'u

See also: U, ս, and Appendix:Variations of "u"

Neapolitan

Alternative forms

• lu, u (apostrophe-free orthography)

Etymology

From Old Neapolitan lu, ultimately from Latin illum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /u/

Article

'u m

1. the

Pronoun

'u m

1. him (accusative)

Coordinate terms

Neapolitan personal pronouns

			nominative	accusative	dative	reflexive	possessive	prepositional
singular	first person		io	me			mìo, mìa, miéje, mèje	me, méne
	second person	familiar	tu	te			tùjo, tója, tuóje, tòje	te, téne
		formal	vuje	ve			vuósto, vòsta, vuóste, vòste	vuje
	third person	n	ésso	'o (lo)	lle	se	sùjo, sója, suóje, sòje	ésso
		m	ìsso	'o, 'u (lo, lu)	lle, lli			ìsso
		f	éssa	'a (la)	lle			éssa
plural	first person		nuje	nce			nuósto, nòsta, nuóste, nòste	nuje
	second person		vuje	ve			vuósto, vòsta, vuóste, vòste	vuje
	third person	n	éssa (llòro)	'a (la)	lle (llòro)	se	llòro (invariable)	éssa (llòro)
		m	ìsse (llòro)	'e, 'i (le, li)	lle, lli (llòro)			ìsse (llòro)
		f	ésse (llòro)	'e (le)	lle (llòro)			ésse (llòro)

Old Tupi

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Tupi-Guarani *ʔu, from Proto-Tupian *kˀu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʔu/
• Rhymes: -u
• Hyphenation: 'u

Verb

'u (first-person singular active indicative a'u, first-person singular negative active indicative n'a'uî, noun 'u) (transitive, irregular)

1. to ingest (to take a substance into the body)

   Near-synonym: karu (“to eat”, intransitive)

   • c. 1583, Joseph of Anchieta, Auto de São Lourenço [Play of Saint Lawrence], Niterói, page 66; republished in Eduardo de Almeida Navarro, transl., compiled by Maria de Lourdes de Paula Martins, Teatro, 2nd edition, São Paulo: Martins Fontes, 2006, →ISBN:

     (please add the primary text of this quotation)

     [I aputu'uma t'a'u.]

     I shall eat his brains.

References

• Navarro, Eduardo de Almeida (2013), “'u”, in Dicionário de tupi antigo: a língua indígena clássica do Brasil [Dictionary of Old Tupi: The Classical Indigenous Language of Brazil ] (overall work in Portuguese), São Paulo: Global, →ISBN, page 491, column 1

Paraguayan Guarani

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Tupi-Guarani *ʔu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʔu/
• Rhymes: -u

Verb

'u (active, transitive, irregular)

1. eat, drink

Conjugation

    Conjugation of 'u

		singular			plural
		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person inclusive	1st person exclusive	2nd person	3rd person
active
	indicative	che ha'u	nde re'u	ha'e ho'u	ñande ja'u	ore ro'u	peẽ pe'u	ha'ekuéra ho'u/ho'u hikuái
	hortative	ta'u che	tere'u nde	to'u ha'e	taja'u ñande	toro'u ore	tape'u peẽ	to'u ha'ekuéra/hikuái
	imperative	-	he'u	-	-	-	pe'u	-
passive
	indicative	che aje'u	nde reje'u	ha'e oje'u	ñande jaje'u	ore roje'u	peẽ peje'u	ha'ekuéra oje'u/oje'u hikuái
	hortative	taje'u che	tereje'u nde	toje'u ha'e	tajaje'u ñande	toroje'u ore	tapeje'u peẽ	toje'u ha'ekuéra/hikuái
	imperative	-	eje'u	-	-	-	peje'u	-
reciprocal
	indicative	-	-	-	ñande jajo'u	ore rojo'u	peẽ pejo'u	ha'ekuéra hojo'u/hojo'u hikuái
	hortative	-	-	-	tajajo'u ñande	torojo'u ore	tapejo'u peẽ	tojo'u ha'ekuéra/hikuái
	imperative	-	-	-	-	-	pejo'u	-
coactive
	indicative	che hambo'u	nde rembo'u	ha'e hombo'u	ñande ñambo'u	ore rombo'u	peẽ pembo'u	ha'ekuéra hombo'u/hombo'u hikuái
	hortative	tambo'u che	terembo'u nde	tombo'u ha'e	tañambo'u ñande	torombo'u ore	tapembo'u peẽ	tombo'u ha'ekuéra/hikuái
	imperative	-	hembo'u	-	-	-	pembo'u	-
objective
	indicative	che haro'u/haguero'u	nde rero'u/reguero'u	ha'e horo'u/hoguero'u	ñande jaro'u/jaguero'u	ore roro'u/roguero'u	peẽ pero'u/peguero'u	ha'ekuéra horo'u/hoguero'u//horo'u/hoguero'u hikuái
	hortative	toro'u/taguero'u che	terero'u/tereguero'u nde	toro'u/toguero'u ha'e	tajaro'u/tajaguero'u ñande	tororo'u/toroguero'u ore	tapero'u/tapeguero'u peẽ	toro'u/toguero'u ha'ekuéra/hikuái
	imperative	-	hero'u/heguero'u	-	-	-	pero'u/peguero'u	-
subsumptive¹
	indicative	che haporo'u/hamba'e'u	nde reporo'u/remba'e'u	ha'e hoporo'u/homba'e'u	ñande japoro'u/ñamba'e'u	ore roporo'u/romba'e'u	peẽ peporo'u/pemba'e'u	ha'ekuéra hoporo'u/homba'e'u//hoporo'u/homba'e'u hikuái
	hortative	taporo'u/tamba'e'u che	tereporo'u/teremba'e'u nde	toporo'u/tomba'e'u ha'e	tajaporo'u/tañamba'e'u ñande	toroporo'u/toromba'e'u ore	tapeporo'u/tapemba'e'u peẽ	toporo'u/tomba'e'u ha'ekuéra/hikuái
	imperative	-	heporo'u/hemba'e'u	-	-	-	peporo'u/pemba'e'u	-
		¹: the subsumptive forms with -poro- are used with humans, while the forms with -mba'e- are used with animals.

Derived terms

• y'u (“drink water”)

References

• Canese, Natalia Krivoshein de; Alcaraz, Feliciano Acosta (2016), “'u”, in Ñe’ẽryru [Dictionary] (overall work in Spanish), Asunción: Instituto Superior de Lenguas, →ISBN, page 112, column 2

Tarantino

Article

'u m sg (plural le)

1. the

Welsh

Etymology

Contraction of eu (“their”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /i̯/
• Homophone: 'i

Usage notes

• Despite being written as u, the vowel here is /i̯/ in north Wales, making it homophonous with singular 'i in all varieties of the spoken language.

Determiner

'u

1. their (used after vowels)

   Ymwelon ni â’u hwyres nhw’n yr ysbyty.

   We visited their granddaughter in hospital.

Pronoun

'u

1. them (used after vowels as the direct object of a verbal noun or verb)

   Cyhuddodd fi o’u dwyn ac yna’u gwerthu.

   He/She accused me of stealing them and then selling them.

   Fe’u ceir yma o bryd i'w gilydd.

   They are found (lit. "One finds them") here occasionally.

Usage notes

• In formal Welsh, the contraction 'u is a valid form of eu found after mostly functional vowel-final words. In colloquial Welsh, eu is often contracted to 'u after almost any vowel-final word.
• Pronomial 'u (and eu) can occur before any verbal noun. Before a verb, pronomial 'u is found only in formal language after certain vowel-final preverbal particles, such as fe, a and y. After certain certain vowel-final preverbal particles, such as ni, na, oni and pe, -s is used instead.
• After the preposition i (“to”), the contraction changes to i’w.

Further reading

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke, et al., editors (1950–present), “'u”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies