A
determiner (also called
determinative) is a
word,
phrase, or
affix that occurs together with a
noun or
noun phrase and serves to express the
reference of that noun or noun phrase in the context. That is, a determiner may indicate whether the noun is referring to a definite or indefinite element of a class, to a closer or more distant element, to an element belonging to a specified person or thing, to a particular number or quantity, etc. Common kinds of determiners include definite and indefinite
articles (like the English
the and
a or
an),
demonstratives (
this and
that),
possessive determiners (
my and
their),
quantifiers (
many,
few and
several),
numerals,
distributive determiners (
each,
any), and
interrogative determiners (
which).