ال

See also: أل, آل, and إل

Arabic

Alternative forms

• اَمْ (am) — dialectal

Etymology

Uncertain; Rubin posits that this is a reduced form of the lost singular of Arabic أُولَى (ʔulā, “these”); compare rare Hebrew אֵל (el, “these”) and Akkadian 𒌌𒇻𒌑𒌝 (ullûm, “that”). In this hypothesis, original initial /u/ would be lost due to low stress; the initial /a/ found in phrase-initial position would thus be prothetic.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /al-/, /-l-/

• Audio:

  (file)

Article

اَلْ • (al-)

1. the

Usage notes

• The /l/ of this prefix assimilates to and geminates the first letter of the base word when it begins with a traditionally-coronal consonant, natively called sun letters: ت (t), ث (ṯ), د (d), ذ (ḏ), ر (r), ز (z), س (s), ش (š), ص (ṣ), ض (ḍ), ط (ṭ), ظ (ẓ), ل (l), and ن (n). This does not traditionally include ج (j), as its original pronunciation was palatal rather than coronal, but in regions where it is pronounced /d͡ʒ ~ ʒ/ it can be found assimilating the definite article as well. The ل (l)’s assimilation is not observed by the article's spelling, which is invariably ال (al-); however, in fully vocalised texts, a shadda is written over the following sun letter to reflect gemination.
• The initial vowel a- is only pronounced when the article occurs either after a pause, at the beginning of an utterance, or after the preposition مِنْ (min). Otherwise, the article consists solely of the coronal consonant preceded by the final vowel of the previous word; if this previous word is consonant-final, then i is used as a linking vowel.

Descendants

• Egyptian Arabic: الـ (il-)
• Gulf Arabic: الـ (il-)
• Maltese: il-
• Moroccan Arabic: الـ (el-)
• → Persian: الـ (al-)

See also

• moon letter
• sun letter

Brahui

Alternative forms

• ہَل (hal)

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Dravidian *eli. Cognate with Kannada ಇಲಿ (ili), Kodava ಎಲಿ (eli), Gondi యెల్లి (yelli), Tamil எலி (eli), Tulu ಎಲಿ (eli), Telugu ఎలుక (eluka) and Malayalam എലി (eli).

A mouse

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /al/

Noun

اَل (al)

1. mouse

   Synonym: مُوش (mūś)

Bulgar

Bulgar cardinal numbers

<  40	50	100  >
Cardinal : ال

Alternative forms

• الو (el^lüv) (without vowel points)
• الُو (el^lüv)

Etymology

From Proto-Turkic *ellig.

Numeral

الُّ (ellü)

1. fifty

Descendants

• Chuvash: аллӑ (allă)

References

• Tekin, Talât (1988), Volga Bulgar kitabeleri ve Volga Bulgarcası [Volga Bulgarian Ephitaphs and Volga Bulgarian Language]‎^[1] (in Turkish), Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi, →ISBN, pages 90-91, 144-145, 198

Egyptian Arabic

Etymology

From Arabic الْـ (al--).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /i/, [ɪ] (always before sun letters, optionally before all consonants; geminates the following consonant)
• IPA^(key): /ill/, [ɪlː] (optionally before vowels)
• IPA^(key): /il/, [ɪl] (otherwise)

Article

الـ • (il-)

1. (definite article) the
2. Used before abstract nouns; not translated in English.

Gulf Arabic

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /(ʔ)ɪl/, [l], (before sun letters) /ɪ/

Etymology 1

From Arabic اَلْ (al-). Sense 2 from the fact that many family names start with the definite article.

Article

اِلـ • (il-)

1. the definite article; the
   1. (by ellipsis) Used to prompt the interlocutor to state their family name

      -شسمچ؟
      -فتون
      -الـ؟
      -البحار.

      -What's your name?
      -Futūn
      -Il-?
      Il-Baḥḥār.

Usage notes

• The definite article becomes /ɪ/ if it is followed by a sun letter. When the definite article is attached to a sun letters, the /l/ disappears and the first sound in the word after the article becomes doubled (e.g. الـ (il-)+شمس (šams, “sun”) → الشمس (iš-šams)) The sun letters in Gulf Arabic are almost the same as Standard Arabic (i.e. /t/, /θ/, /d/, /ð/, /r/, /z/, /s/, /ʃ/, /sˤ/, /ð̣/, /l/, /n/). In addition, the sound of چ (č) is geminated. Finally, the letter ج (j) can be a sun or a moon letter depending on the speaker.

Etymology 2

Contraction of الي (illi, “the relative clause”), itself a contraction of Arabic اَلَّذِي m (allaḏī) and اَلَّتِي f (allatī)

Pronoun

اِلـ • (il-)

1. (colloquial, regional) the relative clause; that, who, which, etc

   Synonym: الي (illi)

Etymology 3

Could be directly from Arabic إِلَىٰ (ʔilā).

Preposition

اِلـ • (il-)

1. (colloquial, regional) to (destination)

   Synonyms: لي (lē), (regional) ل (li)

Alternative forms

• لـ (l-)

Hijazi Arabic

Etymology

From Arabic اَلْ (al-).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /al/, (before sun letters) /a/

Article

الـ • (al-)

1. the definite article; the

Kalami

Etymology

Etymology tree

Sanskrit आर्द्र (ārdra)

Kalami ال

Inherited from Sanskrit आर्द्र (ārdra).

Adjective

ال (al) m

1. wet

References

• Baart, Joan L. G. (1997), “al”, in The sounds and tones of Kalam Kohistani: with wordlist and texts (Studies in Languages of Northern Pakistan; 1)‎^[2], National Institute of Pakistan Studies, Quaid-i-Azam University; Summer Institute of Linguistics, page 77

Karakhanid

Etymology

From Proto-Turkic *o-l (“that”). Cognate with Turkish o (“he, she, it; that”) and Chinese 兀 (wù, “that”).

Pronoun

ال (ol)

1. (nominative case) he, she, it
2. (nominative case) that

Determiner

ال (ol)

1. that

Postposition

ال (ol)

1. Denotes "to be" for third person singular when at the end of an object; is.
2. Denotes third person singular after various tenses.

Khalaj

Noun

اَل (əl) (definite accusative اَلی, plural اَللَر)

1. Arabic spelling of əl (“hand”)

Declension

Declension of ال

	singular	plural
nominative	ال	اللَر
genitive	الۆݧ	اللَریݧ
dative	الکه	اللَرکه
definite accusative	الۆ	اللَری
locative	الچه	اللَرچه
ablative	الده	اللَرده
instrumental	الله	اللَرله
equative	الوارا	اللَروارا

North Levantine Arabic

Etymology 1

From Arabic ال (al-).

Article

الـ • (l-)

1. the

Usage notes

• The article in fact consists solely of the consonant /l/, which is assimilated to the same onsets as in Standard Arabic (see above). Following the usage note there, some speakers extend this process of assimilation to the now-coronal ج (j /⁠ʒ⁠/).
• An epenthetic linking vowel is added as phonotactically necessary, be it before the article or after, in order to avoid a three-consonant cluster. Note that its notation with a schwa is not meant to represent IPA [ə], as its actual value varies between /i~e~o/ depending on context:

  النص المكتوب ― n-naṣṣ əl-maktūb ― the written text

  الكتاب المقدس ― lə-ktāb lə-mʾaddas ― the Holy Book, i.e. the Bible

• Assimilation is optionally ignored when the article precedes a consonant cluster where the initial consonant would normally trigger assimilation, as the epenthetic vowel separates them if it appears:

  الولاد الصغار ― lə-wlād lə-ṣḡār ― the small children

Etymology 2

Reduction of the definite relative pronoun اللي (lli) or its alternative form لي (li).

Pronoun

ال • (l-)

1. contraction of اللي
   • 1961, Said Akl, Yara‎^[3]:

     يَارَا الجّدِايِلهَا شِقْر (Lebanon)

     yāra j-jdēyilha šiʔr

     Yara, whose braids are golden

     (literally, “Yara who her braids are golden”)

   • 1964, “يارا [yāra]”, Said Akl (lyrics), Rahbani brothers (music), performed by Fairuz:

     يَارَا الْجَدَايِلْهَا شِقْر (Lebanon, sung)

     yāra l-jadāyilha šiʔr

     Yara, whose braids are golden

Conjunction

ال • (l-)

1. contraction of اللي

Usage notes

• Although this contraction is superficially identical to the definite article, some speakers do not assimilate it to a following coronal, allowing the two to be told apart in sun letter contexts. Other speakers do, which the two readings of the lyric above demonstrate. Note that Said Akl also wrote this article with explicit assimilation in the original poem:
  • 1961, Said Akl [Akl’s orthography: Saɥid ɥaçl], “Ya̵ra”, in Ya̵ra: ceɥr [yāra: šiʕr, Arabic: يارا: شعر, Yara: poetry], 1st edition, page 44:

    Yara / Yara j jdayelha ceçer / L fihun byetmarjax ɥemer

    [يارا / يارا الجدايلها شقر / الفيهن بيتمرجح عمر]

    yāra / yāra j-jdāyilha šiʔr / l-fīhun byitmarjaḥ ʕimr

    Yara / Yara, whose braids are golden / and in them a lifetime swings to and fro

    (literally, “Yara / Yara, who her braids are golden / who in them swings a lifetime”)

Ottoman Turkish

Etymology

From Proto-Turkic *el, *elig.

Noun

ال • (el)

1. hand
   • 1923, Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu, Nur Baba‎^[4], page 24:

     و آووجی ایچنده، اوزون مدت، كنج قادینك النی صیقدی.

     ve avucu içinde, uzun müddet, genc kadınıñ elini sıkdı.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Derived terms

• ال دكرمنی (el değirmeni, “handmill”)
• ال عربه‌سی (el arabası, “handcart”)

Descendants

• Turkish: el

Persian

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

ال • (al)

1. (Dari) plough; the beam of a plough

Derived terms

• ال زدن (al zadan)

South Levantine Arabic

Etymology

From Arabic ال (al-).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /l/, [l]

Article

الـ • (l-)

1. the (definite article)

Usage notes

• Phonemically, the article consists solely of the consonant /l/, which is assimilated to the same onsets as in Standard Arabic (see above), with some speakers extending the assimilation to the now-coronal ج (j /⁠ʒ⁠/). While the epenthetic vowel [ɪ] may be added before or after in order to avoid problematic consonant clusters, different speakers may be more or less tolerant of these clusters; those who tolerate an initial two-consonant cluster may not insert the vowel before /l/, meaning the article may be virtually inaudible in cases that the /l/ is assimilated.

  الميّ الباردة ― (i)l-mayy (i)l-bārde ― the cold water

  Audio (Ramallah):

  (file)

  الشباب الشاطرين ― (i)š-šabāb (i)š-šāṭrīn ― the smart guys

  Audio (Ramallah):

  (file)

  الكتاب الكبير ― li-ktāb li-kbīr ― the big book

  Audio (Ramallah):

  (file)

• Assimilation is optionally ignored when the article precedes a consonant cluster where the initial consonant would normally trigger assimilation, as the epenthetic vowel separates them if it appears:

  الزلمة الزغير ― (i)z-zalame li-zḡīr ― the small man

  Audio (Ramallah):

  (file)