-ul

See also: Appendix:Variations of "ul"

Azerbaijani

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [uɫ]

Suffix

	preceding vowel
	a / i	e / ə / i̇	o / u	ö / ü
postconsonantal except after L	-ıl	-il	-ul	-ül
after L	-ın	-in	-un	-ün
postvocalic	-n

-ul

Form of -il after the vowels O / U and a consonant other than L.
‎yormaq (“to tire out”) + ‎-ul → ‎yorulmaq (“to get tired”)

‎tutmaq (“to catch”) + ‎-ul → ‎tutulmaq (“to get caught”)

Derived terms

See -il.

Hungarian

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ul]

Etymology 1

Suffix

-ul

(verb-forming suffix) Added to a word to form an intransitive verb with a middle-voice meaning.
‎csoportos (“collective”) + ‎-ul → ‎csoportosul (“to form a group”)

‎azonos (“identical”) + ‎-ul → ‎azonosul (“to identify; to associate oneself with some group”)

‎von (“to pull”) + ‎-ul → ‎vonul (“to go along, to stalk, to march”, literally “to pull oneself”)

‎alak (“shape”) + ‎-ul → ‎alakul (“to take shape”)

Usage notes

(verb-forming suffix) Variants:
-ul is added to back-vowel words. The final vowel is dropped.
‎lassú (“slow”) + ‎-ul → ‎lassul (“to slow down”)

-ül is added to front-vowel words. The final vowel is dropped.
‎béke (“peace”) + ‎-ul → ‎békül (“to make peace”)

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Suffix

-ul/-ül (essive-modal case suffix)

(essive sense) as, with the intention of
Synonyms: -ként, -képp/-képpen, (stating the capacity) mint

‎ajándék (“gift, present”) + ‎-ul → ‎ajándékul (“as a gift”)

‎példa (“example”) + ‎-ul → ‎például (“for example; as an example”)
(modal sense, adverb-forming suffix) Added to an adjective to form an adverb.
‎rossz (“bad”) + ‎-ul → ‎rosszul (“badly”)

‎angol (“English”) + ‎-ul → ‎angolul (“in English”)

Usage notes

(essive-modal case suffix) Variants:
-ul is added to back-vowel words. Final -a changes to -á-.

-ül is added to front-vowel words. Final -e changes to -é-.

Hungarian case suffixes
case	back vowel a, á, o, ó, u, ú	front vowel
case	back vowel a, á, o, ó, u, ú	unrounded e, é, i, í	rounded ö, ő, ü, ű
nominative	—
accusative	-t
accusative	-ot / -at	-et	-öt
dative	-nak	-nek
instrumental	-val	-vel
causal-final	-ért
translative	-vá	-vé
terminative	-ig
essive-formal	-ként¹
essive-modal	-ul	-ül
inessive	-ban	-ben
superessive	-n
superessive	-on	-en	-ön
adessive	-nál	-nél
illative	-ba	-be
sublative	-ra	-re
allative	-hoz	-hez	-höz
elative	-ból	-ből
delative	-ról	-ről
ablative	-tól	-től

¹ Stem-final -a/-e changes to -á-/-é-, respectively, except before -ként.
alma — almában, but almaként
zene ― zenében, but zeneként

Derived terms

Middle English

Suffix

-ul

alternative form of -el (“agentive suffix”)

Old English

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ul/

Suffix

-ul

alternative form of -el
alternative form of -ol

Romanian

Alternative forms

-l — for masculine and neuter nouns ending in a vowel other than -e or -i
-le — for masculine and neuter nouns ending in -e

Etymology

Identical to -l, from older *-lu, either from a clipping of Vulgar Latin *illu, or from Latin illum, accusative of Latin ille. Compare Aromanian -lu. Doublet of el.

Unlike Western Romance languages, the suffix came to be appended at the end of the respective noun as part of influence from nearby languages, a characteristic of the Balkan Sprachbund. The suffix then underwent aphaeresis and was subsequently degeminated.

In older Romanian (still dialectally attested, found in place names, in the word unu (“one”) and in Aromanian), masculine and neuter nouns ended in -u, a remnant of Latin -us/-um; for example foc, which used to be *focu. As such, the definite form of *focu was *foculu. Even though -ul is technically a variant of -l after nouns that used to end in -u, the tendency to drop word-final -u in the indefinite forms—which underwent reduction and was then dropped since it served no grammatical value (unlike the palatalization of modern Romanian, both possibly under influence from nearby Slavic languages; cf. Havlík's Law)—led to the rebracketing of the suffix, thus making it the new definite article suffix for the now consonant-final nouns. As a result, the definite form *foculu became the modern Romanian focul, making the -u- a vestige of the then-abundant -u suffix inherited from Latin.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ul/
(informal) IPA^(key): /u/

Suffix

-ul m or n

variant of -l
the (definite article)

Usage notes

This form of the definite article is used for both masculine and neuter singular nouns in the nominative and accusative cases which do not end in a vowel, except for -i (which is somewhat uncommon in Romanian):

bărbatul (“the man”), from bărbat m
visul (“the dream”), from vis n
copilul (“the child”), from copil m
arcul (“the bow”), from arc n
războiul (“the war”), from război n
tramvaiul (“the tram”), from tramvai n
cotoiul (“the tomcat”), from cotoi m

The suffix is also used with masculine and neuter singular adjectives in the nominative and accusative cases to make the articulated definite form, often for emphasis, and it is used before the noun it modifies:

deșteptul om, from omul deștept (both meaning "the smart man")
viteazul soldat, from soldatul viteaz (both meaning "the brave soldier")

In informal speech, the final -l is often not pronounced.

Related terms

Turkish

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [uɫ]

Suffix

	preceding vowel
	a / i	e / i̇	o / u	ö / ü
postconsonantal except after L	-ıl	-il	-ul	-ül
after L	-ın	-in	-un	-ün
postvocalic	-n

-ul

Form of -il after the vowels O / U and a consonant other than L.
‎yormak (“to tire out”) + ‎-ul → ‎yorulmak (“to get tired”)

‎tutmak (“to hold”) + ‎-ul → ‎tutulmak (“to be held”)

Derived terms

See -il.