'n

See also: ʼn and Appendix:Variations of "n"

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /n/, [n̩]

Etymology 1

Contraction of and.

Conjunction

'n

1. Nonstandard spelling of 'n'.

   fish 'n chips

   rock 'n roll

   • 1927, Arthur D[ouglas] Howden Smith, “The Ferryman”, in Commodore Vanderbilt: An Epic of American Achievement, New York, N.Y.: Robert M[edill] McBride & Company, section III, pages 50–51:

     “Might think we was brother 'n sister, to hear ye, Ma! Damn me to glory, don't ye know thar's fust cousins marryin' every week? And no harm come of it.” […] “Oh, son, not in the face of Pa 'n me that love you, whatever you think! We're only tryin' to figger for your own good.”

Etymology 2

Conjunction

'n

1. Contraction of than.
   • 1865, Mark Twain, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County:

     The feller took the box again, and took another long, particular look, and give it back to Smiley, and says, very deliberate, "Well, I don't see no p'ints about that frog that's any better'n any other frog."

   • 1969, Anne Warner, Susan Clegg and her friend Mrs. Lathrop, page 87:

     She says you may laugh 'f you feel so inclined, but there ain't no such big difference between your leg 'n' a dead rat but what it 'll pay you to mark her words. She says 'f it don't do no more 'n eat the skin off it 'll still be pretty hard for you to lay there without no skin 'n' feel the plaster goin' in more 'n' more.

   • 2004, Intelligent Systems, translated by Nintendo of America, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Nintendo, GameCube, level/area: Glitzville:

     lock this room up tighter 'n a peanut butter jar at a squirrel convention

   • 2010, Arnan Heyden, Daughters of Agendale, page 228:

     What I can give ya is this bit o' knowledge: there be things in this world that no one can explain. There are things bigger 'n mountains, bigger 'n oceans, bigger 'n fields an' night skies filled with stars, bigger 'n kings, or queens…

Etymology 3

Conjunction

'n

1. (archaic) Contraction of when. (As found in if'n.)

Etymology 4

Noun

'n (plural 'ns)

1. (colloquial) Alternative form of 'un (“one, a thing”)
   • 2009, Mariella Glenn Hartsfield, Tall Betsy and Dunce Baby: South Georgia Folktales, page 104:

     The other said, "Alright, I'm gonna do it like this: you take this'n, I'll take that'n; you take this'n, I'll take that'n; […]

   • 2012, Liza Cody, Musclebound, page 15:

     Which really did turn into a headache when I woke up — a bad'n.

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch een, 'n.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ə/

• Audio:

  (file)

Article

'n (indefinite)

1. (indefinite article) a, an

Usage notes

• This word is not capitalized at the beginning of a sentence and the following word is capitalized instead.

Asturian

Preposition

'n

1. (obsolete) Contraction of en.

   Toi viviendo'n Cangues

   I'm living in Cangues

Usage notes

While this contraction still reflects the elision that often occurs in en when it is between a word ending in a vowel and a word beginning in a consonant, this spelling was dropped by the Academy of the Asturian Language in 1990. Thus, the normative spelling of the above example is now Toi viviendo en Cangues.

See also

• n'
• 'l

Bavarian

Etymology 1

Merged unstressed form of an and en or den.

Article

'n m

1. a (accusative)
2. the (accusative)

See also

Bavarian articles

		singular						plural
		masculine		neuter		feminine
		stressed	unstressed	stressed	unstressed	stressed	unstressed	stressed	unstressed
definite	nominative	der, da	—	das, es, des	's	de	d'	de	d'
	accusative	en, den	'n
	dative	em, dem	'm	em, dem	'm	der, da	—
	genitive1	des		des		der, da		der, da
indefinite	nominative	a	—	a	—	a	—	—
	accusative	an	'n
	dative	am	'm	am	'm	a, ana	'na

¹ higher, formal register

Etymology 2

Unstressed form of eam.

Pronoun

'n

1. him
2. it (dative)

See also

Bavarian personal pronouns

		nominative		accusative		dative
		stressed	unstressed	stressed	unstressed	stressed	unstressed
1st person singular		i	—	mi	—	mia (mir)	ma
2nd person singular	informal	du	—	di	—	dia (dir)	da
	formal	Sie	—	Eahna	—	Eahna	—
3rd person singular	m	er	a	eahm	'n	eahm	'n
	n	es, des	's	des	's
	f	se, de	's	se	's	ihr	—
1st person plural		mia (mir)	ma	uns	—	uns	—
2nd person plural		eß, ihr	—	enk, eich	—	enk, eich	—
3rd person plural		se	's	eahna	—	eahna	—

Catalan

Pronoun

'n

1. Contraction of ne.

Usage notes

• 'n is the reduced (reduïda) form of the pronoun. It is used after verbs ending with a vowel.

Declension

Catalan personal pronouns and clitics

			strong/subject	weak (direct object)		weak (indirect object)		possessive
				proclitic	enclitic	proclitic	enclitic
singular	1st person	standard	jo, mi3	em, m’	-me, ’m	em, m’	-me, ’m	meu
		majestic1	nós	ens	-nos, ’ns	ens	-nos, ’ns	nostre
	2nd person	standard	tu	et, t’	-te, ’t	et, t’	-te, ’t	teu
		formal1	vós	us	-vos, -us	us	-vos, -us	vostre
		very formal2	vostè	el, l’	-lo, ’l	li	-li	seu
	3rd person	m	ell	el, l’	-lo, ’l	li	-li	seu
		f	ella	la, l’4	-la	li	-li	seu
		n		ho	-ho	li	-li	seu
plural
	1st person		nosaltres	ens	-nos, ’ns	ens	-nos, ’ns	nostre
	2nd person	standard	vosaltres	us	-vos, -us	us	-vos, -us	vostre
		formal2	vostès	els	-los, ’ls	els	-los, ’ls	seu
	3rd person	m	ells	els	-los, ’ls	els	-los, ’ls	seu
		f	elles	les	-les	els	-los, ’ls	seu
3rd person reflexive			si	es, s’	-se, ’s	es, s’	-se, ’s	seu
adverbial	ablative/genitive			en, n’	-ne, ’n
	locative			hi	-hi

¹ Behaves grammatically as plural.   ² Behaves grammatically as third person.
³ Only as object of a preposition.   ⁴ Not before unstressed (h)i-, (h)u-.

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ən/

• Audio:

  (file)

Article

'n

1. Contraction of een.

Notes

If 'n begins a sentence, the first letter of the following word is capitalised instead.

Franco-Provençal

Determiner

'n

1. Clipping of un

German

Alternative forms

• n (nonstandard)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /n/, /ən/
• IPA^(key): /m/ (often before a labial), /ŋ/ (often before a velar)

Etymology 1

Contraction of ein. Like virtually all traditional German dialects, colloquial standard German distinguishes the indefinite article from the numeral for "one". The specific form 'n has spread from the North southward and is thus of chiefly Low German origin. Most High German dialects use forms without the final -n, such as [ə] or [a], at least for the basic form (i.e. the masculine and neuter nominative). These pronunciations are sometimes heard in colloquial standard German as well, but 'n is clearly the commonest form.

Article

'n

1. (colloquial) Alternative form of ein (“a, an”)
2. (colloquial) Alternative form of einen (“a, an”)

Declension

• 'nem
• 'nen
• 'ne
• 'ner

Derived terms

• so'n

Etymology 2

Contraction of denn.

Adverb

'n

1. (colloquial) short for denn (used for general emphasis)

   Wann wärst'n hier?

   So, when would you be here?

Italian

Etymology 1

Preposition

'n

1. (literary) Alternative form of in
2. (colloquial) Pronunciation spelling of in.

Etymology 2

Article

'n m

1. (colloquial) Pronunciation spelling of un.

Numeral

'n m

1. (colloquial) Pronunciation spelling of un.

Etymology 3

Adverb

'n

1. (colloquial) Pronunciation spelling of non.

Ligurian

Etymology

Apheresis of un (“a, an”, article).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ŋ/ (when followed by a consonant)
• IPA^(key): /n/ (when followed by a vowel)

Article

'n m (feminine 'na, 'n')

1. a, an (male)

Low German

Article

'n

1. Contraction of den.

Pronoun

'n

1. Contraction of en.

North Frisian

Pronoun

'n

1. (Föhr-Amrum, Mooring) Reduced form of ham (“him”)
2. (Sylt) Reduced form of höm (“him”)

See also

Personal and possessive pronouns (Föhr-Amrum dialect)

			personal					possessive
			subject case		object case			masculine referent	feminine / neuter referent	plural referent
			full	reduced	full	reduced				attributive	independent
singular	1st		ik	'k	mi			man	min		minen
	2nd		dü	–	di			dan	din		dinen
	3rd	m	hi	'r	ham	'n		san	sin		sinen
		f or n	hat	at, 't		at, 't
plural	1st		wi	'f	üs			üüs			üüsen
								üsens
	2nd		jam	'm	jam			jau			jauen
								jamens
	3rd		jo	's	jo	's		hör			hören
								hörens

• The reduced forms with an apostrophe are enclitic; they immediately follow verbs or conjunctions. Dü is deleted altogether in such contexts.
• At is not enclitic; it can stand in any unstressed position and refers mostly to things. In reflexive use, only full object forms occur.
• Dual forms wat / onk and jat / jonk are obsolete, as is feminine jü / hör.
• Independent possessives are distinguished from attributive ones only with plural referents.
• The forms üsens, jamens, hörens are used optionally (and decreasingly) when the possessor is a larger community, such as a village, city or nation.

Personal and possessive pronouns (Mooring dialect)

			personal					possessive
			subject case		object case			masculine referent	feminine / neuter / plural referent
			full	reduced	full	reduced
singular	1st		ik	'k	me			man	min
	2nd		dü	–	de			dan	din
	3rd	m	hi	'r	ham	'n		san	sin
		f	jü	's	har	's		harn	har
		n	hat	et, 't	ham	et, 't		san	sin
plural	1st		we		üs			üüsen	üüs
	2nd		jam	'm	jam			jarnge
	3rd		ja	's	ja, jam	's		jare

The reduced forms with an apostrophe are enclitic; they immediately follow verbs or conjunctions. Dü is deleted altogether in such contexts.
Et is not enclitic and can stand in any unstressed position; the full subject form hat is now rarely used. In reflexive use, only full object forms occur.
Dual forms wat / unk and jat / junk are obsolete. Attributive and independent possessives are not distinguished in Mooring.

Personal and possessive pronouns (Sylt dialect)

			personal					possessive
			subject case		object case			singular referent	plural referent
			full	reduced	full	reduced			attributive	independent
singular	1st		ik	'k	mi			min		minen
	2nd		dü	–	di			din		dinen
	3rd	m	hi	'r	höm	'n		sin		sinen
		f	jü	's	höör	's		höör		höören
		n	hat	et, 't	höm	et, 't		sin		sinen
dual	1st		wat		unk		unk		unken
	2nd		at		junk		junk		junken
	3rd		jat		jam	's	jaar		jaaren
plural	1st		wü		üüs		üüs		üüsen
	2nd		i		juu		juu		juuen
	3rd		ja	's	jam	's	jaar		jaaren

• The reduced forms with an apostrophe are enclitic; they immediately follow verbs or conjunctions. Dü is deleted altogether in such contexts.
• Et is not enclitic and can stand in any unstressed position; the full subject form hat is now rarely used. In reflexive use, only full object forms occur.
• The dual forms are dated, but not obsolete as in other dialects.
• Independent possessives are distinguished from attributive ones only with plural referents.

Sicilian

Etymology

Apheresis of in, from Latin in.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ŋ/ (when followed by a consonant)
• IPA^(key): /n/ (when followed by a vowel)

Preposition

'n

1. in

Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /n/

Etymology 1

Particle

'n

1. Alternative form of yn (used after a vowel).

   Mae hi'n darllen. ― She is reading.

   Mae hi'n gysglyd. ― She is sleepy.

   Mae hi'n ferch. ― She is a girl.

Etymology 2

Contraction of ein (“our”).

Determiner

'n (triggers h-prothesis of a following vowel)

1. our (used after vowels).

   Dyna'n harian ni.

   That's our money.

Pronoun

'n (triggers h-prothesis of a following vowel)

1. us (as the direct object of a verbal noun or verb)

   Mae e yma i'n harfarnu.

   He's here to appraise us.

   Fe'n magwyd yng ngefn gwlad.

   We were brought up (lit. One brought us up) in the countryside.

Usage notes

• In formal Welsh, the contraction 'n is a valid form of ein found after mostly functional vowel-final words. In colloquial Welsh, ein is often contracted to 'n after almost any vowel-final word.
• Pronomial 'n (and ein) can occur before any verbal noun. Before verbal, pronomial 'n is found only in formal language after certain vowel-final preverbal particles, such as fe, a, ni, na, oni and pe.

Further reading

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “'n”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies

Zealandic

Etymology

An unstressed variety of eên.

Determiner

'n

1. a (indefinite article)