Determiners

Determiners are a class of words that introduce noun phrases and indicate reference to the noun. They come before the noun and help specify whether the reference is definite or indefinite, how many items there are, or who owns them.

Major subtypes include: articles (the, a, an); demonstratives (this, that, these, those); possessive determiners (my, your, his, her, its, our, their); quantifiers (many, few, several, some, any, all, enough); numerals used as determiners (one, two, three); distributives (each, every, either, neither); and interrogatives (which, what) when they modify a noun.

In noun phrases, determiners appear at the left edge: “the old house,” “these books,” “my car.” They interact with noun number and definiteness: plural nouns often take “the” or “these,” while singular count nouns may take “a,” “the,” or a demonstrative.

Determinants are distinguished from adjectives by their primary function of signaling reference rather than describing properties; many determiners can co-occur with adjectives, and in some languages the boundary between determiner and adjective is fluid.

Cross-linguistically, determiner systems vary widely; English uses a relatively small set of determiners, while other languages show extensive agreement and postnominal position.