indefinite article
Noun
Meaning
a determiner (as `a' or `some' in English) that indicates nonspecific reference
Source: WordNetSynonyms
Antonyms
Hypernyms
Examples
A definite article (masc. il or igl before a vowel; fem. la) is distinguished from an indefinite article (masc.
All Romance languages have a definite article (originally developed from ipse "self" but replaced in nearly all languages by ille "that (over there)") and an indefinite article (developed from ūnus "one").
Another factor that determines the endings of adjectives is whether the adjective is being used after a definite article (the), after an indefinite article (a/an) or without any article before the adjective (many green apples).
By using the indefinite article "ein," he supposedly changed the meaning of the sentence from "I am a citizen of Berlin" to "I am a Berliner " (a Berliner being a type of German pastry, similar to a jelly doughnut).
Definiteness and indefiniteness are either indicated by special grammatical devices, such as using the number "one" as an indefinite article, or by the context.
For example, the indefinite article een can be shortened to ' n, and the definite article het shortened to ' t. When this happens in the first word of a sentence, the second word of the sentence is capitalised.