Radoillo:
It's a big mistake to think African languages and English have the same structure. Most African languages do not use (or make little use of)articles (e.g, a/an, the).

Speaking of the language I'm familiar with (Igbo), there are no equivalents for 'the'.

The closest one can get is 'ahu', but it actually means 'that' and not 'the'.

bigfrancis21:


'ahu'/'afu'/'anwa' is actually 'that' in English. Butelu m ite afu...get me that pot.

a) The
'The' in Igbo is 'nwa'/'nwanu'/o'.

For example,

Kee ebe uno nwanu di? Where is the house located?

A furokwa m nwoke nwanu I si na m ga-afu n'afia. I did not see the man you said I will see in the market.

Olee nga ihe o I tuga aka no. Where is the thing you're pointing at located?

Olee ihe o m si gi gotere m? Where is the thing I asked you to buy for me?

'O' is more frequently used in Southern Igbo and 'nwa' in Northern Igbo.

b) This

This in Igbo is 'a'/'anunwa' or an extension of the vowel ending letter of the word. For example,

Nke a/Nke anunwa - this one.
Lesi m akwa nke a m na-atu aka - sell me this dress i'm pointing at.
Ke e ka m choro - I want this one. (SCI. Notice the extension of the last letter 'e')
Ugbu u ka ha biara - they just came now.(SCI. Notice its deviation from 'ugbu a' in Igbo Izugbe)
Ulo o nwe kpa o ri - there's how this house is.

c) That

Afu/anwa/ahu/nnii. For example,

Nna m anoro ebe anunwa. Jee ebe anwa, n'ukwu osisi afu, na I ya-afu ya ebe anwa.
Nke afu/nke ahu/nke anwa - That thing.
'Nnii'(Onitsha) is used more in emphasis or when pointing. 'Jee ebe nnii a na-ele ife, si Emeka na m na-akpo ya.'

bigfrancis21:


I do actually think Igbo language has a definite article for 'the' as seen in the example given above. However, nowadays people use 'the' instead of their Igbo forms in daily usage. For example,

I gotelu 'the' efe? (I gotelu efe nwanu?) I sikwalu the nni? (I sikwalu nni nwa?). Lol.

Radoillo:


I like your illustrations. But as I went through them I got the sense that 'nwanu' approximates to something like 'said' rather than 'the'.

e.g: I gotelu oroma nwanu?

Did you buy the said oranges? (I.e., the oranges you had earlier communicated to me that you were going to buy). 'Nwanu' appears to be a word showing that there had been an earlier discussion about the object (in this case an orange); and 'nwanu' is therefore not an article in the same sense as 'the' and 'a/an'.

Look at these examples.

a) He stabbed him in the throat.

Translation: O sulu ya mma na akpili nwanu.

The 'nwanu' in the above example isn't a good substitute for 'the' at all. A much better translation would be 'O sulu ya mma na akpili' (without an attempt to include an article because Igbo is basically an article-less tongue.)

b) He threw a stone into the principal's car.

Translation: O tubanyelu okwute na moto onye isi ulo akwukwo nwanu.

Again, the 'nwanu' doesn't fit. Certainly, not as an Igbo equivalent of 'the'.

c) Imagine translating the titles of the following plays, 'The Lion and the Jewel' and 'The Gods are not to Blame' as 'Odum nwanu na Ola nwanu' and Uta adirolu umu arusi nwanu'. Very odd, isn't it? Cut out the 'nwanu' and simply go with 'Odum na Ola', and 'Uta adirolu umu arusi', and you have more appropriate translations.

Like I said, 'nwanu' is an emphatic word that shows there had already been a discussion about the object. It is not an article.

For example: 'Nkechi kedukwanu ofe nwanu?' (Nkechi, where is the said soup?). The soup we've already talked about and the one you were supposed to bring.


If you ask an Igbo man to translate: 'Bring out the meat I put in the freezer', what you will most likely get is 'Weputelu m anu m tinyelu na freezer'. He won't make attempts to find equivalents for 'the', because in Igbo there are none.

bigfrancis21:
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englishmart:
wow! Nice comment

englishmart:
idoma language?