à

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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[edit]

Letter[edit]

à (upper case À)

  1. The letter a with a grave accent.

See also[edit]

Danish[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Preposition[edit]

à

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

Dutch[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From French à.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • Audio(file)

Preposition[edit]

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

French[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Letter[edit]

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[edit]
  • Use of accents on capital letters is variable. European usage is sometimes to omit accents, though the French Academy considers it incorrect.[1] This is partly due to the keyboard layout used in France. Quebec usage is to put accents on capitals.

Etymology 2[edit]

From Old French a, a merge of Latin ad and ab, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd and *h₂epó.

Preposition[edit]

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. 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.
    la femme à laquelle j'ai acheté mon chien ― the woman I bought my dog from
  7. 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]
  8. till, until (used in farewells)
    Salut, à demain. ― Bye, till tomorrow. / Bye, see you tomorrow.
    à plus tard ― see you later
  9. (cooking) cooked in or with
  10. 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
  11. (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
  12. 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
  13. by
    peu à peu ― bit by bit
    minute à minute ― minute by minute
    jour à jour ― day by day
  14. 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
  15. 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[acques]-J[ulien] Dubochet et Cie, éditeurs, […], OCLC 763899327:
      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 […] .
  16. 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[edit]
  • 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[edit]

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 la and à l' are not used if the location referred to is a country, subnational division, or continent. In these cases, en is used instead.

Descendants[edit]
  • → Norwegian Bokmål: à, a

References[edit]

  1. ^ “Questions de langue”, in French Academy‎[1], 1990

Further reading[edit]

German[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from French à.

Pronunciation[edit]

Preposition[edit]

à

  1. (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[edit]

  • 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[edit]

Related terms[edit]

Hungarian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From French à.

Pronunciation[edit]

Letter[edit]

à (lower case, upper case À)

  1. (commerce, dated) at, @ (at the given rate for each item)
    Synonyms: darabja, egyenként
  2. (formal, often in the phrase à la) a la, in the style of, after the manner of
    Synonyms: módján, modorában, stílusában

Declension[edit]

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[edit]

See also[edit]

Further reading[edit]

  • à in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (’The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). 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 2022)
  • à in Pusztai, Ferenc (ed.). Magyar értelmező kéziszótár (’A Concise Explanatory Dictionary of Hungarian’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2003. →ISBN

Italian[edit]

Verb[edit]

à

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

Ladin[edit]

Verb[edit]

à

  1. third-person singular present indicative of avei (“has”)
  2. third-person plural present indicative of avei (“have”)

Ligurian[edit]

Verb[edit]

à

  1. third-person singular present indicative of avéi (“has”)

Mandarin[edit]

Romanization[edit]

à (Zhuyin ㄚˋ)

  1. Pinyin transcription of 啊
  2. Pinyin transcription of 阿
  3. Pinyin transcription of 𫮄
  4. Pinyin transcription of 𮥀

Matal[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

à

  1. he, she

Middle French[edit]

Preposition[edit]

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

Ngam[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Cognate to Sar à.

Pronunciation[edit]

Particle[edit]

à

  1. initial interrogative particle on a question

References[edit]

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[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Latin ad.

Pronunciation[edit]

Preposition[edit]

à

  1. to, at

Noun[edit]

à m (plural às)

  1. at sign
    Synonyms: colînmachon, siez

References[edit]

  • Spence, N.C.W. (1960). Glossary of Jersey-French. Oxford: Blackwell. p. 39.

Norwegian Bokmål[edit]

Norwegian Bokmål Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nb

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From French à (“to, on, in”), from Middle French [Term?], 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[edit]

Preposition[edit]

à

  1. 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
  2. at ... each
    • 1998, Geir Pollen, Hutchinsons eftf., page 79:
      to hundre og femti nummererte [bok]eksemplarer à tusen kroner
      two hundred and fifty numbered [book] copies for a thousand kroner
    tre kilo à seksti kroner
    three kilos at sixty kroner each
  3. in, a
    • 1872-1883, Henrik Ibsen, Samlede verker XVII, page 92:
      [75 thaler] i sedler à 25 thaler
      [75 thaler] in 25 thaler banknotes
    • 2001, Jan Christopher Næss, Jotapata:
      tolv perioder à ca. fire uker
      twelve periods of approx. four weeks
    tre ganger à uka
    thrice a week
    Synonym: i
  4. (Used in French expressions, before a consonant) up to, in
    à jour, à la, à la carte, à la grecque, à la mode, vis-à-vis

Derived terms[edit]

References[edit]

  • “à” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
  • “à” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

Portuguese[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

  • á (obsolete)
  • â (obsolete)
  • aa (obsolete)

Pronunciation[edit]

  • Hyphenation: à

Contraction[edit]

à

  2. Contraction of a a (“to/at the”).
    Vou à praia.
    I’m going to the beach.

Quotations[edit]

For quotations using this term, see Citations:ao.

Preposition[edit]

à

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

Romani[edit]

Letter[edit]

à (lower case, upper case À)

  1. (International Standard) The letter a with the grave accent.

See also[edit]

Scottish Gaelic[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Irish a. Cognates include Irish as and Manx ass.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /a/ (as if spelled a)
  • Hyphenation: à

Preposition[edit]

à (+ dative)

  1. from, out of

Inflection[edit]

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

Usage notes[edit]

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

Synonyms[edit]

Further reading[edit]

  • 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

Spanish[edit]

Preposition[edit]

à

  1. Obsolete spelling of a

Swedish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from French à.

Pronunciation[edit]

Preposition[edit]

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[edit]

Vietnamese[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Interjection[edit]

à

  1. oh; I see

Particle[edit]

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[edit]

  • 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).
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