-a

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Etymology 1 1.1.1 Pronunciation 1.1.2 Suffix 1.1.2.1 Derived terms 1.1.2.2 See also 1.1.2.3 Translations 1.2 Etymology 2 1.2.1 Pronunciation 1.2.2 Suffix 1.2.2.1 See also 2 Croatian 2.1 Suffix 3 Dutch 3.1 Suffix 3.1.1 Synonyms 4 Esperanto 4.1 Etymology 4.2 Suffix 4.2.1 Derived terms 5 Finnish 5.1 Alternative forms 5.2 Etymology 5.3 Suffix 5.3.1 Usage notes 5.3.2 See also 6 French 6.1 Suffix 7 Hungarian 7.1 Pronunciation 7.2 Suffix 7.2.1 Usage notes 7.3 See also 8 Icelandic 8.1 Suffix 8.1.1 Derived terms 8.1.2 See also 9 Ido 9.1 Suffix 10 Italian 10.1 Suffix 11 Old English 11.1 Alternative forms 11.2 Etymology 1 11.2.1 Suffix 11.3 Etymology 2 11.3.1 Suffix 11.3.1.1 Declension 11.4 Descendants 12 Romanian 12.1 Alternative forms 12.2 Etymology 12.3 Suffix 12.3.1 Usage notes 12.3.2 Related terms 12.3.3 See also 13 Spanish 13.1 Suffix 13.1.1 Derived terms 14 Swedish 14.1 Suffix 14.1.1 Usage notes 15 Turkish 15.1 Alternative forms 15.2 Suffix

[edit] English

[edit] Etymology 1

From the homographic case endings of the nominative, accusative, and vocative forms of numerous Latin neuter second declension nouns.

[edit] Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /—a/, IPA: /—ə/

[edit] Suffix

-a (plural)

1. Plural form of -um.

[edit] Derived terms

[edit] See also

[edit] Translations

[edit] Etymology 2

Possibly due to the propensity in some non-rhotic dialects to pronounce words ending in -er as if they ended in an -a.

[edit] Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /—æ/

[edit] Suffix

-a

1. (Geordie) Same as -er in Standard English.

   me fatha was a corka burna doon the shipyard — “My father was a corker burner at the shipyard.”

2. (slang) Used to replace -er in nouns.

   gangsta — “gangster”

   brotha — “brother”

[edit] See also

• -z

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[edit] Croatian

[edit] Suffix

-a

1. Suffix appended to words (usually verbal stems) to create a feminine noun, usually denoting a relation or to form a proper noun.

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[edit] Dutch

[edit] Suffix

-a (plural)

1. Plural form of -um.

[edit] Synonyms

• -ums

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[edit] Esperanto

[edit] Etymology

From feminine singular adjectives (and nouns) of the Romance languages, such as French ma, Italian mia, Spanish mía, fría.

[edit] Suffix

-a

1. Related to, in the manner of, of. (Ending for all adjectives in Esperanto.)

   belo; bela — “beauty; beautiful”

   dekstro; dekstra — “the right direction (as opposed to left); to the right”

   vero; vera — “truth; true”

2. Belonging to, of. (Ending for all possessive pronouns in Esperanto.)

   mia — “of me, my”

   via — “of you, your”

   ilia — “of them, their”

3. -kind of. (Ending of all correlatives of kind in Esperanto.)

   kia — “what kind of”

   tia — “that kind of”

   nenia — “no kind of”

[edit] Derived terms

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[edit] Finnish

[edit] Alternative forms

• (in words with front vowel harmony) -ä

[edit] Etymology

Originally the so-called weak suffixal gradation form of the partitive suffix -ta (/ða/ or /ðæ/).

[edit] Suffix

-a (in words with back vowel harmony)

1. (case suffix) Forms the partitive case of nouns, adjectives and some pronouns.

[edit] Usage notes

• This suffix is used after a short vowel or the plural marker -j-.

[edit] See also

• -ta
• -tta

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[edit] French

[edit] Suffix

-a

1. Suffix indicating the third-person singular past historic of -er verbs.

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[edit] Hungarian

[edit] Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɒ/

[edit] Suffix

-a

1. his, her, its (third-person singular possessive suffix denoting singular possession)

   ház (“‘house’”) → a háza (“‘his/her/its house’”)

[edit] Usage notes

• (possessive suffix): Member of the -a/-e/-ja/-je suffix cluster.

  -a is added to back vowel words ending in a consonant

  -e is added to front vowel words ending in a consonant

  -ja is added to back vowel words ending in a consonant or a vowel. Final -a changes to -á-.

  -je is added to front vowel words ending in a consonant or a vowel. Final -e changes to -é-.

[edit] See also

• Category:Hungarian noun forms - possessive
• Appendix:Hungarian possessive suffixes

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[edit] Icelandic

[edit] Suffix

-a

1. Used to form verbs from nouns.

   spark → sparka — a kick → to kick

   mjólk → mjólka — milk → to milk

   von → vona — hope → to hope

   ávarp → ávarpa — an address → to address

   rit → rita — a writ → to write

   rass → rassa — an ass → to spank (on the ass)

[edit] Derived terms

[edit] See also

• -ingi
• -ari

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[edit] Ido

[edit] Suffix

-a

1. Ending for all adjectives in Ido.

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[edit] Italian

[edit] Suffix

-a

1. Used, with a stem, to form the third person singular present tense of -are verbs.
2. Used, with a stem, to form the second person singular imperative of -are verbs.
3. Used, with a stem, to form the first person singular, second person singular and third person singular present subjunctive of -ere verbs, and of those -ire verbs that do not insert "isc".
4. Used, with a stem, to form the third person singular imperative of -ere verbs, and of those -ire verbs that do not insert "isc".

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[edit] Old English

[edit] Alternative forms

• -o

[edit] Etymology 1

From Proto-Germanic *-ō

[edit] Suffix

-a

1. Ending forming adverbs

   hwāra (“‘where’”); ġilīco (“‘similarly’”)

   singala (“‘continually, constantly’”) < singal (“‘continuous’”)

[edit] Etymology 2

[edit] Suffix

-a m.

1. nominative masculine n-stem ending

   nama "name"; scūa "shadow"

2. used to form masculine agents from verbs

   hunta (“‘hunter’”)

   ǣta (“‘eater’”)

[edit] Declension

	Singular	Plural
nominative	-a	-an
accusative	-an	-an
genitive	-an	-ena
dative	-an	-um

[edit] Descendants

• English -er

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[edit] Romanian

[edit] Alternative forms

• -ua

[edit] Etymology

From Latin illa.

[edit] Suffix

-a f.

1. (definite article) the (feminine, nominative and accusative)

[edit] Usage notes

This form of the definite article is used for feminine nouns in the nominative and accusative cases which end in -ă or in an unstressed vowel:

• mama < mamă, fem.
• naţiunea < naţiune, fem.

[edit] Related terms

• -ua

[edit] See also

• -l
• -le

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[edit] Spanish

[edit] Suffix

-a

1. -ess. (Used to form feminine singular nouns.)

   señor; señora — “gentleman; lady”

   camarero; camarera — “waitor; waitress”

2. (Used to form the feminine singular adjectives.)

   frío; fría — “cold; cold”

3. -s. (Used to form the third person singular (also used with usted) present indicative mood of regular -ar verbs.)

   hablar; habla — “to talk; talks”

4. (Used to form the first and third person singular (also used with usted) singular subjunctive mood of -er and -ir verbs.)

   comer; aunque yo coma — “to eat; even if I ate”

5. (Used to form the second person singular imperative mood of -ar verbs.)

   hablar; ¡Habla! — “to talk; Talk!”

[edit] Derived terms

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[edit] Swedish

[edit] Suffix

-a

1. (on an positive adjective) Suffix to mark that the corresponding noun is either in plural or in definite singular form
2. Marker of definiteness for noun plurals ending in -n (fourth declension).

   läten; lätena; "sounds; the sounds"

3. Used to create new verbs from a noun, in the infinitive.

   disk;, att diska — “dishes; to do the dishes”

   Lås; att låsa en dörr — “lock; to lock a door”

[edit] Usage notes

On adjectives 

Traditionally, if the noun is in definite singular form it should not refer to a male human, if it uses the suffix -a. If it refers to such a person, the suffix should instead be -e, but one should note that this rule is not universally adhered to - in particular dialects of northern Sweden does not recognize the -e suffix at all, but use -a in all instances.

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[edit] Turkish

[edit] Alternative forms

• (after a vowel) -ya, -ye
• (after a possessive, dative only) -na, -ne
• (in words with front vowel harmony) -e

[edit] Suffix

-a (in words with back vowel harmony)

1. Used to form the dative case.

   İstanbul’a — “to Istanbul”

   Ankara’ya — “to Ankara”

   İzmir’e — “to Izmir”

   babasına — “to his father”

2. Used to form gerunds.

   yürüye — “by walking”