-a

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See also: -а and Appendix:Variations of "a"

English

Etymology 1

From the homographic case endings of the nominative, accusative, and vocative forms of numerous Latin neuter second declension nouns.

Pronunciation

Suffix

-a

  1. (deprecated use of |lang= parameter) plural of -um
  2. (deprecated use of |lang= parameter) plural of -on
Usage notes
  • Whereas the regular pluralization in English involves adding -s or -es, English words derived from a Latin/Greek where the Latin/Greek would pluralize from -on (Greek) or -um (Latin) to -a do not always do so. Usage of -a instead of -s differs between words: sometimes the two are interchangeable (e.g. memorandums/memoranda, polyhedrons/polyhedra), sometimes one is far more common than the other (e.g. neurons over neura, automata over automatons), and sometimes one is completely absent from usage (e.g. bacteria over bacteriums, dendrons over dendra)
Derived terms
Terms which feature the -a suffix

From -um:

See also: -um Template:rel-mid4 From -on:

Translations
See also
associated suffixes

Template:rel-mid

Etymology 2

Possibly due to the propensity in some non-rhotic dialects to pronounce words ending in -er as if they ended in an -a.

Pronunciation

Suffix

-a

  1. (Northern England) Same as -er in Standard English.
    me fatha was a corka burna doon the shipyard — “My father was a corker burner at the shipyard.”
  2. (Black English and slang) Used to replace -er in nouns.
    gangsta — “gangster”
    brotha — “brother”
See also

Etymology 3

Representing the nominative singular case ending of Latin first-declension feminine nouns.

Pronunciation

Suffix

-a (plural -ae or -æ)

  1. Marks singular nouns, with a foundation in Greek or Latin, often implying femininity, especially when contrasted with words terminating in -us.
Synonyms
Derived terms

Etymology 4

From Latin -a.

Pronunciation

Suffix

-a

  1. Changes an element or substance into an oxide.
    magnesia

Etymology 5

Shortened version of verb have.

Pronunciation

Suffix

-a

  1. (slang) (deprecated use of |lang= parameter) Alternative form of 've
    who'da thunk it?
    shoulda, coulda, woulda

Etymology 6

Representing Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish feminine nouns.

Pronunciation

Suffix

-a

  1. Marks nouns, with a foundation in Italian, Spanish, or Portuguese, implying femininity.

Etymology 7

Added to lines of poetry and verse to maintain metrics.

Pronunciation

Suffix

-a

  1. Added for metrical reasons to poetry and verse

Etymology 8

Shortened version of preposition of.

Pronunciation

Suffix

-a

  1. (slang) (deprecated use of |lang= parameter) clitic form of o'
    lotta, loadsa, cuppa, kinda, sorta
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Etymology 9

Shortened version of verb to.

Pronunciation

Suffix

-a

  1. (informal) to (infinitive marker)
    oughta, wanna, gotta, gonna

References

  • Christine A. Lindberg, editor (2002), “-a”, in The Oxford College Dictionary, 2nd edition, New York, N.Y.: Spark Publishing, →ISBN, page 1.

Czech

Pronunciation

Suffix

-a

  1. Forms agent nouns.
    ‎radit + ‎-a → ‎rada
  2. Forms nouns referring to results of processes.
    ‎naladit + ‎-a → ‎nálada

Derived terms

Czech terms suffixed with -a

Further reading

Dutch

Suffix

-a

  1. (deprecated template usage) Plural form of -um
  2. feminine form of -us

Synonyms

Esperanto

Etymology

From feminine singular adjectives (and nouns) of the Romance languages, such as French ma, Italian mia, Spanish mía, fría.

Suffix

-a

  1. Related to, in the manner of, of. Ending for all adjectives in Esperanto.
    ‎belo (“beauty”) + ‎-a → ‎bela (“beautiful”)
    ‎dekstro (“the right direction (as opposed to left)”) + ‎-a → ‎dekstra (“to the right”)
    ‎vero (“truth”) + ‎-a → ‎vera (“true”)
  2. Belonging to, of. Ending for all possessive pronouns in Esperanto.
    ‎mi (“I; me”) + ‎-a → ‎mia (“of me, my”)
    ‎vi (“you”) + ‎-a → ‎via (“of you, your”)
    ‎ili (“they; them”) + ‎-a → ‎ilia (“of them, their”)
  3. -kind of. Ending of all correlatives of kind in Esperanto.
    ‎ki- + ‎-a → ‎kia (“what kind of”)
    ‎ti- + ‎-a → ‎tia (“that kind of”)
    ‎neni- + ‎-a → ‎nenia (“no kind of”)

Derived terms

related to, in the manner of, of (Ending for all adjectives.)
belonging to, of (Ending for all possessive pronouns in Esperanto.)

Template:rel-mid

-kind of (Ending of all correlatives of kind in Esperanto.)

Template:rel-mid

Finnish

Alternative forms

  • (in words with front vowel harmony) -ä

Etymology 1

From Lua error in Module:parameters at line 376: Parameter 2 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "fiu-fin-pro" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E., from the Proto-Uralic ablative case *-ta. A variant form Lua error in Module:parameters at line 376: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "fiu-fin-pro" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. (whence Finnish -ta) was used after a syllable with secondary stress (suffixal gradation).

Suffix

-a (front vowel harmony variant -ä, linguistic notation -A)

  1. (case suffix) Forms the partitive case of nouns, adjectives, numbers and some pronouns.

Usage notes

  • This suffix is used after a short vowel or the plural marker -j-.

Etymology 2

From Lua error in Module:parameters at line 376: Parameter 2 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "fiu-fin-pro" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E.. Historically, a form of a lative suffix.

Suffix

-a (front vowel harmony variant -ä, linguistic notation -A)

  1. (verbal suffix) Forms the short form of the first infinitive of verbs.

Usage notes

  • The first infinitive, short form, is the citation form of verbs.

See also

French

Suffix

-a

  1. Suffix indicating the third-person singular past historic of -er verbs.

Hungarian

Pronunciation

Suffix

-a

  1. (possessive suffix) his, her, its (third-person singular, single possession)
    ház (“house”) → a háza (“his/her/its house”)

Usage notes

  • (possessive suffix) Variants:
    -a is added to back-vowel words ending in a consonant
    -e is added to front-vowel words ending in a consonant
    -ja is added to back-vowel words ending in a consonant or a vowel. Final -a changes to -á-; final -o changes to -ó-.
    -je is added to front-vowel words ending in a consonant or a vowel. Final -e changes to -é-; final -ö changes to -ő-.
    • This suffix (in all forms) is normally used for the third-person singular possessive (single possession) but, after an explicit plural possessor, it also expresses the third-person plural possessive (single possession), e.g. “the children’s ball” (a gyerekek labdája). If the possessor is implicit (not named, only marked by a suffix), the plural possessive suffix must be used, e.g. “their ball” (a labdájuk, see -juk and its variants).

Declension

Inflection (stem in long/high vowel, back harmony)
singular plural
nominative -a —
accusative -át —
dative -ának —
instrumental -ával —
causal-final -áért —
translative -ává —
terminative -áig —
essive-formal -aként —
essive-modal -ául —
inessive -ában —
superessive -án —
adessive -ánál —
illative -ába —
sublative -ára —
allative -ához —
elative -ából —
delative -áról —
ablative -ától —
non-attributive
possessive - singular 		-áé —
non-attributive
possessive - plural 		-áéi —

See also

Icelandic

Suffix

-a

  1. Used to form verbs from nouns.
    spark → sparka — a kick → to kick
    mjólk → mjólka — milk → to milk
    von → vona — hope → to hope
    ávarp → ávarpa — an address → to address
    rit → rita — a writ → to write
    rass → rassa — an ass → to spank (on the ass)
  2. Used to form adverbs from adjectives.
    illur → illa — bad → badly

Derived terms

Derived terms

Template:rel-mid

See also

Ido

Suffix

-a

  1. suffix denoting adjective.
    ‎arjento (“silver (noun)”) + ‎-a → ‎arjenta (“silver (adjective)”)

Derived terms

Ido terms suffixed with -a

Usage notes

One may elide the final a of the adjectives, but with the condition not to produce accumulation from the consonants. One advise to use the elision mainly with the derivatived adjectives and particularly when they finish with -al-(a).[1]

References

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Irish

Suffix

-a

  1. plural ending of certain nouns
  2. plural ending of adjectives in the nominative, vocative, dative, and strong genitive cases
  3. genitive singular ending of third-declension nouns

Italian

Suffix

-a

  1. Used, with a stem, to form the third-person singular present tense of -are verbs.
  2. Used, with a stem, to form the second-person singular imperative of -are verbs.
  3. Used, with a stem, to form the first-person singular, second-person singular and third-person singular present subjunctive of -ere verbs, and of those -ire verbs that do not insert "isc".
  4. Used, with a stem, to form the third-person singular imperative of -ere verbs, and of those -ire verbs that do not insert "isc".

Latin

Etymology 1

From Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂ (forming in this case masculine nouns).

Pronunciation

Suffix

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  2. suffixed to the roots of verbs, forms (usually masculine) agent nouns
    ‎adveniō + ‎-a → ‎advena
    ‎caedō + ‎-a → ‎-cīda
    ‎colō + ‎-a → ‎-cola
    ‎cōnferveō + ‎-a → ‎cōnferva f
    ‎cōnsolidō + ‎-a → ‎cōnsolida f
    ‎scrībō + ‎-a → ‎scrība
Declension

Template:la-decl-1st

Synonyms
  • (suffixed to the roots of verbs, forms masculine agent nouns): -ō¹
Derived terms
Latin terms suffixed with -a (agent noun)

References

Etymology 2

From the Old Latin -ād, originally the ablative feminine singular form of first-declension adjectives (compare -us, suffix forming adjectives).

Pronunciation

Suffix

-ā (not comparable)

  2. suffixed chiefly to the stems of adjectives terminating in -ter, forms adverbs which are frequently also used as prepositions
    cis + -ā → citrā
    exter + -ā → extrā
    in- + -ter + -ā → intrā
    uls + -ā → ultrā
Derived terms
Latin terms suffixed with -a (adverb)

References

Etymology 3

Declined forms of -us (suffix forming adjectives).

Pronunciation 1

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Suffix

Template:la-suffix-form

  1. (deprecated use of |lang= parameter) inflection of -us:
    1. nominative feminine singular
    2. nominative and accusative neuter plural
    3. vocative feminine singular
    4. vocative neuter plural

Pronunciation 2

Suffix

Template:la-suffix-form

  1. (deprecated use of |lang= parameter) ablative feminine singular of -us

Etymology 4

A conjugated form of -ō³ (suffix forming verbs).

Pronunciation

Suffix

Template:la-suffix-form

  1. (deprecated use of |lang= parameter) second-person singular present active imperative of -ō

Latvian

Suffix

-a

  1. Used to derive feminine nouns from masculine nouns (like English -ess).

Synonyms

Derived terms

Latvian terms suffixed with -a

Feminine suffixes that include -a:

Northern Sami

Etymology

From Proto-Samic *-ëk. Cognate with Finnish -e.

Pronunciation

This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA then please add some!

Suffix

-a (with odd-syllable stems -at)

  1. Forms nouns from verbs, indicating something used for performing the verb.
    ‎loavdit (“to cover the tent”) + ‎-a → ‎loavdda (“tent cloth”)
  2. Forms nouns from verbs, indicating something that results from having the verb's action performed.
    ‎čállit (“to write”) + ‎-a → ‎čála (“writing”)

Usage notes

  • This suffix triggers the weak grade on a preceding stressed syllable in the nominative singular and essive, and the strong grade in the other forms.

Inflection

Odd, no gradation
Nominative -at
Genitive -aga
Singular Plural
Nominative -at -agat
Accusative -aga -agiid
Genitive -aga -agiid
Illative -agii -agiidda
Locative -agis -agiin
Comitative -agiin -agiiguin
Essive -agin
Possessive forms
Singular Dual Plural
1st person -agan -ageamẹ -ageamẹt
2nd person -agat -ageattẹ -ageattẹt
3rd person -agis -ageaskkạ -ageasẹt

Derived terms

Northern Sami terms suffixed with -a

Norwegian Nynorsk

Suffix

-a

  1. Used to form infinitive form of most verbs
  2. Used to form imperative form of many weak verbs
  3. Used to form past tense form of many weak verbs
  4. Used to form past participle of many weak verbs
  5. Used for every singular and plural form of the adjectives formed from participle forms of many verbs
  6. Used to form singular indefinite feminine form of some pronouns and adjectives
  7. Used to form singular definite form of feminine nouns
  8. Used to form plural definite form of neuter nouns
  9. Used to form singular indefinite and definite form of weak neuter nouns
  10. (non-standard since 2012) Used to form singular indefinite form of weak feminine nouns
  11. (archaic)(nonstandard) Used to form dative case of singular definite weak masculine and neuter nouns
  12. (archaic)(nonstandard) Used to form singular definite and plural indefinite feminine form of adjectives

Old English

Alternative forms

Etymology 1

From Proto-Germanic *-ô.

Suffix

-a

  1. Ending forming adverbs
    ‎hwær + ‎-a → ‎hwāra (“where”)
    ġilīco (“similarly”)
    ‎singal (“continuous”) + ‎-a → ‎singala (“continually, constantly”)

Etymology 2

From Proto-Germanic *-ô. Cognate with Old High German -o.

Suffix

-a m

  1. nominative masculine n-stem ending
    nama (“name”); scūa (“shadow”)
  3. used to form masculine agents from verbs
    ‎huntian (“to hunt”) + ‎-a → ‎hunta (“hunter”)
    ‎etan (“to eat”) + ‎-a → ‎ǣta (“eater”)
Declension
Declension of -a (weak)
Case Singular Plural
nominative -a -an
accusative -an -an
genitive -an -ena
dative -an -um
Derived terms
Old English terms suffixed with -a
Descendants
  • Middle English: -e

Old Norse

Alternative forms

Etymology

(deprecated use of |lang= parameter) (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Suffix

-a

  1. indicates negation; does not


Portuguese

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Old Galician-Portuguese -a, from Latin -a.

Suffix

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pl2=adjective form
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-a f

  1. forms feminine nouns and adjectives
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Etymology 2

From Old Galician-Portuguese -a, from Latin -at.

Suffix

-a

  1. forms the third-person singular present indicative of verbs ending in -ar
    João fala português.
    John speaks Portuguese.

Etymology 3

From Old Galician-Portuguese -a, from Latin -ā.

Suffix

-a

  1. forms the second-person singular affirmative imperative of verbs ending in -ar
    João, conta-nos o seu apelido.
    John, tell us your last name.

Etymology 4

Suffix

-a

  1. forms the first-person singular present subjunctive of verbs ending in -er and -ir
    É importante que eu coma carne.
    It is important that I eat meat.
  2. forms the third-person singular present subjunctive of verbs ending in -er and -ir
    É importante que ele coma carne.
    It is important that he eat meat.
  3. forms the third-person singular affirmative imperative of verbs ending in -er and -ir
    Ei você aí, coma carne.
    Hey you there, eat meat.
  4. forms the third-person singular negative imperative of verbs ending in -er and -ir
    Ei você aí, não coma carne.
    Hey you there, don’t eat meat.
Usage notes

The third-person imperative isn’t used with third person pronouns, it’s used with você, which is a second-person pronoun but always takes third-person conjugation.

Etymology 5

Suffix

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-a

  1. (slang) used in the end of shortenings
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Romanian

Alternative forms

  • -ua (used for feminine nouns ending in a stressed vowel or diphthong)

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Latin illa, nominative feminine singular of ille.

Suffix

-a f

  1. (definite article) the (feminine singular, nominative and accusative)
Usage notes

This form of the definite article is used for feminine nouns in the nominative and accusative cases which end in -ă or in an unstressed vowel:

The suffix is also used with feminine adjectives in the nominative and accusative cases to make the articulated definite form, often for emphasis, and it is used before the noun it modifies:

  • -l (masculine/neuter singular nominative and accusative)
  • -i (masculine/neuter plural nominative and accusative)
  • -le (feminine plural nominative and accusative)

Template:mid2

  • -lui (masculine/neuter singular genitive and dative)
  • -ei (feminine singular genitive and dative)
  • -lor (plural genitive and dative)

Etymology 2

From Latin -āre, the ending of the present active infinitive form of first conjugation verbs. Cognate with Spanish -ar, French -er, Italian -are, etc.

Suffix

-a

  1. A suffix forming infinitives of many verbs.

See also

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology 1

Suffix

-a (Cyrillic spelling -а)

  1. Suffix appended to words (usually verbal stems) to create a feminine noun, usually denoting a relation or to form a proper noun.

Etymology 2

From Proto-Slavic *-a, from Proto-Indo-European *-ōd, the thematic ablative ending.

Suffix

-a (Cyrillic spelling -а)

  1. Forms the genitive singular of masculine and neuter nouns and indefinite adjectives.

Spanish

Etymology 1

From Latin -a.

Suffix

-a

  1. -ess. (Used to form feminine singular nouns.)
    señor; señora — “gentleman; lady”
    camarero; camarera — “waitor; waitress”
  2. (Used to form the feminine singular adjectives.)
    frío; fría — “cold; cold”

Derived terms

“-ess”. Used to form feminine singular nouns
Used to form the feminine singular adjectives

Etymology 2

From Latin -at, the third-person singular present active indicative ending of first conjugation verbs.

Suffix

-a

  1. -s. (Used to form the third-person singular (also used with usted) present indicative mood of regular -ar verbs.)
    hablar; habla — “to talk; talks”

Derived terms

“-s”. Used to form the third-person singular present indicative mood of regular -ar verbs

Etymology 3

From Latin -eam, Latin -am, and Latin -iam the first-person singular present active subjunctive endings of second, third, and fourth conjugation verbs, respectively; and from Latin -eat, Latin -at, and Latin -iat, the third-person singular present active subjunctive ending of second, third, and fourth conjugation verbs, respectively.

Suffix

-a

  1. (Used to form the first and third-person singular (also used with usted) singular present subjunctive mood of -er and -ir verbs, also used for the imperative mood of usted.)
    comer; aunque yo coma — “to eat; even if I ate”; salir; por favor, salga Ud. — “to leave; please leave (formal)”

Derived terms

Used to form the first and third-person singular present subjunctive mood of -er and -ir verbs

Etymology 4

From Latin -ā, the second-person singular present active imperative ending of first conjugation verbs.

Suffix

-a

  1. (Used to form the second-person singular imperative mood of -ar verbs.)
    hablar; ¡Habla! — “to talk; Talk!”

Derived terms

Used to form the second-person singular imperative mood of -ar verbs

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Norse -a, from Proto-Germanic *-ōną.

Suffix

-a

  1. (on a positive adjective) Suffix to mark that the corresponding noun is either in plural or in definite singular form
  2. Marker of definiteness for noun plurals ending in -n (fourth declension).
    läten; lätena; "sounds; the sounds"
  3. A verb-building suffix that can be added to noun or adjectives, such as disk (“dishes”) → diska (“do the dishes”) or öl (“beer”) → öla (“to drink beer”)
  4. Create a noun from a numeral, such as tre (“three”) → trea (“a three; a bronze medalist; a three-room apartment”)

Usage notes

On adjectives
Traditionally, if the noun is in definite singular form it should not refer to a male human, if it uses the suffix -a. If it refers to such a person, the suffix should instead be -e, but one should note that this rule is not universally adhered to - in particular dialects of northern Sweden does not recognize the -e suffix at all, but use -a in all instances.

Conjugation

For weak verbs with a voiceless ending stem:

Conjugation of - (weak)
Active Passive
Infinitive - -s
Supine -t -ts
Imperative - —
Imper. plural1 -en —
Present Past Present Past
Indicative -er -te -s, -es -tes
Ind. plural1 - -te -s -tes
Subjunctive2 -e -te -es -tes
Participles
Present participle -nde
Past participle -t
1 Archaic. 2 Dated. See the appendix on Swedish verbs.

For weak verbs with a voiced ending stem:

Conjugation of - (weak)
Active Passive
Infinitive - -s
Supine -t -ts
Imperative - —
Imper. plural1 en —
Present Past Present Past
Indicative -r -de -s -des
Ind. plural1 - -de -s -des
Subjunctive2 e -de es -des
Participles
Present participle -nde
Past participle -d
1 Archaic. 2 Dated. See the appendix on Swedish verbs.

Derived terms

Swedish terms suffixed with -a

Turkish

Alternative forms

  • (after a vowel) -ya, -ye
  • (after a possessive, dative only) -na, -ne
  • (in words with front vowel harmony) -e

Suffix

-a (in words with back vowel harmony)

  1. Used to form the dative case.
    İstanbul’a — “to Istanbul”
    Ankara’ya — “to Ankara”
    İzmir’e — “to Izmir”
    babasına — “to his father”
  2. Used to form gerunds.
    yürüye — “by walking”

Volapük

Suffix

-a

  1. A morpheme used to mark the genitive singular of a word (such as a noun, adjective or pronoun). It is also the most common morpheme used in creating innumerable compound words, some of which can be very long (e.g., pledadinaselidöp "toy store, toy shop", tanoganilamedin "antibiotic", taglumaladälamedin "anti-depressant", natrinakarbatazüd telik "bicarbonate of soda").
    Elaf Tyrannosaurus rex älifon in taledadil, kel nu binon dil Nolüda-Meropa.
    Tyrannosaurus rex lived in an area of the earth, which is now a part of North America.
    Buks binons stumem lärnazilana (/ lärnazilanastumem / stumem lärnazilanik).
    Books are a scholar's tools.
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