déterminé

Déterminé is a French adjective and past participle derived from the verb déterminer, itself from Latin determinare, meaning to fix, decide, or set boundaries. In general use, it describes someone or something that is resolved, purposeful, or fixed in advance.

As an adjective, déterminé conveys a sense of firm will or commitment, as in il est déterminé à réussir (he is determined to succeed) or un projet déterminé (a determined or defined project). It can also mean fixed or specified, as in une valeur déterminée (a defined value) or une date déterminée (a fixed date). In mathematics, science and daily language, it often indicates that a particular element or outcome has been specified or constrained.

In French grammar, déterminé appears in two related contexts. First, as the past participle of déterminer, meaning something that has been determined or fixed. Second, in the phrase nom déterminé, it denotes a noun that is specified by a determiner (as opposed to nom indéterminé, which is not specified). The term déterminant (or article-déterminant) refers to the grammatical category that signals definiteness or indefiniteness, such as le, la, les (definite determinants) or un, une, des (indefinite determinants). These terms are related but distinct from the adjective form déterminé.

See also: déterminant, détermination, détermination grammaticale.