il-

From Latin il-, assimilated form of in- before l-.

il-

1. not; a form of the prefix in-, used before l

• -li-, Li, li

il-

1. Form used before a root beginning with the letter l of in-

Normally this prefix will combine with the root to make a word that uses the ela geminada. For example, il- and legal combine to form il·legal. but for some words, the use of the ela palatal will provide an alternate form or the preferred form. Thus il- and legible can combine to form either illegible or il·legible, while il- and letrat (“literate”) combine only as illetrat (“illiterate”) in Standard Catalan, although il·letrat is a common, but still illiterate, misspelling.

il- (before consonants ī-, class I first-person plural)

1. the subject of an active transitive verb

   we

2. the subject of an intransitive active verb

   we

From Old Irish il (“much, many”), from Proto-Indo-European *pelh₁- (compare Ancient Greek πολύς (polús, “much”)).

il- (Lenites except with d, s, t)

1. multiple, poly-, multi-
2. miscellaneous

   Synonyms: ilghnéitheach, ilchineálach, éagsúil

3. sundry
4. composite

il-

1. Alternative form of oll- (“great, gross”)

• "il-" in Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla, An Gúm, 1977, by Niall Ó Dónaill.
• Entries containing “il-” in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm, 1959, by Tomás de Bhaldraithe.
• Entries containing “il-” in New English-Irish Dictionary by Foras na Gaeilge.

Assimilated form of in-, before l-.

• IPA^(key): /il/, [il̺]

il-

1. Alternative form of in-

Assimilated form of in-, before l-.

il-

1. Alternative form of in-

• l-, iċ-, id-, in-, ir-, is-, it-, ix-, iz-, iż-, ċ-, d-, n-, r-, s-, t-, x-, z-, ż- (see usage notes)

From Arabic اَل‎ (al-).

• IPA^(key): /ɪl/

il- m or f

1. the

• The article (in all forms) connects to the following word with a hyphen:

  ‎il- + ‎mara → ‎il-mara (“the woman”) ; ‎il- + ‎futur → ‎il-futur (“the future”).

• Before an initial vowel, including before the vocalic letters għ and h, the i of the article is always dropped. This does not happen before q [ʔ], however:

  ‎il- + ‎iben → ‎l-iben (“the son”) ; ‎il- + ‎għasfur → ‎l-għasfur (“the bird”) ; but: ‎il- + ‎qalb → ‎il-qalb (“the heart”).

• Before an initial consonant cluster beginning with a nasal or liquid, i.e. the letters l, m, n, r + another consonant, an i is prefixed to the word and the article thus becomes l-:

  ‎il- + ‎rmied → ‎l-irmied (“the ashes”) ; ‎il- + ‎lsien → ‎l-ilsien (“the language”).

• The same also usually happens before an initial s, x, ż + an obstruent, i.e. a consonant other than j, l, m, n, r, w. This rule is somewhat similar to the Italian impure s, but it is applied with variation:

  ‎il- + ‎skola → ‎l-iskola (“the school”) ; ‎il- + ‎xkupilja → ‎l-ixkupilja (“the brush”) — less often also: is-skola, ix-xkupilja.

• Otherwise, before coronal consonants except ġ, the l of the article is generally assimilated. This means that before the letters ċ, d, n, r, s, t, x, z, ż, the article will have the according forms iċ-, id-, in-, ir-, is-, it-, ix-, iz-, iż-:

  ‎il- + ‎dawl → ‎id-dawl (“the light”) ; ‎il- + ‎xemx → ‎ix-xemx (“the sun”) ; but: ‎il- + ‎ġnien → ‎il-ġnien (“the garden”).

• Apart from ġ and the cases where an i is prefixed, there is another exception to this assimilation, namely that ad-hoc nominalisations of particles and the like are usually not assimilated:

  ‎il- + ‎xiex → ‎il-xiex (“the what”) ; ‎il- + ‎dejjem → ‎il-dejjem (“the always, the forever”).

• In the context of a sentence, the i of the article is not only dropped when the following word begins with a vowel, but also when the preceding word ends with a vowel:

  Rajna l-mara. ― We saw the woman.

• Hence, even the assimilated forms of the article can be reduced to ċ-, d-, n-, r-, s-, t-, x-, z-, ż-:

  Rajna x-xemx. ― We saw the sun.

• In the same case, the article is spelt as one word with the prepositions bi (“with, by”), fi (“in”), lil (“for”), minn (“from”), ma' (“along with”), and ta' (“of”):

  fil-ġnien (“in the garden”) ; mal-mara (“with the woman”) ; tax-xemx (“of the sun”).

• However, if the article already has the form l-, the prepositions ma' and ta' do not contract:

  fl-iskola (“in school”) ; but: ma' l-iben (“with the son”), ta' l-għasfur (“of the bird”) — though the spellings mal-iben, tal-għasfur are frequently seen.