Haitian Creole/Articles

Singular nouns
Haitian Creole has a definite article, roughly corresponding to English "the" and French le/la. It is placed after the noun, and the sound varies by the last sound of the previous word. If the last sound is an oral consonant, and it is preceded by oral vowel, it becomes la. Recall that in Haitian Creole, y is always a consonant.

If the last sound is an oral consonant and is preceded by a nasal vowel, it becomes lan:

If the last sound is an oral vowel, it becomes a:

If the last sound is a nasal vowel, it becomes an:

If the last sound is a nasal consonant (m, n or ng), it becomes nan:

Plural nouns
The definite article for any plural noun is yo. Recall that yo can also mean "they", "them" or "their".

Placement
The definite article goes after the noun, and also after anything that modifies the noun, including relative clauses.

Usage
The usage of the definite article is slightly different in Haitian Creole. It can be used to indicate singular vs. plural if the word sa is used with the same noun, or if there is a possessor indicated.

Indefinite article
Recall that the indefinite article is yon. It means "a" or "an". It goes before the noun it modifies.