Articles

Articles (Artigos)

Articles always precede the noun. They have inflections of number and gender, and they agree with the noun they determine. Articles can be used as pronouns:

A saia de cor vermella séntache ben; a de cor azul estache grande.

The red skirt fits you; the blue one (=the skirt) is big for you.

Helena foi cun vestido novo á festa; eu fun cun vello.

Helena wore a new dress in the party; I wore an old one (=a dress).

Articles can be either definite or indefinite:

Definite articles

Definite articles have two allomorphs in complementary distribution. The allomorph called second form of the article appears after words ending in -s or -r:

		*Definite article*		*Contracted forms with prepositions*
		*First form*	*Second form*	a	ca	con	de	en
*Masculine*	*Sg.*	o	a	ó	có	co	do	no
*Masculine*	*Pl.*	os	as	ós	cós	cos	dos	nos
*Feminuine*	*Sg.*	lo	la	á	cá	coa	da	na
*Feminuine*	*Pl.*	los	las	ás	cás	coas	das	nas

Examples of the first form:	Examples of the second form:

Dáme o libro. Give me the book. Cantan os rapaces. The children sing.	¿Laváche-lo coche? Did you wash the car? Ela fai ximnasia tódalas mañás. She takes exercise every morning.

In spelling, the second form of the article (lo, la, los, las) is used as follows:

A dash is used after verb forms ending in -s or -r:

-lo

You see the child.

-la

To open the door

A dash is used also after personal pronouns ending in -s:

-las

Thank them

The dash is not used after the prepositions por for, through; des from; tras behind:

polo

He comes through the path

dela

I see him from the tower

The dash is not used after the plural indefinite adjective todos every, all:

las

All the girls know that story

The graphic representation of second forms is obligatory only when they follow the prepositions por and tras:

pola mañá (*por a mañá) in the morning.

Indefinite articles

		*Indefinite article*	*Contracted forms with prepositions*
		*Indefinite article*	con	de	en
*Masculine*	*Sg.*	un	cun	dun	nun
*Masculine*	*Pl.*	unha	cuns	duns	nuns
*Feminuine*	*Sg.*	uns	cunha	dunha	nunha
*Feminuine*	*Pl.*	unhas	cunhas	dunhas	nunhas

Examples:

Chegou de viaxe dun país europeo.

He arrived from a trip around a European country.

Helena foi á festa cun vestido novo.

Helena went to the party with a new dress.

O gato está nunha caixa.

The cat is in a box.

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