le

See also: Appendix:Variations of "le"

English

Etymology

From French le.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lə/, IPA^(key): /leɪ/

Article

le

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

     […] upon arrival, le girlfriend realizes she has left her ID back at my house (a 1 1/2 hour roundtrip on the Metro), […]

   • 2002 27 December, Amelia, “Re: Neat things SANTA brought me...”, alt.fashion, Usenet:

     And then le boyfriend perks up and names around 8 different brands (Stila, MAC, Becca, Nars etc..) - I was *SO* proud of him!! :)

   • 2003 10 January, johnny dupe (quoting nowhere man), “Re: I can walk with jezus...”, alt.fan.wings, Usenet:

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

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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

Inflection 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. laugh (show mirth by peculiar movement of the muscles of the face and emission of sounds)

See also

• Le on the Danish Wikipedia.da.Wikipedia
• Le (flertydig) on the Danish Wikipedia.da.Wikipedia:Le (flertydig)

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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

• audio

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /lə/
• 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.

   • 1837, Louis Viardot, L’Ingénieux Hidalgo Don Quichotte de la Manche^{fr.Wikisource}, translation of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Volume I, Chapter IV:

     [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.

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 or 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, t’	te, t’			—	—	toi
	Third	Masculine	il	se, s’	le, l’	lui	y	en	lui
		Feminine	elle		la, l’				elle
		—	on		—	—	—	—	soi
Plural	First	—	nous	nous			—	—	nous
	Second	—	vous	vous			—	—	vous
	Third	Masculine	ils	se, s’	les	leur	y	en	eux
		Feminine	elles						elles

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

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Hungarian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɛ/

• Audio

  (file)

Adverb

le

1. down

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Ido

Article

le (plural)

1. the (used only when there is no other sign of plurality, for example with nominalized adjectives)

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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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [lʲɛ]

Preposition

le (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.

Inflection

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

• abair le
• dar le

Related terms

• lena (combined with the possessive determiner or present relative particle a)
• lenar (combined with the present/future copula is, past/conditional copula ba, or past relative particle ar)
• lenár (combined with the first-person plural possessive determiner ár)
• lenarb (combined with the present/future copula is before a vowel)
• lenarbh (combined with the past/conditional copula ba before a vowel)

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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	i gli
feminine	la	le

le f pl (singular la)

1. the

Usage notes

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

Pronoun

le f pl (singular la)

1. them (third-person plural feminine)

Etymology 2

Pronoun

le

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 or I gave the letter to her

2. (dative) you, to you

   Le ho detto il mio nome — I told you my name

   Le ho dato la lettera — I gave you the letter or I gave the letter to you

Usage notes

• When le is used in the formal sense, it is usually capitalised as Le to avoid confusion with le meaning "her".

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Lojban

Cmavo

le (article)

1. returns a definite instance of an x₁ sumti of the following word, which would otherwise function as a selbri; thus, "le" and the word which follows it together act like a sumti

   le tavla cu sutra tavla

   the talker talks fast

   la suzyn. pu dunda ti'u li rere boi pa le re cukta mi

   Susan gave, at 10 PM, one of the two books to me.

Usage notes

• A sumti phrase begun with le ends with the cmavo ku unless no ambiguity results.
• An "inner quantifier" indicates number of members in the group (which is the subject of the predication), whereas an "outer quantifier" indicates a portion of that number, so "le ci nanmu" would mean "the three men" whereas "ci le nanmu" would mean "three of the men", "ci le mu nanmu" would mean "three of the five men"; so, as a rough analogy, le could be said to act as a divider (whereas lo acts as a multiplier, according to the xorlo proposal).

Related terms

• lo
• la
• li
• lei
• le'i

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Mandarin

Romanization

le (Zhuyin ㄌㄜ˙)

1. Pinyin reading of 了
2. Pinyin reading of 餎
3. Pinyin reading of 饹
4. Nonstandard spelling of lē.
5. Nonstandard spelling of lé.
6. 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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Norwegian

Etymology

From Old Norse hlæja (“to laugh”), from Proto-Germanic *hlahjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *klek-, *kleg- (“to shout”).

Verb

le

1. to laugh

Conjugation

    Conjugation of le in Bokmål

Infinitive active	le
Infinitive passive	les
Present active	ler
Present passive	les
Past	lo
Present participle	leende
Past participle	ledd
Imperative	le

    Conjugation of le in Nynorsk

Infinitive active	le
Infinitive passive	least
Present	ler
Past	lo
Present participle	leande
Past participle	ledd/lett
Imperative	le

Noun

le

1. a shelter

Inflection

    Inflection of le

	indefinite singular	definite singular	indefinite plural	definite plural

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Novial

Pronoun

le

1. (s)he; him or her

Related terms

• les
• lo
• la

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Old French

Article

le

1. the (masculine singular oblique definite article)
2. (Picardy) 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.

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Romanian

Etymology

From Latin illis, dative common plural of ille.

Pronoun

le

1. unstressed dative of ei (third-person masculine plural)
2. unstressed dative of ele (third-person feminine plural)
3. unstressed accusative of ele (third-person feminine plural)

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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 - eyes 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:

Combining pronoun	Prepositional pronoun	Prepositional pronoun (emphatic)
mi	leam	leamsa
tu	leat	leatsa
e	leis	leis-san
i	leatha	leathase
sinn	leinn	leinne
sibh	leibh	leibhse
iad	leotha	leothasan

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Serbo-Croatian

Adverb

le

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: 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 form 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 form of ella)

   Le dio un beso a Ana. — He gave Ana a kiss.

3. To you, for you (dative form of usted, ello, lo)

   ¿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 creo» (I believe him/her); «le gusta...» (he/she likes...). 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 will give him 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/them to him/her/them) rather than «yo le/les lo daré».

See also

• Spanish pronouns

    Spanish pronouns

First person: singular: yo, mí, me plural: nosotros, nosotras, nos Second person: tuteo: tú, ti, te voseo: vos, te formal: usted, ustedes, le, les familiar plural: vosotros, vosotras, ustedes, os, les

Third person: masculine: él, ellos, lo, le, los, les feminine: ella, ellas, la, le, las, les neuter: ello, lo, le Demonstrative: este, esta, esto, estos, estas ese, esa, eso, esos, esas aquel, aquella, aquello, aquellos, aquellas

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Swedish

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /leː/

• audio

  (file)

Verb

le

1. to smile
2. (obsolete) to laugh

Conjugation

Conjugation of le

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

Derived terms

• småle
• leende

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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 ^{(Category: tr:Latin letter names)}

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Xhosa

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lɛ/

Determiner

le (Class iii/iv)

1. these

Determiner

le (Class ix/x)

1. this

Related terms

• leyo
• leyaya

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Zulu

Determiner

le

1. these (class 4)
2. this (class 9)

See also

Class 4 concords^[edit]

Full noun prefix:	imi-
Basic noun prefix:	mi-
Subject concord:	i-, -yi-
Object concord:	-yi-
Possessive concord:	ya-
Adjective concord:	emi-
Relative concord:	e-
Pronoun:	yona, -yo
See Appendix:Zulu concords for a full table.

Class 9 concords^[edit]

Full noun prefix:	in-, im-
Basic noun prefix:	n-, m-
Subject concord:	i-, -yi-
Object concord:	-yi-
Possessive concord:	ya-
Adjective concord:	en-, em-
Relative concord:	e-
Pronoun:	yona, -yo
See Appendix:Zulu concords for a full table.