Grammatical Articles - IALA

We will discuss about grammatical Articles and their use.

Points:

1. Definite Le

2. The use of Le

3. Indefinite Un

4. The use of Un

5. Plural forms

6. Article + possesives / adjectives

7. Prepositional Del and Al

9. Pronominal usage of articles

Definite Article

All purpose = Le

Authoritative Interlingua has nouns ended with -o/a/e or consonants. But, these endings carry no genders. That's why, there is no gender separations for definite article. There is no plural separations as well. One article for all purpose like in English. It means, the only informational carrier of plurality is the noun itself.

Examples:

le patre 'the father'

le matre 'the mother'

le infante 'the child'

le patres 'the fathers'

le matres 'the mothers'

le infantes 'the children'

The use of Definite Article

To specify the nouns

io ama flores 'I like flowers' (general)

ubi pote io trovar flores?

'where can I find flowers?' (general)

io ama le flores 'I like the flowers' (specific)

ubi pote io trovar le flores?

'where can I find the flowers?' (specific)

General means any flowers in the world. Specific means flowers that are on the table, you bought, you want, etc.

Before abstract nouns

Because abstract nouns cannot use indefinite article, all they can use is definite article. While in English, we do not use any definite articles generally.

Examples:

Da me le libertate de scriber

'give me the liberty of writing'

Le caritate es le virtute

'charity is virtue'

Before an apellation

Le professor Matthew es in le schola

'professor Matthew is in the school'

Le seniora Divna es in su casa

'mrs. Divna is in her house'

Before possesives

We use Le + possesives for basic form. And Le + De + possesional phrase for the complex form. It can be translated as ''the one of mine", "the one of my friend", etc.

Example:

Su libres e le de mi es in mi casa

'His/her book and mine are in my house'

Mi flores e le de mi fratres es in mi casa

'My flowers and my brothers' are in my house'

Before que

It uses the form neuter Lo + que to means "the ones/thing that or which". It occupy the position of an object.

io non sape lo que ille pensa

'I don't know what he thinks'

io non sape lo que tu scribe

'I don't know what you write'

Indefinite Article

We use Un for indefinite article in Interlingua. It is used for all nouns like in English. Its usage is to show one number of something. We can only use it for countable nouns.

un patre 'a father, one father'

un matre 'a mother, one mother'

un infante 'a child, one child'

un vacca 'a cow, one cow'

Plural Forms

The plural form of grammatical articles are only used for subjects. We use Les + possesive or Les + De + possesional phrase. It can be translated as "those of". And we also use Unes + possesive or Unes + De + possesional phrase. It can be translated as "some of". 

Example:

le opiniones de mi patre e les de mi matre

'the views of my father and those of my mother'

Nostre amicos veni: les de mi fratre, un de mi soror, e unes del amicos de nostre parentes

'Our friends are coming: those of my brother, one of my sister's, and some of the friends of our parents'

Genders (Pronominal)

We can differentiate the articles by genders (maculine and feminine) only for pronominal use like in Les and Unes. The genders for Le are Le, La and Lo. The genders for Un is Uno and Una. Les and Unes also become Les, Las, Unos, Unas. Usually we only use these for masculine vs feminine sexes in reality.

Example:

Mi fratre e mi soror invita lor melior amicos; le de mi fratre ama la de mi soror

'My brother and sister invite their best friends; my brother's [male best friend] loves my sister's [female best friend]'

Mi fratre e mi soror ha multe amicos. Uno de mi fratre ama una de mi soror

'My brother and my sister have many friends. One of my brother's [male friends] loves one of my sister's [female friends]'

mi amicos, unos de mi fratre, e las de mi soror

'my friends, some of my brother's [boy friends], and the female friends of my sister'

Del and Al

It is normal for De + Le and A + Le to be shortened into Del (of the) and Al (to the).

Example:

Ille studia al schola

'He studies/is studying at school'

Iste es un torta del chocolate

'This is a chocolate cake'