le

See also: Appendix:Variations of "le"

English

Etymology

From French le.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lə/, /leɪ/

Article

le

1. (informal, humorous, chiefly Internet) the
   • 2001 June 24, LaManna, “My Weekend...”, in alt.punk, Usenet‎^[1]:

     […] 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^[2]:

     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^[3]:

     That was always OUR song (me and le girlfriend of the time).

Related terms

• le sigh

Anagrams

• -el, EL, El, el

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Breton

Noun

le ? (plural leou)

1. vow

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Dalmatian

Etymology

From Latin illae, nominative feminine plural of ille.

Article

le f pl

1. the

Related terms

• el
• la
• i

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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

Declension of le

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	le	leen	leer	leerne
genitive	les	leens	leers	leernes

Etymology 2

From Old Norse hlæja, from Proto-Germanic *hlahjaną.

Verb

le (imperative le, present ler, past lo, past participle leet or let)

1. to 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

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French

Etymology

From Old French le, from Latin illum, by dropping il- and -m. Latin illum is the accusative singular of ille.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lə/
• (between a vowel and a consonant) IPA^(key): /l/

• audio

  (file)

• 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.

   [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. (1837, Louis Viardot, L’Ingénieux Hidalgo Don Quichotte de la Manche, translation of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Volume I, Chapter IV)

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. / 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

French personal pronouns

Number	Person	Gender	Nominative (subject)	Reflexive	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	se, s’	le, l’	lui	y	en	lui, soi
		Feminine	elle		la, l’				elle, soi
		—	on		—	—	—	—	soi
Plural	First	—	nous	nous			—	—	nous
	Second	—	vous	vous			—	—	vous
	Third	Masculine	ils	se, s’	les	leur	y	en	eux, soi
		Feminine	elles						elles, soi

Further reading

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

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Friulian

Pronoun

le (third person feminine direct object)

1. her

Related terms

• jê
• i

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Galician

Verb

le

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

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Garifuna

Article

le

1. masculine definite article

   Mutu le ― The man

Antonyms

• to

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Hungarian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈlɛ]

• Audio

  (file)

Adverb

le (not comparable)

1. down

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Ido

Etymology

Borrowed 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.

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

See also

• la

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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.

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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

4. in order to

   le rud a dhéanamh ― in order to do a thing

   Synonyms: chun, d'fhonn

Inflection

Inflection of le

Person	Normal	Emphatic
1st person sing.	liom	liomsa
2d person sing.	leat	leatsa
3d sing. masc.	leis	leis-sean
3d sing. fem.	léi	léise
1st person pl.	linn	linne
2d person pl.	libh	libhse
3d person pl.	leo	leosan

Derived terms

Derived terms

• abair le (“tell”)
• ar olca le (“to spite”)

• dar le (“acccording to”)
• i mborr le (“puffed up with”)

• le chéile (“together”)
• le thine (“on fire, alight”)

• maidir le (“as for”)

See also

Irish preposition contractions

Basic form	Contracted with							Copular forms
	an (“the sg”)	na (“the pl”)	mo (“my”)	do (“your”)	a (“his, her, their; which (present)”)	ár (“our”)	ar (“which (past)”)	(before consonant)	(present/future before vowel)	(past/conditional before vowel)
de (“from”)	den	de na desna*	de mo dem*	de do ded*, det*	dá	dár		dar	darb	darbh
do (“to, for”)	don	do na dosna*	do mo dom*	do do dod*, dot*	dá	dár		dar	darb	darbh
faoi (“under, about”)	faoin	faoi na	faoi mo	faoi do	faoina	faoinár	faoinar		faoinarb	faoinarbh
i (“in”)	sa, san	sna	i mo im*	i do id*, it*	ina	inár	inar		inarb	inarbh
le (“with”)	leis an	leis na	le mo lem*	le do led*, let*	lena	lenár	lenar		lenarb	lenarbh
ó (“from, since”)	ón	ó na ósna*	ó mo óm*	ó do ód*, ót*	óna	ónár	ónar		ónarb	ónarbh
trí (“through”)	tríd an	trí na	trí mo	trí do	trína	trínár	trínar		trínarb	trínarbh
*Dialectal.

Further reading

• "le" in Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla, An Gúm, 1977, by Niall Ó Dónaill.
• “fri” in Dictionary of the Irish Language, Royal Irish Academy, 1913–76.
• “la” in Dictionary of the Irish Language, Royal Irish Academy, 1913–76.
• Entries containing “le” in New English-Irish Dictionary by Foras na Gaeilge.

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Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /le/
• Rhymes: -e

Etymology 1

From Latin illae, which is the nominative plural feminine of ille.

Article

Italian Definite Articles
	singular	plural
masculine	il lo/l'	i gli
feminine	la/l'	le

le f pl (singular la)

1. the

Usage notes

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

le amiche ― the girlfriends

Pronoun

le f pl (masculine li, singular la)

1. (accusative) them (third-person plural feminine)

   Le ho viste. ― I saw them.

Usage notes

• Never elides.
• Becomes glie when followed by a third person direct object clitic (lo, la, li, le, or ne).

See also

Italian personal pronouns

Number	Person	Gender	Nominative	Reflexive	Accusative	Dative	Locative	Genitive	Disjunctive
Singular	first	—	io	mi, m'			—		me
	second	—	tu	ti, t'					te
	third	m	lui	si,2 s'	lo, l'	gli	ci, c', vi, v' (formal)	ne, n'	lui, sé
		f 1	lei, Lei		la, l', La	le,3 Le			lei, Lei, sé
Plural	first	—	noi	ci, c'			—		noi
	second	—	voi	vi, v'					voi
	third	m	loro, Loro	si, s'	li	gli, loro (formal), Loro	ci, c', vi, v' (formal)	ne, n'	loro, Loro, sé
		f 1			le
1	The feminine gender forms are also used as formal terms of address, often capitalised as Lei, Loro etc. to distinguish them.
2	Also used as indefinite pronoun meaning “one”, and to form the passive.
3	In informal speech sometimes replaced with gli (nonstandard).

Etymology 2

Pronoun

le f (plural gli)

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.

2. (dative) you, to you (term of respect)

   Non le ho detto il mio nome. ― I didn't tell you my name.

   Le ho dato la lettera. ― I gave you the letter.

Usage notes

• In formal writing, when le is used as term of respect it is usually capitalised as Le to avoid confusion with le (“her”).
• In spoken language often replaced with gli.
• Becomes glie when followed by a third person direct object clitic (lo, la, li, le, or ne).
• Never elides.

Alternative forms

• Le

See also

Italian personal pronouns

Number	Person	Gender	Nominative	Reflexive	Accusative	Dative	Locative	Genitive	Disjunctive
Singular	first	—	io	mi, m'			—		me
	second	—	tu	ti, t'					te
	third	m	lui	si,2 s'	lo, l'	gli	ci, c', vi, v' (formal)	ne, n'	lui, sé
		f 1	lei, Lei		la, l', La	le,3 Le			lei, Lei, sé
Plural	first	—	noi	ci, c'			—		noi
	second	—	voi	vi, v'					voi
	third	m	loro, Loro	si, s'	li	gli, loro (formal), Loro	ci, c', vi, v' (formal)	ne, n'	loro, Loro, sé
		f 1			le
1	The feminine gender forms are also used as formal terms of address, often capitalised as Lei, Loro etc. to distinguish them.
2	Also used as indefinite pronoun meaning “one”, and to form the passive.
3	In informal speech sometimes replaced with gli (nonstandard).

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Maltese

Etymology

From Arabic لا‎ (lā). Cognate with Hebrew לא‎ (lō).

Adverb

le

1. no

See also

• forsi (“maybe”)
• iva (“yes”)

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Mandarin

Romanization

le (Zhuyin ˙ㄌㄜ)

1. Pinyin transcription of 了
2. Pinyin transcription of 餎, 饹

le

1. Nonstandard spelling of lē.
2. 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.

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Meriam

Etymology

From Rotuman.

Noun

le

1. person

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Middle French

Article

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

1. the

Descendants

• French: le

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Neapolitan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /le/
• Rhymes: -e

Pronoun

le

1. Alternative form of 'e

Coordinate terms

Number	Person	Nominative	Accusative	Dative	Reflexive	Possessive	Prepositional
singular	first-person	io (i')	me			mìo, mìa, mieje, meje	me, méne
	second-person, familiar	tu	te			tùjo, tòja, tùoje, tòje	te, téne
	second-person, formal	vuje	ve			vuósto, vósta, vuóste, vóste	vuje
	third-person, masculine	ìsso	'o, 'u (lo, lu)	'i, 'e (li, le)	se	sùjo, sòja, sùoje, sòje	ìsso
	third-person, feminine	éssa	'a (la)	'e (le)			éssa
plural	first-person	nuje	ce			nuósto, nòsta, nuóste, nòste	nuje
	second-person, plural	vuje	ve			vuósto, vòsta, vuóste, vòste	vuje
	third-person, masculine	ìsse	'i, 'e (li, le)	llòro	se	llòro (invariable)	llòro
	third-person, feminine	llòro	'e (le)

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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.

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /leː/

Etymology 1

From Old Norse hlé. Akin to English lee.

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”). Akin to English laugh.

Verb

le (present tense ler, past tense lo, past participle ledd or lett, present participle leande, imperative le)

1. to laugh

References

• “le” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

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Novial

Pronoun

le

1. (s)he; him or her

Related terms

• les
• lo
• la

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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

Old French definite articles

Declension of the definite article le

	singular		plural
	masculine	feminine	masculine	feminine
nominative	li	la, le 1	li	les
oblique	le 1	la 1	les	les
1 These singular forms elide to l' before a vowel or non-aspirate h.

Pronoun

le

1. it (masculine singular object pronoun)

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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))

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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

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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 - tears 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:

Person	Number	Prepositional pronoun	Prepositional pronoun (emphatic)
Singular	1st	leam	leamsa
	2nd	leat	leatsa
	3rd m	leis	leis-san
	3rd f	leatha	leathase
Plural	1st	leinn	leinne
	2nd	leibh	leibhse
	3rd	leotha	leothasan

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Serbo-Croatian

Adverb

le (Cyrillic spelling ле)

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

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Slovene

Pronunciation

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

Adverb

lè

1. only, merely, just

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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

Spanish personal pronouns

				nominative	dative	accusative	disjunctive
first person	singular			yo	me		mí1
	plural	masc.		nosotros	nos		nosotros
		fem.		nosotras			nosotras
second person	singular	tuteo		tú	te		ti1
		voseo		vos			vos
		formal2		usted	le	lo/la3	usted
	plural	familiar4	masc.	vosotros	os		vosotros
			fem.	vosotras			vosotras
		formal/general2		ustedes	les	los/las3	ustedes
third person	singular	masc.		él	le	lo	él
		fem.		ella		la	ella
		neut.		ello5		lo/la3	ello
	plural	masc.		ellos	les	los	ellos
		fem.		ellas		las	ellas
	sing. & pl.	reflexive		—	se		sí1

• 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.
  
• 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")

¹ Not used with con; conmigo, contigo, and consigo are used instead, respectively

² Treated as if it were third-person for purposes of conjugation and reflexivity

³ Depending on the implicit gender of the object being referred to

⁴ Used primarily in Spain

⁵ Used only in rare circumstances

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Swahili

Adjective

-le (declinable)

1. that (distal demonstrative adjective)

Inflection

Inflected forms of -le

Noun class	singular	plural
M-wa class	yule	wale
M-mi class	ule	ile
Ma class	lile	yale
Ki-vi class	kile	vile
N class	ile	zile
U class	ule	zile
Pa class	pale	pale
Ku class	kule	kule
Mu class	mle	mle

See also

• hii
• hiyo

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Swedish

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /leː/

• audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eː

Verb

le

1. to smile
2. (obsolete) to laugh

Conjugation

Conjugation of le (weak)

	Active	Passive
Infinitive	le	—
Present tense	ler	—
Past tense	log	—
Supine	lett	—
Imperative	le	—
Present participle	leende
Past participle	—

Derived terms

• småle
• leende

Related terms

• löje

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Tarantino

Alternative forms

• l'

Article

le m pl, f pl

1. the

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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

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Vietnamese

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [lɛ˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [lɛ˧˧]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [lɛ˧˧]

Etymology 1

Noun

(classifier cây) le

1. a plant in the rice family, which grows in forests and has a shape similar to bamboo

Etymology 2

Verb

le

1. (Central Vietnam, Southern Vietnam) Alternative form of lè (“to loll (tongue); to put out”)

Etymology 3

Adverb

le

1. (rare) Alternative form of lè (“very”)

Etymology 4

Conjunction

le

1. (archaic) but; however

Derived terms

Terms derived from le

• song le

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Welsh

Noun

le

1. Soft mutation of lle.

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Xhosa

Etymology 1

Pronoun

le

1. these; class 4 proximal demonstrative.

Etymology 2

Pronoun

le

1. this; class 9 proximal demonstrative.

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Zulu

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lé/

Etymology 1

Pronoun

le

1. these; class 4 proximal demonstrative.

Inflection

Stem -lé
Full form	lé
Locative	kule
Full form	lé
Locative	kule
Copulative	yile
Possessive forms
	Modifier	Substantive
Class 1	wale	owale
Class 2	bale	abale
Class 3	wale	owale
Class 4	yale	eyale
Class 5	lale	elale
Class 6	ale	awale
Class 7	sale	esale
Class 8	zale	ezale
Class 9	yale	eyale
Class 10	zale	ezale
Class 11	lwale	olwale
Class 14	bale	obale
Class 15	kwale	okwale
Class 17	kwale	okwale

Etymology 2

Pronoun

le

1. this; class 9 proximal demonstrative.

Inflection

Stem -lé
Full form	lé
Locative	kule
Full form	lé
Locative	kule
Copulative	yile
Possessive forms
	Modifier	Substantive
Class 1	wale	owale
Class 2	bale	abale
Class 3	wale	owale
Class 4	yale	eyale
Class 5	lale	elale
Class 6	ale	awale
Class 7	sale	esale
Class 8	zale	ezale
Class 9	yale	eyale
Class 10	zale	ezale
Class 11	lwale	olwale
Class 14	bale	obale
Class 15	kwale	okwale
Class 17	kwale	okwale

References

• C. M. Doke; B. W. Vilakazi (1972), “le”, in Zulu-English Dictionary, →ISBN: “le (2)”