-a

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Contents

[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

[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

[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

[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.

[edit] Dutch

[edit] Suffix

-a (plural)

  1. Plural form of -um.

[edit] Synonyms


[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


[edit] Finnish

[edit] Alternative forms

  • (in words with front vowel harmony)

[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


[edit] French

[edit] Suffix

-a

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

[edit] Hungarian

[edit] Pronunciation

[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


[edit] Icelandic

[edit] Suffix

-a

  1. Used to form verbs from nouns.
    sparksparka — a kick → to kick
    mjólkmjólka — milk → to milk
    vonvona — hope → to hope
    ávarpávarpa — an address → to address
    ritrita — a writ → to write
    rassrassa — an ass → to spank (on the ass)

[edit] Derived terms

[edit] See also


[edit] Ido

[edit] Suffix

-a

  1. Ending for all adjectives in Ido.

[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".

[edit] Old English

[edit] Alternative forms

[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


[edit] Romanian

[edit] Alternative forms

[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 or in an unstressed vowel:

[edit] Related terms

[edit] See also


[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


[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.

[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”