Grammatical Articles - IAC

We will discuss the grammatical articles and their use.

Points

1. Definite Lo, La
2. The Use of Lo, La
3. Indefinite Un, Una
4. The Use of Un, Una
5. Plural Forms
6. Article + Possessives / Adjectives
7. Prepositional De and Å
8. Pronominal Usage of Articles

Definite Article

Interlingua Classica has nouns ending with -o/a. This is reflected in the case of the articles Lo and La as well.  For the plural nouns, the articles are Los and Las.  Articles change based on gender and plurality.

Examples

lo patro 'the father'

los patros 'the fathers'

la matra 'the mother'

las matras 'the mothers'

la tabula 'the table'

las tabulas 'the tables'

Articles change if the noun is in the accusative case.

La matra mangia lom mangom.

'The mother eats the mango.'

La matra crea lams tabulams.

'The mother creates the tables.'

The Use of Definite Articles

To specify nouns

Yo ama florams.

'I like flowers.' (general)

Ubi pote yo trovar florams?

'Where can I find flowers?' (general)

Yo ama lams florams.

'I like the flowers' (specific)

Ubi pote yo trovar lams florams?

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

Before abstract nouns

Daa å me lam libertatam de a-scriber.

'Give me the freedom to write.'

La caritata esse la virtuta.

'Charity is virtue.'

Before an Appellation

Lo professoro Mattheo esse in la schola.

'Professor Matthew is in the school.'

La seniora Divna esse in casa suya.

'Mrs. Divna is in her house.'

Before Possessives

We use Lo etc + possessives for the basic form and Lo etc. + De + possessional phrase for the complex form. It can be translated as ''the one of mine", "the one of my friend", etc.

Los libros sues/suyas et lo de mie essen in la casa mie.

'His/her books and mine are in my house.'

Las floras miya et las de fratros miya essen in la casa miya.

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

Before qu*/qu*m

It uses the form l*m + qu*/qu*m to mean "the one that/the thing which". It occupies the position of an object.

Yo non sape lom quom ille pensa.

'I don't know what he thinks.'

Yo non sape lom quom tu scribe.

'I don't know what you write'

Indefinite Article

In Interlingua Classica, Un/Una are used for the indefinite article.  Un has a variant Uno. Un is a/an and Uno is one.

un patro 'a father'

uno patro 'one father'

un objecto 'an object'

uno objecto 'one object'

una matra 'a mother, one mother'

una auricula 'an ear, one ear'

una vacca 'a cow, one cow'

Signifying "Some, Several"

We use Unos/Unas to signify some/several numbers (indefinite). And we also use Unos/Unas + possesive or Unes/Unas + De + possessive phrase. It can be translated as "some of".

Los amicos nostres venin: los do fratro mie, un da sorora mie, et unos dos amicos dos parentos nostres.

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

Pronominal Use

...

De and Å Article Contractions

De + Lo, La, Los, Las and Å + Lo, La, Los, Las are often contracted into Do, Da, Dos, Das (of the) and Ålo, Åla, Ålos, Ålas (to the).

Ille daa å me unom librom.

'He gives me a book.'