à

See also: À, -à, and 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]

Danish

Alternative forms

• a

Preposition

à

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

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. each

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

Finnish

Etymology

Borrowed from French à.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɑ/, [ˈɑ̝]

Adverb

à (not comparable)

1. a, per, each

   Synonyms: see kohti

French

Pronunciation

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

Notes

• In Canada, à and a are not homophones, à [a], a [ɑː].

Etymology 1

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.

Etymology 2

Inherited from Old French a, a merge of Latin ad and ab.

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!

   Ne tournez pas encore à droite ! ― Don't turn [to the] right yet!

   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 précises. ― I am leaving at exactly five o'clock.

   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 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.

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.

   Voilà la femme à laquelle j'ai acheté mon chien ― There's the woman I bought my dog from.

7. 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 [nonstandard: one normally would use de here]

8. 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.

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 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.

    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 — 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

    petit à petit ― little by little

    minute à minute ― minute by minute

    jour à jour ― day by day

    un à un ― one by one

14. 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

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 C^ie, 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 […] .

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

• 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.
• Used to 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 cases like the latter, translations from French into English 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 combined 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

• à la and à l' are almost entirely not used if the location referred to is a country, subnational division, or continent. (The same does not hold, however, for au and aux.) In these cases, en is used instead. 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

Derived terms

compounds and contractions

• au
• aujourd'hui
• auquel
• aux
• auxquelles
• auxquels
• jusqu'à

 

locutions and syntagma

• à bientôt
• à côté de
• à la
• à la fois
• à la hauteur
• à l'avance
• à l'extérieur
• à l'instar de
• à l'intérieur
• à partir de
• à propos
• à-côtés
• à-coups
• aux côtés de
• bout à bout
• ce à quoi
• côte à côte
• face à
• jusqu'à ce que
• par rapport à
• tout à fait

 

Descendants

• → Danish: à
• → Dutch: à
• → German: à
• → Hungarian: à
• → Norwegian Bokmål: à, a
• → Swedish: à

Further reading

• “à”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

German

Etymology

Borrowed from French à.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aː/

• Audio

  (file)

Preposition

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

• 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

• zu (je)

Related terms

• à la

Hungarian

Etymology

From French à.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈaː]
• Rhymes: -aː

Letter

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

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

• à la carte

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 2023)
• à in Pusztai, Ferenc (ed.). Magyar értelmező kéziszótár (’A Concise Explanatory Dictionary of Hungarian’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2003. 2nd, expanded and revised edition. →ISBN (The online version is available with registration for one 2-hour free trial per month.)

Italian

Verb

à

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

Ladin

Verb

à

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

Ligurian

Verb

à

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

Mandarin

Alternative forms

• a – nonstandard

Romanization

à (a⁴, Zhuyin ㄚˋ)

1. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 啊
2. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 阿
3. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 𫮄
4. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 𮥀

Matal

Pronoun

à

1. he, she

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

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.

Norman

Etymology

From Latin ad.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a/

Preposition

à

1. to, at

Noun

à m (plural às)

1. at sign

   Synonyms: colînmachon, siez

References

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

Norwegian Bokmål

Alternative forms

• a

Etymology

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

• IPA^(key): /a(ː)/, /ɑ(ː)/

• Audio

  (file)

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aː, -a, -ɑː, -ɑ
• Hyphenation: à
• Homophones: a, A-, a-, ah

Preposition

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

• à jour (“up to date”)
• à la (“a la”)
• à poeng med (“same score as”)

References

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

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• á (obsolete)
• aa (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /a/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /a/

• Homophone: a (Brazil)
• Hyphenation: à

Contraction

à f sg

2. Contraction of a a (“to the”): feminine singular of ao
   • 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.

   Vou à praia.

   I’m going to the beach.

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:ao.

Preposition

à

2. Misspelling of a.
3. forms adverbs meaning "in a manner related or resembling"
5. Clipping of à moda de.
6. 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."

Rawang

Suffix

à (upper case À)

1. 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

• a

Etymology

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

à

1. third-person singular/plural present indicative of avér (“to have”)

Romani

Letter

à (lower case, upper case À)

1. (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

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

Preposition

à (+ dative)

1. from, out of

Usage notes

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

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

• bho, o

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)

1. Additional letter, used in some words to denote the short stress on a.

Symbol

à

1. (non-tonal SNPT) Phonetic transcription of sound [a].

Etymology 2

Letter a with acute (◌̀) to signify long stressed vowel.

Pronunciation

• (Natisone Valley dialect, phoneme): IPA^(key): /a/

Letter

à (lower case, usually not in upper case)

1. (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

1. (with accusative) for, per (the price, mass etc.)

   Synonyms: po, za

   1886, Krain Landtag, Bericht über die Verhandlungen des Krainischen Landtages zu Laibach: nach den stenographischen Aufzeichnungen‎^[2], page 219:

   Meso à 105 gramov.

   Meat per 105 grams.

See also

• a
• á
• ȃ
• ā
• ȁ

Further reading

“à”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran

Spanish

Preposition

à

1. Obsolete spelling of a

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from French à.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aː/

Preposition

à

1. ... to ...

   2 à 3 kg

   2 to 3 kilograms

   • 1963, Margit Abenius, Memoarer från det inre‎^[3], 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, […]

   Synonym: –

2. @, 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" [Unworthy of Finland to marginalize those with autism and their relatives] (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

• à in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)

Tày

Pronunciation

• (Thạch An – Tràng Định) IPA^(key): [ʔaː˧˨]
• (Trùng Khánh) IPA^(key): [ʔaː˩]

Etymology 1

Particle

à

1. Question particle.

   Hết đảy mí à? ― Can you do it?

   Pây liê̱u mí à? ― Wanna go play?

Etymology 2

Noun

à (妸)

1. blood paternal aunt (younger than one's father)

   me̱ à ― (polite) paternal aunt

Etymology 3

Particle

à

1. 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]‎^[4][5] (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]‎^[6] (in Vietnamese), Hanoi: Nhà xuất bản Khoa học Xã hội

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (Hồ Chí Minh City)

  (file)

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. 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).