ta'

Etymology
From older, , from. Compare 🇨🇬, 🇨🇬,, 🇨🇬, 🇨🇬, all used as possessive markers.

Pronunciation

 * Usually unstressed and then automatically shortened to.
 * Usually unstressed and then automatically shortened to.

Preposition

 * : of, 's

Usage notes

 * Pronominal inflections of are used as possessive determiners in Maltese. Alternatively, as in other Semitic languages, the pronominal suffixes may be added directly to the noun:
 * The use of is rare in cases of inalienable possession, especially with body parts and relatives; thus usually, , . This is true even for most borrowed words in these semantic fields such as , . Some forms are common, however, e.g.  alongside.
 * For the bulk of the vocabulary, both ways are equally possible. Overall the construction with is preferred, but this is not true of all words, not even all borrowings; for example,  is preferred over . The use of pronominal suffixes remains at any rate much commoner in Maltese than in . That said, many words have no common pronominal form and only  is used with them. This is true especially of infrequent words, recent borrowings, words in vowels other than -a, etc.

Noun

 * 1) family