Determiners 101: Types, Uses and Examples of English Determiners

Examples of English determiners are just about everywhere you look in the language. Whether you’re learning English or just brushing up on your grammar rules, there are few things as useful and ubiquitous as determiners.

Determiners include articles like a, an and the, possessive adjectives like whose and your, quantifying words like few and many, and even cardinal and ordinal numbers like two or sixth.

Simply looking at the last few paragraphs, we can see determiners in action:

Examples of English determiners are just about everywhere you look in the language. Whether you’re learning English or just brushing up on your grammar rules, there are few things as useful and ubiquitous as determiners.

Clearly, these are handy words and phrases to get to know!

In this guide, you’ll find answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about English determiners, including:

• What exactly are determiners?
• What are the main types of English determiners?
• How do you use determiners?
• What are the most common determiners in English? (including a list of common determiners with examples)

Determiners are little words that can make a big difference when it comes to being understood in English. But what are determiners, and how do they work?

Let’s start with the basics.

What are determiners?

A determiner is one of the eight key English parts of speech. It’s a kind of word that’s equally common in written and spoken English.

Here’s the simplest definition of ‘determiner’: A determiner is a word that is used to clarify, describe, introduce or modify a noun. They can also be called ‘limiting adjectives.’

Common kinds of English determiners include definite and indefinite articles, demonstrative determiners, possessive determiners, distributive determiners, relative determiners, interrogative determiners, numbers, and quantifiers.

These words are called determiners because they help determine or specify one of two things:

1. Which noun is being referred to (as in his house, that shop, whose work)
2. The number or amount of the noun (as in three cookies, several birds, an idea)

How determiners differ from descriptive adjectives

Determiners are sometimes called ‘limiting adjectives’ because they are very similar to adjectives. Their job in a sentence is always to give specific information about a noun.

However, they differ from descriptive, or ‘true,’ adjectives. True adjectives add detail, while determiners can only help identify the noun in question.

Determiners include words like the, his, every, which and other. They don’t tell you anything descriptive about the noun – they only help identify it.

True adjectives are words like old, red, beautiful, damp and befuddled. They describe something about the noun.

Confused? We’ll take a closer look in the ‘How to use determiners’ section of this guide.

Types of English determiners

There are eight common types of English determiners. Here they are, with examples to help you identify them and put them to use.

1) Definite and indefinite articles

There is only one definite article in English – the. The English indefinite articles are a and an. These articles can all be used to specify or quantify nouns.

Examples:
He picked up the book she had dropped.
She bought a new scarf.
They shared an orange.

All three articles are determiners, but as you can see, not all determiners are articles.

2) Demonstrative determiners

Demonstrative determiners are also known as demonstrative adjectives. They’re the same words you use for demonstrative pronouns – this, that, these and those.

These words become determiners (or adjectives) when used to modify a noun instead of replacing a noun.

Here’s what that means.

A demonstrative determiner modifies a noun, as in the following example:

I’d like to buy that purse.

In the example, the word that tells you which purse the speaker wants to buy.

In contrast, a demonstrative pronoun replaces a noun, as in the example below:

I’d like to buy that.

In this example, the word purse is replaced by the word that. So in this case, the word that is not a determiner, because it doesn’t modify a noun. Easy, right?

Let’s look at more examples of demonstrative determiners in action.

Examples of demonstrative determiners

I like this boat.
That blue car is driving too slow.
These carrots are delicious!
You look great in those mittens.

In all of the above examples, the demonstrative determiners define a physical object in the present tense, meaning something you can see and point out. But demonstrative determiners can also refer to abstract concepts, like in the example below:

These ideas will work.

These same words can be used to identify something from the past:

I was just thinking about this car we used to own.
Remember that hotel in Prague?
That was the fashion in those days.

3) Possessive determiners

Possessive determiners specify the possession or ownership of a noun.

The possessive determiners are my, your, his, her, its, our and their.

Just like demonstrative determiners are similar to demonstrative pronouns, possessive determiners are similar to possessive pronouns. They become pronouns and change slightly when used in place of a noun. The possessive pronouns are mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours and theirs.

You’ll know a determiner if it modifies the noun without replacing it. Let’s look at some examples.

Possessive determiner:

This is your cake. (The word ‘your’ modifies the word ‘cake.’)

Possessive pronoun:

Of all the cakes, yours is the best. (The word ‘yours’ replaces the words ‘your cake.’)

Simple, right? Now that you know the difference between possessive pronouns and determiners, let’s take a look at some more examples with possessive determiners.

Examples of possessive determiners

You are my friend.
Which one is your dog?
Her flower shop is lovely.
Wait, those are our fajitas.

4) Distributive determiners

Distributive determiners, or distributive adjectives, are used in combination with a noun to specify portions of a group. They can refer to a complete group, a portion of a group or an individual person, place or thing.

The distributive determiners are every, all, each, half, both, either, and neither.

Examples of distributive determiners

The coach announced that all team members would receive a medal.
We think both sides are happy with the deal.
We have two dogs, but neither dog likes broccoli.

5) Interrogative determiners

Interrogative determiners might have a fancy name, but they’re actually very simple.

The interrogative determiners are what, whose, and which. While these words can be used in a few different ways, they become interrogative determiners when used in a direct question or indirect question to modify a noun.

Examples of interrogative determiners

In a direct question:

Whose pants are these?
Which museum is on the east side of Central Park – the Museum of Natural History or the Metropolitan Museum of Art?

In an indirect question: I wonder what snacks they’ll have at the party.

6) Relative determiners

Relative determiners have some overlap with interrogative determiners but are used differently in a sentence.

The relative determiners in English are what, whatever, which, and whichever.

As you can see, what and which can be either relative determiners or interrogative determiners. While interrogative determiners must be used in a direct or indirect question, relative determiners, sometimes called relative adjectives, are not used in questions. Instead, they modify a noun phrase that introduces a relative dependent clause.

Here’s what that looks like.

Examples of relative determiners

You can bring home whichever kitten you want.
Let me know what day you arrive.
He’ll take whatever drink you hand him.

7) Numbers and quantifying determiners

There are many different English determiners used to quantify nouns, meaning they specify the number or amount of something. The primary kinds are general quantifiers, specific cardinal number quantifiers and ordinal number modifiers.

The general quantifying determiners are words like all, any, many, much, some, several, few, little and no. Quantifying determiners overlap with distributive determiners, but they don’t necessarily refer to portions of a specific group.

Cardinal numbers should look familiar to you if you’ve learned to count in English. They are numbers, like one, two, three, four and so on. And ordinal numbers, similarly, are words you’ll recognize – first, second, third, fourth, fifth….

These familiar words become determiners only when they are used to modify a noun.

Examples of quantifying determiners

There are several bird species I’d like to see in Brazil.
I have little hope the Maple Leafs will win the Stanley Cup this year.
He ate two hamburgers in one sitting.
That’s our fifth pizza order of the day.

Essentially, when a number or other quantifying word is used like an adjective, it’s a determiner.

8) Determiners of difference

Last but certainly not least, the final common type of determiner is the determiner of difference. There are exactly two determiners of difference – other and another. As with all determiners that can also function as other parts of speech, they are considered determiners only when used to specify, quantify, clarify or modify a noun.

Examples of determiners of difference

I have other shirts I can wear, but I just like this one.
With all this construction, another road might have been a better choice.

How to use determiners

You’ve already seen tons of examples of the different kinds of determiners. Now, let’s take a closer look at the rules for using determiners in a sentence.

Determiners are always placed at the beginning of noun groups, before any descriptive adjectives.

Descriptive adjectives describe something about the noun. ‘Soft’ means the same thing whether you’re describing a blanket or a chinchilla.

Determiners help narrow and specify nouns, but in a way that doesn’t tell you anything about the object except quantity, possession, location in time or space… everything we looked at in our list of types of determiners. In other words, determiners like the, your, other and that get their meaning from context.

For example:

that dog (determiner)

brown dog (true adjective)

that brown dog (determiner + true adjective)

Note the word order. You could not say ‘brown that dog’ and be understood, because ‘that’ refers not just to ‘dog’ but to ‘brown dog.’ It narrows down which brown dog is being referred to, and so it must come first in the phrase.

If a word stands on its own replacing a noun – for example in the sentences, “This hat is yours,” or “We’ll take it all,” – it is not a determiner, even if it can be used as a determiner.

List of determiners in English

Looking for an easy way to study determiners? Put this chart of the most common English determiners to work for you.

Which determiners will you practice next?

Now you know all about what determiners are, the main types of English determiners, how to use them in a sentence, and the most common determiners.

Time to start practicing! With a little effort, you’ll soon feel more comfortable using determiners in both speaking and writing.