elles

See also: êlles and ellēs

Asturian

Etymology

From Latin illās, accusative feminine plural of ille.

Pronoun

elles f pl

1. they (female)

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Catalan

Etymology

From Latin illās, accusative feminine plural of ille.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /ˈe.ʎəs/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /ˈe.ʎes/

Pronoun

elles

1. they (feminine)

Declension

Catalan personal pronouns and clitics

	strong/subject	weak (direct object)		weak (indirect object)		possessive
singular		proclitic	enclitic	proclitic	enclitic
1st person	jo, mi3	em, m’	-me, ’m	em, m’	-me, ’m	meu
1st person majestic1	nós	ens	-nos, ’ns	ens	-nos, ’ns	nostre
2nd person	tu	et, t’	-te, ’t	et, t’	-te, ’t	teu
2nd person formal1	vós	us	-vos, -us	us	-vos, -us	vostre
2nd person very formal2	vostè	el, l’	-lo, ’l	li	-li	seu
3rd person masculine	ell	el, l’	-lo, ’l	li	-li	seu
3rd person feminine	ella	la, l’4	-la	li	-li	seu
3rd person neuter		ho	-ho	li	-li	seu
3rd person reflexive	si	es, s’	-se, ’s	es, s’	-se, ’s	seu
plural
1st person	nosaltres	ens	-nos, ’ns	ens	-nos, ’ns	nostre
2nd person	vosaltres	us	-vos, -us	us	-vos, -us	vostre
2nd person formal2	vostès	els	-los, ’ls	els	-los, ’ls	seu
3rd person masculine	ells	els	-los, ’ls	els	-los, ’ls	seu
3rd person feminine	elles	les	-les	els	-los, ’ls	seu
3rd person reflexive	si	es, s’	-se, ’s	es, s’	-se, ’s	seu
adverbial
ablative/genitive		en, n’	-ne, ’n
locative		hi	-hi
1) Behaves grammatically as plural. 2) Behaves grammatically as third person.			3) Only as object of a preposition. 4) Not before unstressed (h)i-, (h)u-.

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Danish

Noun

elles c

1. indefinite genitive plural of el

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French

Etymology

From Old French eles, from Latin illās, accusative feminine plural of ille.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛl/

• audio

  (file)

• Homophones: aile, ailes, elle, hèle, hèles, hèlent, L

Pronoun

elles f pl

1. they (female).
2. them (female).

Related terms

French personal pronouns

Number	Person	Gender	Nominative (subject)	Accusative (direct complement)	Dative (indirect complement)	Locative (at)	Genitive (of)	Disjunctive (tonic)
Singular	First	—	je, j’	me, m’		—	—	moi
	Second	—	tu	te, t’		—	—	toi
	Third	Masculine	il	le, l’	lui	y	en	lui
		Feminine	elle	la, l’				elle
		Indeterminate	on1	—	—	—	—	—
		Reflexive	—	se, s’4		—	—	soi4
Plural	First	—	nous	nous		—	—	nous
	Second	—	vous2	vous2,3		—	—	vous2
	Third	Masculine	ils3	les	leur	y	en	eux3
		Feminine	elles					elles

¹ Also used as the first person plural.

² Also used as the polite singular form.

³ Also used when a group has both men and women.

⁴ Also used as third person plural reflexive.

Noun

elles f

1. plural of elle

Further reading

• “elles” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• selle

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Latvian

Noun

elles f

1. genitive singular form of elle
2. nominative plural form of elle
3. vocative plural form of elle
4. accusative plural form of elle

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Middle French

Pronoun

elles f pl

1. they (female).
2. them (female).

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From eller (“or”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛlːɛs/

Adverb

elles

1. (conjunctive) else, otherwise

   Det lyt du gjera, elles går dette gale.

   You have to do that, else this will go wrong.

References

• “elles” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

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Portuguese

Pronoun

elles

1. Obsolete spelling of eles

Noun

elles m

1. Obsolete spelling of eles

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Spanish

Pronunciation

• (Castilian) IPA^(key): /ˈeʎes/
• (Latin America) IPA^(key): /ˈeɟ͡ʝes/, [ˈeʝes]

Pronoun

elles

1. (gender-neutral, neologism) they (plural). A gender-neutral plural third-person personal pronoun.
   • Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (2019) Derechos humanos en la Argentina: Informe 2019 (in Spanish), Siglo XXI Editores, →ISBN: “Elles integraron los organismos junto a activistas que si bien no tenían parientes desaparecides se sumaron por trayectorias militantes y profesionales. [They were part of the organizations along with activists who, although they had no relatives who had disappeared, joined them through militant and professional trajectories.]”

See also

Spanish personal pronouns

				nominative	dative	accusative	disjunctive
first person	singular			yo	me		mí1
	plural	masculine2		nosotros	nos		nosotros
		feminine		nosotras			nosotras
second person	singular	tuteo		tú	te		ti1
		voseo		vos			vos
		formal3		usted	le, se4	lo/la5	usted
	plural	familiar6	masculine2	vosotros	os		vosotros
			feminine	vosotras			vosotras
		formal/general3		ustedes	les, se4	los/las5	ustedes
third person	singular	masculine2		él	le, se4	lo	él
		feminine		ella		la	ella
		neuter		ello7		lo/la5	ello
	plural	masculine2		ellos	les, se4	los	ellos
		feminine		ellas		las	ellas
	reflexive			—	se		sí1

1. Not used with con; conmigo, contigo, and consigo are used instead, respectively
2. Like other masculine Spanish words, masculine Spanish pronouns can be used when the gender of the subject is unknown or when the subject is plural and of mixed gender.
3. Treated as if it were third-person for purposes of conjugation and reflexivity
4. If le or les precedes lo, la, los, or las in a clause, it is replaced with se (e.g., Se lo dije instead of Le lo dije)
5. Depending on the implicit gender of the object being referred to
6. Used primarily in Spain
7. Used only in rare circumstances