à

See also: Appendix:Variations of "a"

à U+00E0, à LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH GRAVE Composition: a [U+0061] + ◌̀ [U+0300] ← ß [U+00DF] Latin-1 Supplement á → [U+00E1]

Translingual

Letter

à (upper case À)

1. The letter a with a grave accent.

See also

• (Latin script):  Aa  Bb  Cc  Dd  Ee  Ff  Gg  Hh  Ii  Jj  Kk  Ll  Mm  Nn  Oo  Pp  Qq  Rr  Sſs  Tt  Uu  Vv  Ww  Xx  Yy  Zz
• (Variations of letter A):   Áá  Àà  Ââ  Ǎǎ  Ăă  Ãã  Ảả  Ȧȧ  Ạạ  Ää  Åå  Ḁḁ  Āā  Ąą  ᶏ  Ⱥⱥ  Ȁȁ  Ấấ  Ầầ  Ẫẫ  Ẩẩ  Ậậ  Ắắ  Ằằ  Ẵẵ  Ẳẳ  Ặặ  Ǻǻ  Ǡǡ  Ǟǟ  Ȁȁ  Ȃȃ  Ɑɑ  ᴀ  Ɐɐ  ɒ  Ａａ Ææ  Ǽǽ  Ǣǣ  Ꜳꜳ  Ꜵꜵ  Ꜷꜷ  Ꜹꜹ  Ꜻꜻ
• (Letters using grave accent or double grave accent):  Àà  Ȁȁ  Ằằ  Ầầ  Èè  Ȅȅ  Ềề  Ḕḕ  Ìì  Ȉȉ  Ǹǹ  Òò  Ȍȍ  Ờờ  Ṑṑ  Ồồ  Ȑȑ  Ùù  Ȕȕ  Ǜǜ  Ừừ  Ẁẁ  Ỳỳ

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Danish

Alternative forms

• a

Preposition

à (unofficial but common)

1. of, of...each, each containing
2. at
3. to, or

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Dutch

Etymology

From French à.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Preposition

à

1. indicates an approximate number

   Kook 2 à 3 aardappelen per persoon. ― Boil 2 or/to 3 potatoes per person.

2. indicates the price etc. per piece

   10 blikjes à 0,06 € is 0,60 € in totaal. ― 10 cans at €0.06 a piece is €0.60 in total.

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French

Etymology

From Old French a, from Latin ad, from Proto-Indo-European *ád (“near; at”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a/
• (France, Paris) IPA^(key): [a]
• Rhymes: -a

Letter

à (lower case, upper case À)

1. 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.

Preposition

à

1. to (destination)

   Je vais à Paris. ― I am going to Paris.

   aller au bout ― go to the end / go all the way

2. to (until)

   Le spectacle sera de 18h à 21h. ― The show will be from 6 pm to 9 pm.

3. on the, to (some directions)

   tournez à gauche ! ― turn [to the] left!

   tournez à droite ! ― turn [to the] right!

   Le vent vire au nord. ― The wind turns north.

   L'école est à gauche. ― The school is on the left.

4. at (said of a particular time)

   Je pars à cinq heures ― I am leaving at five.

   à dix heures et quart ― at quarter past ten

5. at, in, on (said of a particular place)

   à la maison ― at home

   à l'hôtel ― at the hotel

   au bar ― in the bar

   au bois ― in the woods

   J'habite à trois kilomètres d'ici. ― I live three kilometers from here.

6. of (belonging to)

   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 [nonstandard]

7. till, until (used in farewells)

   Salut, à demain. ― Bye, till tomorrow. / Bye, see you tomorrow.

   à plus tard ― see you later

8. (cooking) cooked in or with

   Steak au poivre ― Steak with pepper sauce

9. 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

10. (before an infinitive) to (used to express something not completed)

    Il y a de nombreuses choses à faire. ― There are many things to do.

    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.

    l'équipe à battre ― the team to beat

11. 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 OR 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

12. by

    peu à peu ― bit by bit

    minute à minute ― minute by minute

    jour à jour ― day by day

13. or, to (used to express an approximate number)

    six à sept personnes ― six or seven people

    vingt à trente ans ― twenty/thirty years

    tous les cinq à six ans ― every five or six years

14. 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

    • 1837, Louis Viardot, L’Ingénieux Hidalgo Don Quichotte de la Manche, volume 1, translation of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Chapter XL:

      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 […] .

15. with

    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. ("Et Satan conduit le bal..." Kraus, Hitler & le nazisme, by Jacques Bouveresse, which is an introduction to the book La Troisième nuit de Walpurgis, by Karl Kraus, translated by Pierre Deshusses)

Usage notes

• Expresses a report/ratio of place (to), time (at), possession (of or 's), means, manner, price.
• Introduces a complement of indirect object or a complement of attribution, a complement of the name or adjective.
• Some intransitive verbs in French use à before the indirect object, e.g. réussir à, jouer à. In these cases, the à is not translated into English.

Derived terms

When followed by a definite article, à is combined with the article to give the following combined forms:

à + article	Combined form
à + le	au
à + la	à la
à + l'	à l'
à + les	aux

• à bientôt
• à la fois
• jusqu'à

Further reading

• “à” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

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German

Etymology

Borrowed from French à.

Preposition

à

1. (dated) at (a specified price or rate of exchange)

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Italian

Verb

à

1. Obsolete spelling of ha, third-person singular present indicative of avere

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Ladin

Verb

à

1. third-person singular present indicative of avei - has
2. third-person plural present indicative of avei - have

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Ligurian

Verb

à

1. third-person singular present indicative of avéi: has

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Mandarin

Romanization

à (Zhuyin ㄚˋ)

1. Pinyin transcription of 阾
2. Pinyin transcription of 啊

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Matal

Pronoun

à

1. he, she

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Middle French

Preposition

à

1. (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

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Ngam

Alternative forms

• wà

Etymology

Cognate to Sar à

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈa˨/

Particle

à

1. 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.

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Norman

Etymology

From Latin ad.

Preposition

à

1. to, at

Noun

à m (plural às)

1. at sign

   Synonyms: colînmachon, siez

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Portuguese

Alternative forms

• á, â (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a/
• Rhymes: -a

Contraction

à

2. Contraction of a a.
   • 2000, Lya Wyler (translator), J. K. Rowling (English author), Harry Potter e a Câmara Secreta (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets), Rocco, page 217:

     Quando tiver uma dúvida, vá à biblioteca.

     When you are in doubt, go to the library.

   Vou à praia.

   I’m going to the beach.

Quotations

For quotations of use of this term, see Citations:ao.

Preposition

à

2. Misspelling of a.
4. Clipping of à moda de.

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Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From Old Irish ass, a (“out of”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eǵʰs. Cognate of Latin ex-. Compare Irish as.

Preposition

à

1. from

   Synonyms: bho, o

Usage notes

• Before the definite article the form às is used instead.

Derived terms

• The following prepositional pronouns:

Person	Number	Prepositional pronoun	Prepositional pronoun (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

Further reading

• Faclair Gàidhlig Dwelly Air Loidhne, Dwelly, Edward (1911), Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan/The Illustrated [Scottish] Gaelic-English Dictionary (10th ed.), Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN
• “7 a” in Dictionary of the Irish Language, Royal Irish Academy, 1913–76.

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Spanish

Preposition

à

1. Obsolete spelling of a

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Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from French à.

Preposition

à

1. ... to ...

   2 à 3 kg

   2 to 3 kilograms

2. @, at, each

   2 st à 1 kr

   2 pieces at 1 krona each

References

• à in Svenska Akademiens Ordlista över svenska språket (13th ed., online)

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Vietnamese

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [ʔaː˨˩]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [ʔaː˦˩]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [ʔaː˨˩]

Interjection

à

1. oh; I see

Particle

à

1. 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.
• Not to be confused with ạ (politeness particle).