à

See also: 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]

Catalan

Letter

à (lower case, upper case À)

  1. the letter a with grave accent, used to indicate that a vowel is stressed. Usually written only where stress cannot be predicted from orthography or for disambiguation.

See also

Danish

Etymology

From French à, from Latin ad.

Preposition

à

  1. at (indicates an approximate number)
  2. each (indicates the price etc)

See also

References

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.

Descendants

  • Indonesian: à

Emilian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈa/

Verb

à

  1. third-person singular present indicative of avair

Finnish

Etymology

Borrowed from French à.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈɑ/
  • IPA(key): [ˈɑ̝]

Adverb

à (not comparable)

  1. a, per, each
    Synonyms: see kohti

French

Pronunciation

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.[1] 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)
      aller au boutgo to the end / go all the way
      Je vais à Paris.I am going to Paris.
    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)
      à dix heures et quartat quarter past ten
      Je pars à cinq heures précises.I am leaving at exactly five o'clock.
    5. at, in, on (said of a particular place)
      à la maisonat home
      à l'hôtelat the hotel
      au comptoir du barat the bar
      au boisin 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. Found in various interjections used as warnings or exhortations
      au voleur !stop thief!
      à l'assassin !murderer!
      au meurtre !murder! murderer!
      à moi !help!
      à l'aide !help!
      au secours !help!
      au feu !fire!
      aux armes !to arms!
      à l'attaque !attack! forward! charge! up and at 'em!
      à l'abordage !on board!
      au boulot !get to work! let's get to work!
      au travail !get to work! let's get to work!
    7. 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 chienThere's the woman I bought my dog from.
    8. 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 MarieMary's dog [nonstandard: one normally would use de here]
    9. till, until (used in farewells)
      à plus tardsee you later
      à bientôtsee you soon
      Salut, donc. À demain.Bye, then. 'Til tomorrow / see you tomorrow.
    10. (cooking) cooked in or with
    11. Used to make compound nouns to state what something is used for
      moulin à poivrepepper mill
      sac à dosbackpack
      boite à musiquemusic box
    12. (before an infinitive) to (used to express something not completed)
      l'équipe à battrethe team to beat
      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.
    13. Used to describe a part of something, often translated into English as a compound adjective
      un animal à quatre pattesa four-legged animal
      une femme au visage pâlea pale-faced woman
      un homme à longue barbea long-bearded man — a man with a long beard
      une chemise à manches courtesa short-sleeved shirt
      une maison aux murs de briquea brick-walled house / a house with brick walls
    14. by
      peu à peubit by bit
      petit à petitlittle by little
      minute à minuteminute by minute
      jour à jourday by day
      un à unone by one
    15. or, to (used to express an approximate number)
      six à sept personnessix or seven people
      de vingt à trente ansfrom twenty to thirty years
      tous les cinq à six ansevery five or six years
    16. Used to indicate the recipient of certain phrasal verb.
      mettre le feu àto set fire to
      clouer le bec àto shut (someone) up
      donner la chasse àto 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:
        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 [] .
    17. 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.
    • 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 which case, translations 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 combine 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
    • However, à la and à l' are almost entirely not used if the location referred to is a country, subnational division, or continent, in which case, en is used instead. (The same does not hold, however, for au and aux.) 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
    • See also Appendix:French verbs followed by à
    Derived terms
    Descendants
    • Danish: à
    • Dutch: à
    • German: à
    • Hungarian: à
    • Norwegian Bokmål: à, a
    • Swedish: à

    References

    1. ^ “Questions de langue”, in French Academy[1], 1990

    Further reading

    Galician

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): [aː]
    • Hyphenation: à

    Contraction

    à f (masculine ao, masculine plural aos, feminine plural às)

    1. reintegrationist spelling of á

    Further reading

    • à”, in Dicionário Estraviz de galego (in Galician), 2014–2026

    German

    Etymology

    Borrowed from French à.

    Pronunciation

    Preposition

    à [with nominative or dative or accusative]

    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


    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

    See also

    Further reading

    • à in Géza Bárczi, László Országh, et al., editors, A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN.
    • à in Nóra Ittzés, editor, A magyar nyelv nagyszótára [A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (Nszt.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2006–2031 (work in progress; published a–ez as of 2024).
    • à and (with subscription) à  in Ferenc Pusztai, editor, Magyar értelmező kéziszótár [A Concise Explanatory Dictionary of Hungarian] (ÉKsz.2), 2nd, expanded and revised edition, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2003 (online searchable version under development).

    Indonesian

    Etymology

    Unadapted borrowing from Dutch à, from French à, from Old French a, a merge of Latin ad and ab.

    Pronunciation

    Preposition

    à

    1. (rare) indicates an approximate number
      Synonyms: kira-kira, sekitar, lebih kurang
      Lama perjalanan yang ditempuh 20 à 30 menit.The journey takes around 20 to 30 minutes.
    2. (rare) indicates the price of a thing etc. per each
      Near-synonym: masing-masing
      Dia membeli 5 sisir pisang à Rp 5.000.He bought five fingers of bananas for Rp. 5,000 each.

    Further reading

    Italian

    Letter

    à f or m (lower case, upper case À, invariable)

    1. The letter a in a stressed final syllable.

    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

    • anonstandard

    Romanization

    à (a4, Zhuyin ㄚˋ)

    1. Hanyu Pinyin reading of
    2. Hanyu Pinyin reading of
    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

    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

    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

    Etymology

    From French à (to, on, in), from Middle French à, 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,
    • 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

    References

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

    Portuguese

    Alternative forms

    • á (pre-standardization spelling)
    • aa (obsolete)

    Pronunciation

    Etymology 1

    Contraction

    à f sg

    1. contraction of a (to) +‎ a f sg (the): feminine singular of ao
      Vou à praia.
      I’m going to the beach.
    Quotations

    For quotations using this term, see Citations:ao.

    Preposition

    à

    1. misspelling of a
    2. forms adverbs meaning "in a manner related or resembling"
    3. ellipsis of à moda (way, manner, -style)
    4. 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."
    Derived terms

    Etymology 2

    From homophone .

    Verb

    à

    1. misspelling of

    Further reading

    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

    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

    Scottish Gaelic

    Alternative forms

    • á (superseded in Scotland)

    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, no mutation, before the definite article às)

    1. from, out of

    Inflection

    Personal inflection of à
    Person: simple emphatic
    singular first asam asamsa
    second asad asadsa
    third m às às-san
    f aiste aistese
    plural first asainn asainne
    second asaibh asaibhse
    third asta astasan

    Synonyms

    Further reading

    • Edward Dwelly (1911), “à”, in Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan [The Illustrated Gaelic–English Dictionary], 10th edition, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN
    • Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, 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 no upper case, upper case À)

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

    Further reading

    à”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU (in Slovene), 2014–2026

    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
      • 1850 August 13, “Landsorts-tidningar, Wisby [Non-capital newspapers, Visby]”, in Post- och Inrikes Tidningar, page 2:
        Sistlidne Fredag gaf den sydliga vinden, som då började blåsa med laber kultie signalen till skådespelets början; dagen derpå defilerade i prydlig ordning en svärm af seglare omkring 40 à 50 tre- och två-mastare, många i full skrud, med läsegel och skyskrap!
        Last Friday, the southern wind, which began to blow gently, gave the signal for the start of the spectacle; the next day, a swarm of sailboats, around 40 to 50 three- and two-masters, paraded in orderly fashion, many in full regalia, with studding sails and skyscrapers!
      • 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, i.e. a 25 to 30 year fantasized about a new form, something that would not be a novel and not an essay, []
      Synonyms: , till
    2. @, at, each
      2 st à 1 kr
      2 pieces at 1 krona each

    Derived terms

    References

    Tày

    Pronunciation

    Etymology 1

    Particle

    à

    1. Question particle.
      Hết đảy mí à?Can you do it?
      Pây liê̱u mí à?Wanna go play?

    Etymology 2

    Compare a.

    Noun

    à (Nôm form )

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

    Etymology 3

    Particle

    à

    1. yeah
      À chư̱ dá.
      Yeah, that's right.

    Etymology 4

    Particle

    à (Nôm form )

    1. Sound made during singing.

    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
    • Dương Nhật Thanh; Hoàng Tuấn Nam (2003), Hoàng Triều Ân, editor, Từ điển chữ Nôm Tày [A Dictionary of (chữ) Nôm Tày]‎[6] (in Tày and Vietnamese), Hanoi: Nhà xuất bản Khoa học xã hội [Social Sciences Publishing House]

    Tlingit

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /aː/

    Letter

    à (lower case, upper case À)

    1. (Canada) A letter of the Tlingit alphabet, written in the Latin script.
      Synonym: aa

    See also

    Vietnamese

    Pronunciation

    Etymology 1

    Letter

    à (lower case, upper case À)

    1. The letter a with the grave accent.

    See also

    Etymology 2

    Interjection

    à

    1. oh; I see

    Etymology 3

    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?
    2. Denote surprise or a sudden recollection
      à quênoh I forgot
    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 (ne) or the English use of tag questions. Compare to nhỉ, which is similar to Japanese (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 (politeness particle).

    Etymology 4

    Verb

    à

    1. (rare) to rush, to charge at the same time
      Synonym: òa

    Welsh

    Pronunciation

    • (phoneme): IPA(key): /a/

    Letter

    à (lower case, upper case À)

    1. The letter A, marked for its short pronunciation in monosyllabic words.