Appendix E: Initial Definite and Indefinite Articles

The first indicator position in field 630 (Subject Added Entry - Publication Title), 730 (Added Entry - Publication Title), and 740 (Added Entry - Specific Program Title), and the second indicator position in fields 245 (Title) and 440 (Series Title) contain a numeric value (0-9) that specifies the number of character positions associated with an initial definite or indefinite article to be disregarded in sorting and filing processes. Initial articles may also simply be deleted in the formulation of the heading. If the initial article is retained but is not to be disregarded in sorting and filing processes, the second indicator position contains value 0.

The list below of definite and indefinite articles and the languages in which they are used is arranged alphabetically by the article.

Note: This list also appears in both the MARC 21 Format for Authority Data and the MARC 21 Format for Bibliographic Data.

-A-
a	English, Galician, Hungarian, Portuguese, Romanian, Scots, Yiddish
a'	Scottish Gaelic
al	Romanian
al-	Arabic, Baluchi, Brahui, Panjabi (Perso-Arabic script), Persian, Turkish, Urdu (Note: "al"- is meant to cover all of the spellings in romanization, e.g., "as" in as-sijill)
am	Scottish Gaelic
an	English, Irish, Scots, Scottish Gaelic, Yiddish
an t-	Irish, Scottish Gaelic
ane	Scots
ang	Tagalog
ang mga	Tagalog
as	Galician, Portuguese
az	Hungarian
-B-
bat	Basque
bir	Turkish
-D-
d'	English
da	Shetland English
das	German
de	Danish, Dutch, English, Frisian, Norwegian, Swedish
dei	Norwegian
dem	German
den	Danish, German, Norwegian, Swedish
der	German, Yiddish
des	German, Walloon
det	Danish, Norwegian, Swedish
di	Yiddish
die	Afrikaans, German, Yiddish
dos	Yiddish
-E-
e	Norwegian
'e	Frisian
een	Dutch
eene	Dutch
egy	Hungarian
ei	Norwegian
ein	German, Norwegian, Walloon
eine	German
einem	German
einen	German
einer	German
eines	German
eit	Norwegian
el	Catalan, Spanish
el-	Arabic
els	Catalan
en	Catalan, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish
enne	Walloon
et	Danish, Norwegian
ett	Swedish
eyn	Yiddish
eyne	Yiddish
-G-
gl'	Italian
gli	Italian
-H-
ha-	Hebrew
hai	Classical Greek, Greek
he	Hawaiian
hē	Classical Greek, Greek
he-	Hebrew
heis	Greek
hen	Greek
hena	Greek
henas	Greek
het	Dutch
hin	Icelandic
hina	Icelandic
hinar	Icelandic
hinir	Icelandic
hinn	Icelandic
hinna	Icelandic
hinnar	Icelandic
hinni	Icelandic
hins	Icelandic
hinu	Icelandic
hinum	Icelandic
hið	Icelandic
ho	Classical Greek, Greek
hoi	Classical Greek, Greek
-I-
i	Italian
ih'	Provençal
il	Italian, Provençal/Occitan
il-	Maltese
in	Frisian
it	Frisian
-K-
ka	Hawaiian
ke	Hawaiian
-L-
l'	Catalan, French, Italian, Provençal/Occitan, Walloon
l-	Maltese
la	Catalan, Esperanto, French, Italian, Provençal/Occitan, Spanish
las	Provençal/Occitan, Spanish
le	French, Italian, Provençal/Occitan
les	Catalan, French, Provençal/Occitan, Walloon
lh	Provençal/Occitan
lhi	Provençal/Occitan
li	Provençal/Occitan
lis	Provençal/Occitan
lo	Italian, Provençal/Occitan, Spanish
los	Provençal/Occitan, Spanish
lou	Provençal/Occitan
lu	Provençal/Occitan
-M-
mga	Tagalog
	Tagalog
mia	Greek
-N-
'n	Afrikaans, Dutch, Frisian
na	Hawaiian, Irish, Scottish Gaelic
na h-	Irish, Scottish Gaelic
njē	Albanian
ny	Malagasy
-O-
'o	Neapolitan Italian
o	Galician, Hawaiian, Portuguese, Romanian
os	Portuguese
-R-
'r	Icelandic
-S-
's	German
-T-
't	Dutch, Frisian
ta	Classical Greek, Greek
tais	Classical Greek
tas	Classical Greek
tē	Classical Greek
tēn	Classical Greek, Greek
tēs	Classical Greek, Greek
the	English
to	Classical Greek, Greek
tō	Classical Greek
tois	Classical Greek
ton	Classical Greek, Greek
tōn	Classical Greek, Greek
tou	Classical Greek, Greek
-U-
um	Portuguese
uma	Portuguese
un	Catalan, French, Italian, Provençal/Occitan, Romanian, Spanish
un'	Italian
una	Catalan, Italian, Provençal/Occitan, Spanish
une	French
unei	Romanian
unha	Galician
uno	Italian, Provençal/Occitan
uns	Provençal/Occitan
unui	Romanian
us	Provençal/Occitan
-Y-
y	Welsh
ye	English
yr	Welsh