le

See also: Appendix:Variations of "le"

English

Etymology 1

From French le.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /lə/, /leɪ/

Article

le

  1. (informal, humorous, chiefly Internet) the
    • 2001 June 24, LaManna, “My Weekend...”, in alt.punk, Usenet:
      [] upon arrival, le girlfriend realizes she has left her ID back at my house (a 1 1/2 hour roundtrip on the Metro), []
    • 2002 December 27, Amelia, “Re: Neat things SANTA brought me...”, in alt.fashion, Usenet:
      And then le boyfriend perks up and names around 8 different brands (Stila, MAC, Becca, Nars etc..) - I was *SO* proud of him!! :)
    • 2003 January 10, johnny dupe (quoting nowhere man), “Re: I can walk with jezus...”, in alt.fan.wings, Usenet:
      That was always OUR song (me and le girlfriend of the time).

Etymology 2

From French lez and French lès.

Preposition

le

  1. (obsolete) next to, near (still used in some place names)
    • Chester-le-Street is a town in County Durham near an old Roman road

Anagrams


Bourguignon

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Latin ille.

Article

le (alternative form lou, feminine lai, plural les)

  1. the

Breton

Noun

le ? (plural leou)

  1. vow

Dalmatian

Etymology

From Latin illae, nominative feminine plural of ille.

Article

le f pl

  1. the

Danish

En le – a scythe.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /leː/, [leːˀ]

Etymology 1

From Old Norse (scythe).

Noun

le c (singular definite leen, plural indefinite leer)

  1. scythe (farm tool)
Inflection

Etymology 2

From Old Norse hlæja, from Proto-Germanic *hlahjaną.

Verb

le (imperative le, present ler, past lo, past participle leet or let)

  1. to laugh (show mirth by peculiar movement of the muscles of the face and emission of sounds)

See also


French

Etymology

From Old French le, from Latin illum, by dropping il- and -m. Latin illum is the accusative singular of ille.[1]

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /lə/
  • (Parisian) IPA(key): /lø/
  • (between a vowel and a consonant) IPA(key): /l/
  • (file)
  • (Louisiana) IPA(key): /ɛl/
  • Rhymes:

Article

le m (feminine la, masculine and feminine plural les)

  1. The (definite article).
    Le lait du matin.The milk of the morning.
    [J]e suis le valeureux Don Quichotte de la Manche, le défaiseur de torts et le réparateur d’iniquités.
    I am the valiant Don Quixote of La Mancha, the undoer of wrongs and the repairer of iniquities. (1837, Louis Viardot, L’Ingénieux Hidalgo Don Quichotte de la Manche, translation of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Volume I, Chapter IV)
  2. Used before abstract nouns; not translated in English.
  3. (before parts of the body) The; my, your, etc.
    Il s’est cassé la jambe.He has broken his leg.
  4. (before units) A, an.
    Cinquante kilomètres à l’heure.fifty kilometres an hour

Usage notes

  • le becomes l’ before a vowel or an unaspirated h.
    l’amourlove
    l’hommethe man
  • de le is never used: contracted into du.
  • à le is never used: contracted into au.
    Il a une cicatrice au visage.He has a scar on the face. / He has a scar on his face.
  • However, de le and à le become de l' and à l' respectively in front of a vowel or an unaspirated h.

Pronoun

le m (feminine la, masculine and feminine plural les)

  1. (direct object) Him, it.
  2. (used to refer to something previously mentioned or implied; not translated in English).
    Je suis petit et lui, il l’est aussi.I am small and he is too ("he is it too", i.e., "he is small too").

References

  1. Dauzat, Albert; Jean Dubois, Henri Mitterand (1964), “le, la, les”, in Nouveau dictionnaire étymologique (in French), Paris: Librairie Larousse

Further reading


Friulian

Pronoun

le (third person feminine direct object)

  1. her

Galician

Verb

le

  1. inflection of ler:
    1. third-person singular present indicative
    2. second-person singular imperative

Garifuna

Article

le

  1. masculine definite article
    Mutu leThe man

Antonyms


Hungarian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ˈlɛ]
  • (file)

Adverb

le (not comparable)

  1. down

Ido

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian le.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /le/, /lɛ/

Article

le (plural)

  1. the (used only when there is no other sign of plurality, for example with nominalized adjectives)
    Yen pomi, prenez le bona e lasez le mala.
    Here's apples, take the good ones and leave the bad ones.

Noun

le (plural le-i)

  1. The name of the Latin script letter L/l.

See also

See also


Interlingua

Article

le

  1. the

Usage notes

  • de le is contracted into del.
  • a le is contracted into al.

Pronoun

le m (plural les)

  1. him (direct object)
    Io le appella mi amico — I call him my friend.

Irish

Alternative forms

Etymology

From a conflation of two Early Modern Irish prepositions:

  1. re (to), from Old Irish fri, from Proto-Celtic *writ- (compare Welsh wrth, prefix gwrth-), from Proto-Indo-European *wert- (to turn) (compare Latin versus (against)).
  2. le (with), from Old Irish la, from Proto-Celtic *let-, from Proto-Celtic *letos (side) (compare leath, Welsh lled).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /lʲɛ/

Preposition

le (plus dative, triggers h-prothesis, before the definite article leis)

  1. with
    le héadachwith clothing
  2. used in conjunction with the copula particle is to indicate possession
    Is liomsa an hataThe hat is mine; the hat belongs to me
    Is le Cáit an peann luaidhe.The pencil is Cáit’s; the pencil belongs to Cáit.
  3. to (indicating purpose; in this sense triggering eclipsis of ithe (eating) and ól (drinking))
    rud le n-ithesomething to eat
    oiriúnach le n-ólfit to drink
    ró-the le n-óltoo hot to drink
  4. in order to
    le rud a dhéanamhin order to do a thing
    Synonyms: chun, d'fhonn

Inflection

Derived terms

See also

Further reading


Italian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /le/
  • Rhymes: -e

Etymology 1

From Latin illae, which is the nominative plural feminine of ille.[1]

Article

Italian Definite Articles
singular plural
masculine il
lo/l'
i
gli
feminine  la/l' le

le f pl (singular la)

  1. the
Usage notes

Contrary to la, le does not elide before words that begin with a vowel:

le amichethe girlfriends

Pronoun

le f pl (masculine li, singular la)

  1. (accusative) them (third-person plural feminine)
    Le ho viste.I saw them.
Alternative forms
Usage notes
  • Never elides.
  • Becomes glie when followed by a third person direct object clitic (lo, la, li, le, or ne).
See also

Etymology 2

Pronoun

le f (plural gli)

  1. (dative) her, to her
    Synonym: gli (informal)
    Le ho detto che la amo.I told her that I love her.
    Le ho dato la lettera.I gave her the letter.
  2. (dative) you, to you (term of respect)
    Non le ho detto il mio nome.I didn't tell you my name.
    Le ho dato la lettera.I gave you the letter.
Usage notes
  • In formal writing, when le is used as term of respect it is usually capitalised as Le to avoid confusion with le (her).
  • In informal contexts often replaced with gli, especially in spoken language.
  • Becomes glie when followed by a third person direct object clitic (lo, la, li, le, or ne).
  • Never elides.
Alternative forms
See also

References

  1. Patota, Giuseppe (2002) Lineamenti di grammatica storica dell'italiano (in Italian), Bologna: il Mulino, →ISBN, page 127

Maltese

Etymology

From Arabic لَا (). Cognate with Hebrew לא ().

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /lɛː/

Adverb

le

  1. no

See also


Mandarin

Romanization

le (Zhuyin ˙ㄌㄜ)

  1. Pinyin transcription of
  2. Pinyin transcription of ,

le

  1. Nonstandard spelling of .
  2. Nonstandard spelling of .

Usage notes

  • English transcriptions of Mandarin speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.

Mauritian Creole

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /lø, le/

Etymology

From French le

Article

le

  1. (definite) the

Meriam

Etymology

From Rotuman.

Noun

le

  1. person

Middle French

Article

le m (feminine la, masculine and feminine plural les)

  1. the

Descendants

  • French: le

Neapolitan

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /le/
  • Rhymes: -e

Pronoun

le

  1. Alternative form of 'e

Coordinate terms

NumberPersonNominativeAccusativeDativeReflexivePossessivePrepositional
singular first-person io (i') me mìo, mìa, mieje, meje me, méne
second-person, familiar tu te tùjo, tòja, tùoje, tòje te, téne
second-person, formal vuje ve vuósto, vósta, vuóste, vóste vuje
third-person, masculine ìsso 'o, 'u (lo, lu) 'i, 'e (li, le) se sùjo, sòja, sùoje, sòje ìsso
third-person, feminine éssa 'a (la) 'e (le) éssa
plural first-person nuje ce nuósto, nòsta, nuóste, nòste nuje
second-person, plural vuje ve vuósto, vòsta, vuóste, vòste vuje
third-person, masculine ìsse 'i, 'e (li, le) llòro se llòro (invariable) llòro
third-person, feminine llòro 'e (le)

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology 1

From Old Norse hlé

Adjective

le (indeclinable)

  1. lee or leeward (side)

Noun

le n

  1. lee (sheltered or leeward side)
  2. shelter

Etymology 2

From Old Norse hlæja (to laugh), from Proto-Germanic *hlahjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *klek-, *kleg- (to shout).

Verb

le (imperative le, present tense ler, passive -, simple past lo, past participle ledd, present participle leende)

  1. to laugh

References


Norwegian Nynorsk

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /leː/

Etymology 1

From Old Norse hlé. Akin to English lee.

Adjective

  • le (indeclinable)
  1. lee or leeward (side)

Noun

le n

  1. lee (sheltered or leeward side)
  2. shelter

Etymology 2

From Old Norse hlæja (to laugh), from Proto-Germanic *hlahjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *klek-, *kleg- (to shout). Akin to English laugh.

Verb

le (present tense ler, past tense lo, past participle ledd or lett, present participle leande, imperative le)

  1. to laugh

References


Novial

Pronoun

le

  1. (s)he; him or her

Old French

Alternative forms

  • lo (9th century in The Sequence of Saint Eulalia and 10th century in La Vie de Saint Léger)

Article

le

  1. the (masculine singular oblique definite article)
  2. (Picardy, Anglo-Norman) the (feminine singular definite article)

Inflection

Pronoun

le

  1. it (masculine singular object pronoun)

Romanian

Etymology

From Latin illīs, dative common plural of ille.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /le/
  • Rhymes: -e

Pronoun

le m (unstressed dative form of ei)

  1. (indirect object, third-person masculine plural) to them (all-male or mixed group)

Pronoun

le f (unstressed dative form of ele)

  1. (indirect object, third-person feminine plural) to them (all-female group)

Pronoun

le m (unstressed accusative form of ele)

  1. (direct object, third-person feminine plural) them (all-female group)
  • lor (stressed dative of ei and ele)
  • ele (stressed accusative of ele)
  • îl (unstressed dative of el (singular))
  • îi (unstressed dative of ea (singular) and unstressed accusative of ei (masculine))
  • o (unstressed accusative of ea (singular))

Samoan

Article

le

  1. the (the definite article)

Usage notes

Only in the singular. Sometimes used where the indefinite article would be used in English.

See also


Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From Old Irish la, from Proto-Celtic *let-, from Proto-Celtic *letos (side) (compare leath, Welsh lled).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /lʲɛ/, /le/

Preposition

le

  1. with
  2. by
  3. down
    Thuit e leis a' chreig.
    He fell down the rock.
    deòir a' ruith leis a h-aodanntears running down her face

Usage notes

  • This form is used before nouns without the definite article; before the definite article the form leis is used.

Derived terms

Person Number Prepositional pronoun Prepositional pronoun (emphatic)
Singular 1st leam leamsa
2nd leat leatsa
3rd m leis leis-san
3rd f leatha leathase
Plural 1st leinn leinne
2nd leibh leibhse
3rd leotha leothasan

Serbo-Croatian

Adverb

le (Cyrillic spelling ле)

  1. (archaic) only
    • 1556, Hanibal Lucić, U vrime ko čisto
      Nego se varteći dugo tuj zamani,
      Goro, le htih reći, zbogome ostani.

Slovene

Etymology

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /lɛ́/

Adverb

  1. only, merely, just

Southern Ndebele

Etymology 1

Pronoun

le

  1. these; class 4 proximal demonstrative.

Etymology 2

Pronoun

le

  1. this; class 9 proximal demonstrative.

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin illī, dative of ille.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /le/

Pronoun

le

  1. To him, for him (dative of él)
    Mi mamá va a escribirle una carta. My mom is going to write him a letter.
  2. To her, for her (dative of ella)
    Le dio un beso a Ana. He gave Ana a kiss.
  3. To it, for it (dative of ello)
    ¡Ponle esfuerzo! Put some effort into it!
  4. To you, for you (formal; dative of usted)
    ¿A usted le gustan los caballos? Do you like horses?

Usage notes

  • Though le is usually the indirect object form of the direct object pronouns lo/la, it is often used as a direct object as well...e.g., «yo le amo» (I love him). This phenomenon is known as leísmo.
  • Note that when a sentence contains a noun that is an indirect object, a redundant indirect object le (or its plural form les) is also required; for example «yo le daré el libro a Jorge» (literally, "I him will give the book to Jorge"), where him/le corresponds to Jorge. This type of pronoun is obligatory. Both of the object pronouns le and les become se when followed by the direct object lo/la/los/las; hence, «yo se lo daré» (I will give it to him/her/them) rather than «yo le/les lo daré».

See also


Swahili

Adjective

-le (declinable)

  1. that (distal demonstrative adjective)

Inflection

See also


Swedish

Etymology

From Old Swedish lēia, lea, from Old Norse hlæja (to laugh), from Proto-Germanic *hlahjaną.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /leː/
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -eː

Verb

le

  1. to smile
  2. (obsolete) to laugh

Conjugation

Derived terms


Tarantino

Alternative forms

Article

le m pl or f pl

  1. the

Turkish

Noun

le

  1. The name of the Latin-script letter L.

See also


Vietnamese

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Noun

(classifier cây) le

  1. a plant in the rice family, which grows in forests and has a shape similar to bamboo

Etymology 2

Verb

le

  1. (Central Vietnam, Southern Vietnam) Alternative form of (to loll (tongue); to put out)

Etymology 3

Adverb

le

  1. (rare) Alternative form of (very)

Etymology 4

Conjunction

le

  1. (archaic) but; however
Derived terms
Derived terms

Welsh

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /leː/

Noun

le

  1. Soft mutation of lle.

Adverb

le

  1. (South Wales, colloquial) where
    Le ma'r tŷ bach?
    Where's the loo?

Synonyms

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radicalsoftnasalaspirate
le unchanged unchanged unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Xhosa

Etymology 1

Pronoun

le

  1. these; class 4 proximal demonstrative.

Etymology 2

Pronoun

le

  1. this; class 9 proximal demonstrative.

Zulu

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈlé/

Etymology 1

Pronoun

le

  1. these; class 4 proximal demonstrative.
Inflection
Stem -lé
Full form
Locative kule
Full form
Locative kule
Copulative yile
Possessive forms
Modifier Substantive
Class 1 wale owale
Class 2 bale abale
Class 3 wale owale
Class 4 yale eyale
Class 5 lale elale
Class 6 ale awale
Class 7 sale esale
Class 8 zale ezale
Class 9 yale eyale
Class 10 zale ezale
Class 11 lwale olwale
Class 14 bale obale
Class 15 kwale okwale
Class 17 kwale okwale

Etymology 2

Pronoun

le

  1. this; class 9 proximal demonstrative.
Inflection
Stem -lé
Full form
Locative kule
Full form
Locative kule
Copulative yile
Possessive forms
Modifier Substantive
Class 1 wale owale
Class 2 bale abale
Class 3 wale owale
Class 4 yale eyale
Class 5 lale elale
Class 6 ale awale
Class 7 sale esale
Class 8 zale ezale
Class 9 yale eyale
Class 10 zale ezale
Class 11 lwale olwale
Class 14 bale obale
Class 15 kwale okwale
Class 17 kwale okwale

References

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