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I read that in some dialects of Spanish (not sure which ones exactly) people tend to put articles (i.e. the word "the") in front of names when talking about someone in the third person, e.g. el Juan, la María (the Juan, the María). Are there any other languages which do this?
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In german, it is a matter of where you live. Basically, articles are used with namens in the centre and the south (including Switzerland and Austria), but not in the north.
A nice map of the geographical distribution of this feature can be found here:
http://www.atlas-alltagssprache.de/artikelvorname/ (for given names)
and here
http://www.atlas-alltagssprache.de/artikelnachname/ (for family names)
A nice map of the geographical distribution of this feature can be found here:
http://www.atlas-alltagssprache.de/artikelvorname/ (for given names)
and here
http://www.atlas-alltagssprache.de/artikelnachname/ (for family names)
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Nitpicking for perfection... In Spanish it isn't exactly dialectical, its more like sociolectical... its looked down like a practice of lower classes.
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Portuguese.
It is almost always done, except in some formal contexts and writing.
I believe it happens in Catalan as well.
It is almost always done, except in some formal contexts and writing.
I believe it happens in Catalan as well.
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Tagalog, one of the languages of the Philippines, does this.
Even more, there are special articles just to use with names, i.e. for a person you use the "person" article in front of the name, whereas for a thing you use the "thing" article (don't know whether there are official names for these articles).
I see this as quite convenient: Even if somebody uses a name that I never heard before, because of the "person" article I hear immediately that it must be a name.
Even more, there are special articles just to use with names, i.e. for a person you use the "person" article in front of the name, whereas for a thing you use the "thing" article (don't know whether there are official names for these articles).
I see this as quite convenient: Even if somebody uses a name that I never heard before, because of the "person" article I hear immediately that it must be a name.
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