Study Resource: What is a determiner in English?

In English, determiners are a special type of word that can be used before a noun. They help you pick out which noun or which nouns you are talking about in the context of a conversation.

Here are some types of words that are or can be determiners in English:

Determiners are special for four reasons:

1. You can only use one determiner per noun:

   ✅ the cat	✅my cat	❌ the my cat
   ✅some toys	✅these toys	❌ some these toys
   ✅ the toy	✅one toy	❌ a one toy

2. A singular count noun in English will almost always have a determiner

   • ❌ I saw cow.
   • ✅I saw a / that / some / my / one / which cow

3. The determiner always comes before all the descriptive adjectives:

   ✅the big black bug	❌ big black the bug
   ✅my big black bug	❌ big my black bug

4. Determiners always come before the noun. They cannot follow a linking verb like adjectives do:

   Adjective	Determiner
   ✅That is a blue bug.	✅That is my bug.
   ✅That bug is blue.	❌ That bug is my.

Determiners are usually the way that we show whether a noun in English is definite or indefinite. (Check out the post on articles in English for a review of these terms!)

• Definite determiners → These pick out one specific noun or group that is familiar to your audience. These include:

  • The definite article (the)

  • Demonstrative adjectives (this, that, these, those)

  • Possessive adjectives (my, your, her,...)

  • Possessive nouns (e.g. John’s)

  • The interrogative adjectives whose and which

• Indefinite determiners → These introduce a new noun into the discussion or refer to a noun in general. They include:

  • The indefinite article (a / an)

  • Quantifying adjectives (some, every, each, many,...)

  • Cardinal numbers (one, seven, 56,...)

  • The interrogative adjective what