Definite: definiteness or state
| Values: | Def | Ind |
Definiteness is typically a feature of nouns and articles. Its value distinguishes whether we are talking about something known and concrete, or something general or unknown. It can be marked on indefinite articles, or directly on nouns.
Middle Armenian has both definite and indefinite articles. The definite article is attached to the noun in postposition (իշխանքն “princes-the”). Indefiniteness may be expressed either by the form մի/mi (մն/mn) “a/an, one” or by zero marking. Note that the article մի/mi (մն/mn) may sometimes occur attached to the preceding word.
See also the related features of Person[psor] and Number[psor].
Ind: indefinite
Examples
- մի/mi (մն/mn) “a/an, one”
- թագուոր մի կայր/t’agowor mi kayr “there was a king”
- սակաւմն/sakawmn “a little”
Def: definite
Examples
- իշխանքն/išxank’n “princes-the”
Definite in other languages: [bej] [bg] [el] [en] [es] [fr] [ga] [hu] [hy] [it] [ky] [myv] [pcm] [pt] [qpm] [sga] [sl] [sv] [tr] [u] [urj] [xcl]