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English: A vs. An

365 points · 529 comments · azhenley

  1. hbn · · focus · HN ↗
    A funny quirk of English I never noticed until I started learning Spanish:

    In Spanish, to say for example, "he is a doctor," you would say "él es médico." Which more literally translates to "he is doctor," which feels unintuitive coming from English. Spanish DOES have an equivalent for "a" - "un/una", so the natural thing for an English speaker to say would be "él es UN médico", but I understand that to be awkward/unnatural.

    But then I realized, when you say the same sentence in plural - "they are doctors" - you don't have an article. You don't say "they are some doctors" (I had to Google, apparently "some" isn't an article anyway?)

    So Spanish ends up more consistent - Singular: "Él es médico." Plural: "Ellos son medicos."

    Unlike English - Singular: "He is a doctor." Plural: "They are doctors."

    1. emmelaich · · focus · HN ↗
      You can say "they are the doctors" -- but yeah it's a slightly different meaning.

      BTW in German, it's a fun distinction. The old "ich bin (ein) Berliner". (or hamburger or frankfurter...)

      1. normie3000 · · focus · HN ↗
        Works in English too:

        * I am Danish.

        * I am a Danish.

        Or

        * I am dancer.

        * I am a dancer.

        1. sajithdilshan · · focus · HN ↗
          “I am dancer” is acceptable if you’re a five year old. However “I’m Danish” is correct English
          1. johannes1234321 · · focus · HN ↗
            In "I'm Danish" it's an adjective. With "I'm a Danish" it's a noun, stating you are a pastry.
            1. bluebarbet · · focus · HN ↗
              But only in US English!
            2. sajithdilshan · · focus · HN ↗
              You can say “I’m Danish” or “I’m British”. If you want to use an article and convey the same meaning then it would be “I’m a Dane” or I’m a Brit”
              1. Izkata · · focus · HN ↗
                I think you missed the joke: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Danish_pastry" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Danish_pastry

                &gt; A Danish pastry (sometimes shortened to Danish)

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