See also: tha, THA, -tha, þá, thá, and thả

Old English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Proto-Germanic *þai, which shares the same root as Old English þæt.

Pronunciation

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Article

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þā m or f or n

  1. inflection of se:
    1. accusative feminine singular
    2. nominative/accusative plural

Determiner

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þā m or f or n

  1. inflection of :
    1. accusative feminine singular
    2. nominative/accusative plural

Pronoun

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þā m or f or n

  1. inflection of :
    1. accusative feminine singular
    2. nominative/accusative plural

Descendants

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  • Middle English: tha, tho

Adverb

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þā

  1. then
    • 981 C.E. AS Chronicles:
      Her comon ærest þa VII scipu and gehergoden Hamtun
      then in this year first came 7 ships, and ravaged Southampton

Usage notes

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  • Generally only used for past-tense statements. In non-past-tense clauses, þonne is used instead.
  • When used as an adverb, þā is frequently used as the first element of the clause, with the finite verb immediately following it as the second, although exceptions exist.

Conjunction

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þā

  1. when, since, because, where
    • early 11th century C.E. Ælfwine’s Prayerbook:
      hio wæs feowortyne geara eald þa hio Crist acende
      she was 14 years old when she gave birth to Christ

Usage notes

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  • Does not mean "when" in the interrogative sense. For questions, hwonne is used instead.
  • Generally only used for past-tense statements. For "when" in non-past-tense clauses, þonne is used instead.
  • Often doubled as þā þā to avoid confusion with the adverb.
  • When used as a conjunction, the verb in the following clause typically does not occur immediately after þā (often being found at the end of the clause), unlike when it is used as an adverb.