idiom - native

confuse mind wrote:can someone please explain me the difference in the usage of 'native to' and 'native of'

Thanks,
Confused

Native of: is used for human beings.
Eg: He is a native of Brazil

Native to: is used for plants and animal species.
Eg: The Tiger is native to the India.

which one is correct ?

Aborigines are native to Australia
or
Aborigines are a native of Australia.

confuse mind wrote:which one is correct ?

Aborigines are native to Australia
or
Aborigines are a native of Australia.

I feel "Aborigines are native of Australia." should be correct.

sameerballani wrote:

confuse mind wrote:which one is correct ?

Aborigines are native to Australia
or
Aborigines are a native of Australia.

I feel "Aborigines are native of Australia." should be correct.

I feel otherwise
Aborigines are native to Australia. // since we taking about a specie or a class or group

"a native of" is used for people. It has to do with location of birth/childhood.

EX: She is a native of Philadelphia.

"native to" is used for categories. It can be used in a variety of contexts.

EX: The komodo dragon is native to the Galapagos Islands.

Since "aborigines" is plural, it would be wrong to use the article "a" to describe them. We would say "Aborigines are native to Australia" since we are talking about "the aborigines" like a category, a tribe of people. Just like we would say, "Salamanders are native to the desert."

@sameerballani We would say "The Tiger is native to India." We would omit the "the."

VivianKerr wrote:"a native of" is used for people. It has to do with location of birth/childhood.

EX: She is a native of Philadelphia.

"native to" is used for categories. It can be used in a variety of contexts.

EX: The komodo dragon is native to the Galapagos Islands.

Since "aborigines" is plural, it would be wrong to use the article "a" to describe them. We would say "Aborigines are native to Australia" since we are talking about "the aborigines" like a category, a tribe of people. Just like we would say, "Salamanders are native to the desert."

@sameerballani We would say "The Tiger is native to India." We would omit the "the."

Hi vivian,
Just to clarify, We will omit "the" for the same reason as for omitting 'a' in the previous case.?

Also, to conclude: For animal, or for special category/class of something we use native to. Am i correct?

Thanks

We omit the "the" before "India" because in English countries don't usually need articles.

EX: I am studying in Italy. (Incorrect: I am studying in the Italy.")

For animals and special categories (even if the category is a group of people), we use "native to", correct!