English

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).

Breton

Noun

le ? ‎(plural leou)

1. vow

Dalmatian

Etymology

From Latin illae, nominative feminine plural of ille.

Article

le f pl

1. the

Related terms

• el
• la
• i

Danish

En le – a scythe.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /leː/, [leːˀ]

Etymology 1

From Old Norse lé ‎(“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. laugh (show mirth by peculiar movement of the muscles of the face and emission of sounds)

See also

• le on the Danish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^da
• Le (flertydig) on the Danish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^da

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/, [lɵ̞]
• Rhymes: -ə

Article

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

1. The (definite article).

   Le lait du matin — The milk of the morning.

   • 1837, Louis Viardot, L’Ingénieux Hidalgo Don Quichotte de la Manche^{fr.Wikisource}, translation of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Volume I, Chapter IV:

     [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.

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’amour — love.

  l’homme — the 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 or 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").

Related terms

References

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

Friulian

Pronoun

le ‎(third person feminine direct object)

1. her

Related terms

• jê
• i

Galician

Verb

le

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

Hungarian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈlɛ]

Adverb

le (not comparable)

1. down

Ido

Etymology

Borrowing 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.

See also

• la

Noun

le ‎(plural le-i)

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

See also

• (Latin script letter names) litero; a, be, ce, che, de, e, fe, ge, he, i, je, ke, le, me, ne, o, pe, que, re, se, she, te, u, ve, we, xe, ye, ze ^{(Category: io:Latin letter names)}

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

• lé (superseded)

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 héadach‎ ― with clothing

2. used in conjunction with the copula particle is to indicate possession

   Is liomsa an hata‎ ― The 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-ithe‎ ― something to eat

   oiriúnach le n-ól‎ ― fit to drink

   ró-the le n-ól‎ ― too hot to drink

Inflection

Derived terms

• abair le
• dar le
• le chéile
• maidir le

See also

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /le/
• Rhymes: -e

Etymology 1

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

Article

le f pl ‎(singular la)

1. the

Usage notes

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

Pronoun

le f pl ‎(singular la)

1. them (third-person plural feminine)

   Le ho viste — I saw them.

Etymology 2

Pronoun

le

1. (dative) her, to her

   Le ho detto che la amo — I told her that I love her.

   Le ho dato la lettera — I gave her the letter or I gave the letter to her.

2. (dative) you, to you

   Non Le ho detto il mio nome — I didn't tell you my name.

   Le ho dato la lettera — I gave you the letter or I gave the letter to you.

Usage notes

• When le is used in the formal sense, it is usually capitalised as Le to avoid confusion with le meaning "her".

References

1. ↑ Patota, Giuseppe (2002) Lineamenti di grammatica storica dell'italiano (in Italian), Bologna: il Mulino, ISBN 88-15-08638-2, page 127

Lojban

Cmavo

le (article)

1. returns a definite instance of an x₁sumti of the following word, which would otherwise function as a selbri; thus, "le" and the word which follows it together act like a sumti

   le tavla cu sutra tavla

   the talker talks fast

   la suzyn. pu dunda ti'u li rere boi pa le re cukta mi

   Susan gave, at 10 PM, one of the two books to me.

Usage notes

• A sumti phrase begun with le ends with the cmavo ku unless no ambiguity results.
• An "inner quantifier" indicates number of members in the group (which is the subject of the predication), whereas an "outer quantifier" indicates a portion of that number, so "le ci nanmu" would mean "the three men" whereas "ci le nanmu" would mean "three of the men", "ci le mu nanmu" would mean "three of the five men"; so, as a rough analogy, le could be said to act as a divider (whereas lo acts as a multiplier, according to the xorlo proposal).

Related terms

• lo
• la
• li
• lei
• le'i

Mandarin

Romanization

le (Zhuyin ㄌㄜ˙)

1. Pinyin transcription of 了
2. Pinyin transcription of 餎
3. Pinyin transcription of 饹
4. Nonstandard spelling of lē.
5. Nonstandard spelling of lé.
6. Nonstandard spelling of lè.

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.

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

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

• “le” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

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

1. to laugh

Conjugation

References

• “le” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Novial

Pronoun

le

1. (s)he; him or her

Related terms

• les
• lo
• la

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

• 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)

Related terms

• 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

• se

Scottish Gaelic

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-aodann - eyes 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

• leis an t-sruth
• The following prepositional pronouns:

Serbo-Croatian

Adverb

le

1. (archaic) only
   • 1556, Hanibal Lucić, U vrime ko čisto

     Nego se varteći dugo tuj zamani,

     Goro, le htih reći, zbogome ostani.

Related terms

• samo, tek

Slovene

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɛ́/
• Tonal orthography: lȅ

Adverb

lè

1. only, merely, just

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin illī, dative of ille.

Pronoun

le

1. To him, for him (dative of él)

   Mi mamá va a escribirle una carta a mi hermano. — My mom is going to write a letter to my brother.

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

• hii
• hiyo

Swedish

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /leː/
• Rhymes: -eː

Verb

le

1. to smile
2. (obsolete) to laugh

Conjugation

Derived terms

• småle
• leende

Tarantino

Alternative forms

• l'

Article

le m pl, f pl

1. the

Turkish

Noun

le

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

See also

• (Latin script letter names) harf; a, be, ce, çe, de, e, fe, ge, yumuşak ge, he, ı, i, je, ke, le, me, ne, o, ö, pe, re, se, şe, te, u, ü, ve, ye, ze ^{(Category: tr:Latin letter names)}

Welsh

Noun

le

1. Soft mutation of lle.

Xhosa

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lɛ/

Determiner

le ‎(Class iii/iv)

1. these

Determiner

le ‎(Class ix/x)

1. this

Related terms

• leyo
• leyaya

Zulu

Determiner

le

1. these (class 4)
2. this (class 9)

See also