from the library.
- Voilà la femme à laquelle j’ai acheté mon chien ― There's the woman I bought my dog from.
- of (belonging to)
- Synonym: (usually in different grammatical contexts) de
- C’est un ami à moi. ― This is a friend of mine.
- Cette voiture est à John. ― This is John's car.
- le chien à Marie ― Mary's dog
- till, until (used in farewells)
- à plus tard ― see you later
- à bientôt ― see you soon
- Salut, donc. À demain. ― Bye, then. 'Til tomorrow / see you tomorrow.
- (cooking) cooked in or with
- Used to make compound nouns to state what something is used for
- moulin à poivre ― pepper mill
- sac à dos ― backpack
- boite à musique ― music box
- (before an infinitive) to (used to express something not completed)
- l’équipe à battre ― the team to beat
- Il n’y a jamais grand-chose à faire par ici. ― There's never much to do around here.
- Là où tu ne vois pas grand-chose, je ne trouve qu’une grande abondance de choses qui restent à faire. ― Where you see nothing great, I only see a great abundance of things that need doing.
- Il reste deux tâches à finir. ― There are two things left to finish.
- Il y a de la bière à boire. ― There's some beer to drink.
- Used to describe a part of something, often translated into English as a compound adjective
- un animal à quatre pattes ― a four-legged animal
- une femme au visage pâle ― a pale-faced woman
- un homme à longue barbe ― a long-bearded man — a man with a long beard
- une chemise à manches courtes ― a short-sleeved shirt
- une maison aux murs de brique ― a brick-walled house / a house with brick walls
- by
- peu à peu ― bit by bit
- petit à petit ― little by little
- minute à minute ― minute by minute
- jour à jour ― day by day
- un à un ― one by one
- or, to (used to express an approximate number)
- six à sept personnes ― six or seven people
- de vingt à trente ans ― from twenty to thirty years
- tous les cinq à six ans ― every five or six years
- Used to indicate the recipient of certain phrasal verb.
- mettre le feu à ― to set fire to
- clouer le bec à ― to shut (someone) up
- donner la chasse à ― to give chase to
- 1836, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, chapter XL, in Louis Viardot, transl., L’Ingénieux Hidalgo Don Quichotte de la Manche, volume I, Paris: J-J Dubochet et Cie, éditeurs, , →OCLC:
- Bien que la faim et le dénûment nous tourmentassent quelquefois, et même à peu près toujours, rien ne nous causait autant de tourment que d’être témoins des cruautés inouïes que mon maître exerçait sur les chrétiens. Chaque jour il en faisait pendre quelqu’un; on empalait celui-là, on coupait les oreilles à celui-ci […] .
- Even though hunger and destitution tormented us sometimes, and even almost always, nothing caused us as much torment as being witnesses to the unheard-of cruelties that my master exercised on the Christians. Every day, he made someone hang; they impaled that one, they cut the ears off of this one .
- with
- (Can we date this quote?), Jacques Bouveresse, "Et Satan conduit le bal..." Kraus, Hitler & le nazisme, which is an introduction to the book La Troisième nuit de Walpurgis, by Karl Kraus, translated by Pierre Deshusses:
- On peut remarquer, à ce propos, que ce n’est pas non plus dans des livre à prétention plus ou moins scientifique que Kraus avait l’habitude de chercher les instruments dont il avait besoin pour la déscription et l’expliquation.
- It may also be noticed, on this matter, that it is also not on books with more or less scientific pretentions that Kraus used to search for the instruments which he needed for description and explanation.
Usage notes
- Expresses a report/ratio of place (to), time (at), means, manner, price. It can indicate possession (of or 's), particularly when used with a disjunctive personal pronoun, e.g. à moi, à eux, à elle.
-
Introduces several types of grammatical complement: indirect object, attribution, name, adjective.
- In French, a good number of intransitive verbs use à to mark an indirect object, e.g. reussir à (“to succeed at”). Sometimes, their English equivalents are transitive verbs taking direct objects, e.g. jouer à (un jeu) (“to play (a game)”), in which case, translations generally do not require any counterpartial element be rendered for à, though some ways of rendering certain verbs will allow for it.
-
When à is followed by a definite article, the two combine to give the following combined forms:
à + article Combined form à + le au à + la unchanged
(à la)à + l’ unchanged
(à l')à + les aux - However, à la and à l' are almost entirely not used if the location referred to is a country, subnational division, or continent, in which case, en is used instead. (The same does not hold, however, for au and aux.) Compare en France and aux États-Unis. The most notable exception is à la Barbade.
-
Logically following the previously described rule, à combines with the relative pronouns, which themselves contain an element of the definite article, producing these forms:
à + article Combined form à + lequel auquel à + laquelle à laquelle à + lesquels auxquels à + lesquelles auxquelles
- See also Appendix:French verbs followed by à
Derived terms
compounds and contractions
locutions and syntagma
Descendants
References
- ^ “Questions de langue”, in French Academy, 1990
Further reading
- “à”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.
German
Etymology
Pronunciation
Preposition
à
- (business, colloquial) at (a specified price or rate of exchange per item)
- Vier Briefmarken à 75 Cent, das macht drei Euro, bitte!
- Four stamps at 75 cents each, that's three euros, please!
Usage notes
- Generally not followed by articles or adjectives, but if necessary it may be construed with nominative, dative, or accusative: à ein or einem or einen Euro.
Synonyms
Related terms
Hungarian
Etymology
Pronunciation
Letter
à (lower case, upper case À)
- (commerce, dated) at, @ (at the given rate for each item)
- (formal, often in the phrase à la) a la, in the style of, after the manner of
- Synonyms: módján, modorában, stílusában
Declension
| Inflection (stem in long/high vowel, back harmony) | ||
|---|---|---|
| singular | plural | |
| nominative | à | à-k |
| accusative | à-t | à-kat |
| dative | à-nak | à-knak |
| instrumental | à-val | à-kkal |
| causal-final | à-ért | à-kért |
| translative | à-vá | à-kká |
| terminative | à-ig | à-kig |
| essive-formal | à-ként | à-kként |
| essive-modal | — | — |
| inessive | à-ban | à-kban |
| superessive | à-n | à-kon |
| adessive | à-nál | à-knál |
| illative | à-ba | à-kba |
| sublative | à-ra | à-kra |
| allative | à-hoz | à-khoz |
| elative | à-ból | à-kból |
| delative | à-ról | à-król |
| ablative | à-tól | à-któl |
| non-attributive possessive - singular |
à-é | à-ké |
| non-attributive possessive - plural |
à-éi | à-kéi |
| Possessive forms of à | ||
|---|---|---|
| possessor | single possession | multiple possessions |
| 1st person sing. | à-m | à-im |
| 2nd person sing. | à-d | à-id |
| 3rd person sing. | à-ja | à-i |
| 1st person plural | à-nk | à-ink |
| 2nd person plural | à-tok | à-itok |
| 3rd person plural | à-juk | à-ik |
Derived terms
See also
- (Latin-script letters) betű; A a, Á á, B b, C c, Cs cs, D d, Dz dz, Dzs dzs, E e, É é, F f, G g, Gy gy, H h, I i, Í í, J j, K k, L l, Ly ly, M m, N n, Ny ny, O o, Ó ó, Ö ö, Ő ő, P p, R r, S s, Sz sz, T t, Ty ty, U u, Ú ú, Ü ü, Ű ű, V v, Z z, Zs zs. Only in the extended alphabet: Q q W w X x Y y. Commonly used: ch. Also defined: à ë. In surnames (selection): ä aa cz ds eé eö ew oe oó th ts ÿ.
Further reading
- à in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (‘The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN
- à in Ittzés, Nóra (ed.). A magyar nyelv nagyszótára (‘A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2006–2031 (work in progress; published A–ez as of 2024)
- à in Pusztai, Ferenc (ed.). Magyar értelmező kéziszótár (’A Concise Explanatory Dictionary of Hungarian’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2003. 2nd, expanded and revised edition. →ISBN
Italian
Letter
à (upper case À)
- The letter ⟨a⟩ in a stressed final syllable.
Verb
à
- Obsolete spelling of ha, third-person singular present indicative of avere
Ladin
Verb
à
- third-person singular present indicative of avei (“has”)
- third-person plural present indicative of avei (“have”)
Ligurian
Verb
à
- third-person singular present indicative of avéi (“has”)
Mandarin
Alternative forms
- a — nonstandard
Romanization
- Hanyu Pinyin reading of 啊
- Hanyu Pinyin reading of 阿
- Hanyu Pinyin reading of 𫮄
- Hanyu Pinyin reading of 𮥀
Matal
Pronoun
à
Middle French
Preposition
à
- (16th century onwards) Alternative form of a: at; to
- 1537, Cicero (original author), Epistres familiaires traduictz de latin en francois et nouvellement imprimez link
- on les vend à Paris
- They are being sold in Paris
- 1537, Cicero (original author), Epistres familiaires traduictz de latin en francois et nouvellement imprimez link
Ngam
Alternative forms
Etymology
Pronunciation
Particle
à
- initial interrogative particle on a question
References
Keegan, John (2014). The Eastern Sara Languages. Ceunca, Spain: Morkeg Books. p. 223.
- Mudiwa, Olukayode (2001). An Analysis of Proto-Sara. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Addis Ababa Books. p. 156.
Norman
Etymology
Pronunciation
Preposition
à
Noun
à m (plural às)
- at sign
- Synonyms: colînmachon, siez
References
- Spence, N.C.W. (1960). Glossary of Jersey-French. Oxford: Blackwell. p. 39.
Norwegian Bokmål
Alternative forms
Etymology
From French à (“to, on, in”), from Middle French , from Old French a (“to, towards, belonging to”), from Latin ad (“to, towards, up to, at”), from Proto-Italic *ad (“toward, to, on, up to, for”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd (“to, at”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /a(ː)/, /ɑ(ː)/
Audio (file) Audio (file) - Rhymes: -aː, -a, -ɑː, -ɑ
- Hyphenation: à
- Homophones: a, A-, a-, ah
Preposition
à
- to, up to
- 1907, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnsons fortællinger, page 204:
- på hver lystfarende nordmand kommer ti à tyve fremmede
- on every pleasure-seeking Norwegian comes ten to twenty strangers
- fem à seks kroner
- five to six kroner
- at ... each
- 1998, Geir Pollen, Hutchinsons eftf., page 79:
- to hundre og femti nummererte [bok]eksemplarer à tusen kroner
- two hundred and fifty numbered copies for a thousand kroner
- tre kilo à seksti kroner
- three kilos at sixty kroner each
- in, a
- 1872-1883, Henrik Ibsen, Samlede verker XVII, page 92:
- [75 thaler] i sedler à 25 thaler
- in 25 thaler banknotes
- 2001, Jan Christopher Næss, Jotapata:
- tolv perioder à ca. fire uker
- twelve periods of approx. four weeks
- (Used in French expressions, before a consonant) up to, in
Derived terms
- à jour (“up to date”)
- à la (“a la”)
- à poeng med (“same score as”)
References
Portuguese
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
Contraction
à f sg
- Contraction of a a (“to the”): feminine singular of ao
- Vou à praia.
- I’m going to the beach.
- 2000, J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter e a Câmara Secreta [Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets] (Harry Potter; 2), Rio de Janeiro: Rocco, →ISBN, page 217:
- Quando tiver uma dúvida, vá à biblioteca.
- When you have a question, go to the library.
Quotations
For quotations using this term, see Citations:ao.
Preposition
à
- Misspelling of a.
- forms adverbs meaning "in a manner related or resembling"
- Clipping of à moda de.
- accented preposition, the preposition a is accented when it comes before feminine words in prepositional, adverbial and conjunctive phrases; in
- Ele escreveu à caneta.
- He wrote in pen.
Usage notes
- The grave accent is used to differentiate the preposition of a simple article. In "He wrote in pen", the respective particle without the diacritic will make the sentence have another meaning: "He wrote the pen."
Etymology 2
From homophone há.
Verb
à
- Misspelling of há.
Rawang
Suffix
à (upper case À)
- verbal suffix for marking past tense on transitive verbs.
- Wedø wà yàngà.
- They did it like that.
- Àngbøø̀ng lòng vnáng bǿngà.
- I forgot his name.
Romagnol
Alternative forms
Etymology
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Verb
à
- third-person singular/plural present indicative of avér (“to have”)
Romani
Letter
à (lower case, upper case À)
- (International Standard) The letter a with the grave accent.
See also
- (Latin-script letters) A a, B b, C c, D d, E e, F f, G g, H h, X x, I i, J j, K k, Kh kh, L l, M m, N n, O o, P p, Ph ph, R r, S s, T t, Th th, U u, V v, Z z International Standard: (À à, Ä ä, Ǎ ǎ), Ć ć, Ćh ćh, (È è, Ë ë, Ě ě), (Ì ì, Ï ï, Ǐ ǐ), (Ò ò, Ö ö, Ǒ ǒ), Rr rr, Ś ś, (Ù ù, Ü ü, Ǔ ǔ), Ź ź, Ʒ ʒ, Q q, Ç ç, ϴ θ. Pan-Vlax: Č č, Čh čh, Dž dž, (Dź dź), Ř ř, Š š, (Ś ś), Ž ž, (Ź ź).
Scottish Gaelic
Etymology
From Old Irish a. Cognates include Irish as and Manx ass.
Pronunciation
Preposition
à (+ dative, no mutation, before the definite article às)
Inflection
| Personal inflection of à | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | Person | Simple | Emphatic | ||||||
| Singular | 1st | asam | asamsa | ||||||
| 2nd | asad | asadsa | |||||||
| 3rd m | às | às-san | |||||||
| 3rd f | aiste | aistese | |||||||
| Plural | 1st | asainn | asainne | ||||||
| 2nd | asaibh | asaibhse | |||||||
| 3rd | asta | astasan | |||||||
Synonyms
Further reading
- Edward Dwelly (1911) “à”, in Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan [The Illustrated Gaelic–English Dictionary], 10th edition, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN
- G. Toner, M. Ní Mhaonaigh, S. Arbuthnot, D. Wodtko, M.-L. Theuerkauf, editors (2019), “7 a”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
Slovene
Etymology 1
Letter a with grave (◌̀) to signify short stressed vowel.
Pronunciation
- (phoneme): IPA(key): /a/
- (letter name, non-tonal transcription): IPA(key): /kràːtki àː/, /kràːtki áː/ kratki a
- Rhymes: -aː
Letter
à (lower case, upper case À)
- Additional letter, used in some words to denote the short stress on a.
Symbol
à
- (non-tonal SNPT) Phonetic transcription of sound .
Etymology 2
Letter a with acute (◌̀) to signify long stressed vowel.
Pronunciation
Letter
à (lower case, usually not in upper case)
- (Natisone Valley dialect) Additional letter, used in some words to denote the long stress on a.
Etymology 3
From French à, from latin Latin ad 'to'.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /àː/, /áː/, /á/
Audio (non-tonal, long) (file) Audio (non-tonal, short) (file) - Rhymes: -aː
- Homophones: A, a
Preposition
à
See also
Further reading
“à”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran
Spanish
Preposition
à
Swedish
Etymology
Pronunciation
Preposition
à
- ... to ...
- 2 à 3 kg
- 2 to 3 kilograms
- 1850 August 13, “Landsorts-tidningar, Wisby [Non-capital newspapers, Visby]”, in Post- och Inrikes Tidningar, page 2:
- Sistlidne Fredag gaf den sydliga vinden, som då började blåsa med laber kultie signalen till skådespelets början; dagen derpå defilerade i prydlig ordning en svärm af seglare omkring 40 à 50 tre- och två-mastare, många i full skrud, med läsegel och skyskrap!
- Last Friday, the southern wind, which began to blow gently, gave the signal for the start of the spectacle; the next day, a swarm of sailboats, around 40 to 50 three- and two-masters, paraded in orderly fashion, many in full regalia, with studding sails and skyscrapers!
- 1963, Margit Abenius, Memoarer från det inre, page 136:
- Jag har hela mitt liv, dvs. en 25 à 30 år fantiserat om en ny form, någonting som inte vore roman och inte essä, […]
- I have my whole life, ie. a 25 to 30 year fantasized about a new form, something that would not be a novel and not an essay,
- @, at, each
- 2 st à 1 kr
- 2 pieces at 1 krona each
- 2017 April 1, "Ovärdigt Finland att marginalisera dem med autism och deras närstående" (letter to the editor), Hufvudstadsbladet, Helsinki: KSF Media, accessed 11 November 2020:
- Hade vi följt Sveriges exempel (LSS, 1994), skulle den personliga assistansen (à 11 euro per timme) vid det här laget vara en profession.
- If we had followed Sweden's example (LSS, 1994), the personal assistance (at 11 euros per hour) would have been a profession by this point.
References
Tày
Pronunciation
- (Thạch An – Tràng Định) IPA(key):
- (Trùng Khánh) IPA(key):
Etymology 1
Particle
à
- Question particle.
- Hết đảy mí à? ― Can you do it?
- Pây liê̱u mí à? ― Wanna go play?
Etymology 2
Noun
à (妸)
- blood paternal aunt (younger than one's father)
- me̱ à ― (polite) paternal aunt
Etymology 3
Particle
à
- yeah
- Á chư̱ dá.
- Yeah, that's right.
References
- Hoàng Văn Ma, Lục Văn Pảo, Hoàng Chí (2006) Từ điển Tày-Nùng-Việt [Tay-Nung-Vietnamese dictionary] (in Vietnamese), Hanoi: Nhà xuất bản Từ điển Bách khoa Hà Nội
- Lương Bèn (2011) Từ điển Tày-Việt [Tay-Vietnamese dictionary] (in Vietnamese), Thái Nguyên: Nhà Xuất bản Đại học Thái Nguyên
- Lục Văn Pảo, Hoàng Tuấn Nam (2003) Hoàng Triều Ân, editor, Từ điển chữ Nôm Tày [A Dictionary of (chữ) Nôm Tày] (in Vietnamese), Hanoi: Nhà xuất bản Khoa học Xã hội
Vietnamese
Pronunciation
- (Hà Nội) IPA(key):
- (Huế) IPA(key):
- (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA(key):
Audio (Hà Nội) (file) Audio (Hồ Chí Minh City) (file)
Interjection
à
Particle
à
- Question particle.
- Thế à?
- Really?
- Cháu mới về à?
- So you've come back.
- Nhóm mày có bốn người thôi à?
- There's only four members in your group, isn't there?
Usage notes
- In contrast to không which is used to make a yes-no question, à is used to seek confirmation, roughly equivalent to Japanese ね (ne) or the English use of tag questions. Compare to nhỉ, which is similar to Japanese よ (yo) in that it is used to make a light assertion or remark. However, à denotes a speaker's stronger belief that the hearer will agree with him or her than the expression phải không.
- The negative reply to this type of question can start with không phải only to questions with a nominal predicate. Otherwise, the negative reply starts with không (or its variants, such as hông) or some other negators such as đâu.
- Not to be confused with ạ (politeness particle).
Welsh
Pronunciation
Letter
à (upper case À)
- The letter A, marked for its short pronunciation in monosyllabic words.