à
See also: Appendix:Variations of "a"
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Translingual
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
Danish
Alternative forms
Dutch
Pronunciation
Audio (file)
Preposition
à
- indicates an approximate number
- Kook 2 à 3 aardappelen per persoon. ― Boil 2 or/to 3 potatoes per person.
- 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.
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)
- 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.[1] This is partly due to the keyboard layout used in France. Quebec usage is to put accents on capitals.
Preposition
à
- to (destination)
- Je vais à Paris. ― I am going to Paris.
- aller au bout ― go to the end / go all the way
- to (until)
- Le spectacle sera de 18h à 21h. ― The show will be from 6 pm to 9 pm.
- 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.
- 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
- 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.
- 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]
- till, until (used in farewells)
- Salut, à demain. ― Bye, till tomorrow. / Bye, see you tomorrow.
- à plus tard ― see you later
- (cooking) cooked in or with
- Steak au poivre ― Steak with pepper sauce
- 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
- (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
- 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
- by
- peu à peu ― bit by bit
- minute à minute ― minute by minute
- jour à jour ― day by day
- 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
- 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 […] .
- 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 |
Further reading
- “à” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
German
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /a/
Audio (file)
Preposition
à
Ladin
Middle French
Ngam
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈa˨/
Particle
à
- 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
Portuguese
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /a/
- Rhymes: -a
Contraction
à
- Contraction of a a (“to/at the”).
- 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 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.
Scottish Gaelic
Etymology
From Old Irish ass, a (“out of”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eǵʰs. Cognate of Latin ex-. Compare Irish as.
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.
Spanish
Swedish
Vietnamese
Pronunciation
- (Hà Nội) IPA(key): [ʔaː˨˩]
- (Huế) IPA(key): [ʔaː˦˩]
- (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA(key): [ʔaː˨˩]
Particle
à
- 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).
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