Alyosha Radyuk
To all native English speakers: how does it feel to learn a language that doesn't use articles? If you are learning a language that doesn't use articles, please write about your experience. How does it feel for you in general? Do you feel like something is missing?
Apr 27, 2019 6:39 PM
Comments · 3
1
You know, Alyosha, I haven't had this exact experience yet. The two languages I've studied, Spanish and Arabic, <em>do </em>have articles.

But articles in these two languages work differently from English articles. (And of course from each other.)

English articles do not have gender, nor are they attached to adjectives. The English indefinite article is singular. To express indefiniteness about a pair, a number of things, or an amount, we often need to use the adjective <em>some </em>or perhaps <em>a lot</em> <em>of </em>or other classifier phrases like <em>pieces of</em><em>. </em> <em>

</em>Spanish has a tidy, logical system: definite <em>and </em>indefinite articles decline for number and gender. <em>Unos </em>and <em>unas </em>are great.

April 27, 2019
1
In the beginning it felt a bit weird, and there were times when I really wanted to say "THE table" but couldn't. But after a while I realized it's mostly unnecessary, and there are ways to express the idea when you need to.
April 27, 2019
Good question, Mr Popovich. One could ask you the same question: How does it feel to learn a language without a complicated case system with lots of regular and irregular declensions for nouns and adjectives, with agreement based on multiple grammatical genders (masculine, feminine, neuter, animate, inanimate, virile, etc.)?

April 27, 2019
Alyosha Radyuk
Language Skills
Belarusian, English, Japanese
Learning Language
Belarusian, English
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