Definite and indefinite article

Definite and indefinite article

A man – here “a” is called the indefinite article, it refers to some unspecified man, not to a specific man.

There is no indefinite article in Pāli. If you want to translate from English to Pāli: “He drank some milk.” Just use the word milk, it already has the sense of “some milk”.

The man - “the” is called the definite article, it refers to some specific man. Pāli has no definite article either; the demonstratives so / eso / taṃ often carry the meaning of “the”.

The word aññatara (“a certain”) is used for a specific but unnamed person or thing: aññataro bhikkhu — “a certain monk”.