So I was told that the English articles "a" and "an" have Germanic origins. In German, there is not a distinction between "one" and "a/an". Is there any explanation for the existence of these two different words in English? Is there a situation in which "one" and "a/an" cannot be interchanged? I suspect that "a/an" is just easier to say....but maybe I am just biased to think so, as I am a native English speaker.
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I thought in German you have both? Like, eine pizza and die pizza, or something like that? – Frantisek Nov 19 '11 at 20:10
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1Welcome, SWV but this too big and too general a question to be answered in a paragraph or two here. The Oxford English Dictionary has 745 words on the topic. To understand why we use 'a'/'an' you first have to understand the difference between definite and indefinite. You should be able to find information on that readily enough elsewhere. A moment's reflection will show that there are many situations where 'one' and 'a'/'an' are not interchangeable. Would you say 'I'd like one lot of money' if you meant 'I'd like a lot of money'? – Barrie England Nov 19 '11 at 20:16
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@RiMMERΨ: I may be wrong, but I think you are comparing the German equivalents of "a/an" and "the." – SWV Nov 19 '11 at 20:18
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@RiMMERΨ Ψ: In German, 'eine Pizza' is indefinite, 'die Pizza, definite. But SWV is right in saying that 'ein' (with its other inflected forms) means 'one' as well as 'a'. – Barrie England Nov 19 '11 at 20:20
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@BarrieEngland: I don't really see the difference between "one lot" and "a lot." Presumably, one seems more specific than the other; however, I interpret both to be equally vague, as it is the word "lot" the carries quantitative ambiguity. – SWV Nov 19 '11 at 20:22
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@SWV: OK, then would you say 'I have one few things to say to you' if you meant 'I have a few things to say to you'? – Barrie England Nov 19 '11 at 20:32
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To quote Lawrence Welk:"A one an a two" – GEdgar Nov 19 '11 at 20:51
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Related: http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/35378/why-is-there-no-plural-indefinite-article – ghoppe Nov 20 '11 at 20:40
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Related: Are there languages with indefinite articles but for which the word for “one” is not related etymologically to any of the indefinite articles? – Alenanno Jan 30 '12 at 15:25
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A/an isn't used when counting. What's more, in narrations, we say one day, one afternoon, one cannot be replaced by a/an in these expressions.
It's true that in other languages the indefinite article isn't different from the word denoting the number 1. In The Free Dictionary it is stated that the differentiation came about through the pronunciation of the word one without stress (I suppose when not counting).
Irene
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