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Acehnese
Pronunciation
Letter
ل (lam)
Forms
Isolated form | Final form | Medial form | Initial form |
---|---|---|---|
ل | ـل | ـلـ | لـ |
See also
- Arabic script letters: حرف (haraih, harah) (script appendix): ا, ب, ت, ة, ث, ج, چ, ح, خ, د, ذ, ر, ز, س, ش, ص, ض, ط, ظ, ع, غ, ڠ, ف, ڤ, ق, ک, ݢ, ل, م, ن, و, ۏ, ه, ء, ي, ى, ڽ [edit]
Arabic
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From the Nabataean Aramaic letter 𐢑 (l, “lamadh”), derived from the Phoenician letter 𐤋 (l, “lāmed”), from the Egyptian hieroglyph 𓌅. See also Classical Syriac ܠ (l, “lāmadh”), Hebrew ל (l, “lamed”), Ancient Greek Λ (L), Latin L.
Letter
ل / ل / ل / ل • (lām)
See also
- Arabic script letters: حُرُوف (ḥurūf) (alphabet appendix, script appendix): ا, ب, ت, ث, ج, ح, خ, د, ذ, ر, ز, س, ش, ص, ض, ط, ظ, ع, غ, ف, ق, ك, ل, م, ن, ه, و, ي [edit]
- Wikipedia article on the Arabic alphabet
- Search for entries beginning with ل
Symbol
ل / ل / ل / ل • (lām)
- The twelfth letter in traditional abjad order, which is used in place of numerals for list numbering (abjad numerals). It is preceded by ك (k) and followed by م (m).
Etymology 2
From Proto-Semitic *lV-.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /li./
Preposition
لِـ • (li-)
Usage notes
When لِـ (li-) is followed by the definite article اَلْ (al-, “the”), the alif of the article is dropped from the spelling, resulting in the spelling لِلْ. However, if this would result in three lams in a row, because the first letter following the definite article is also lam, then the lam with sukun is also dropped, resulting in a spelling starting with لِلّـ, with only two lams; for example, لِلَّيْلَة (lil-layla, “for tonight”), لِلّٰهِ (li-llāhi, “to God”). The pronunciation is entirely regular in all of these cases.
Inflection
base form | لِـ (li-) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Personal-pronoun including forms | |||||
singular | dual | plural | |||
m | f | m | f | ||
1st person | لِي / لِيَ (lī / liya) | لَنَا (lanā) | |||
2nd person | لَكَ (laka) | لَكِ (laki) | لَكُمَا (lakumā) | لَكُمْ (lakum) | لَكُنَّ (lakunna) |
3rd person | لَهُ (lahu) | لَهَا (lahā) | لَهُمَا (lahumā) | لَهُمْ (lahum) | لَهُنَّ (lahunna) |
Derived terms
Descendants
(via third-person singular masculine form لَهُ (lahu)):
Preposition
لَـ • (la-)
- Used to express admiration
- يَا لَلْعَجَبِ! ― yā la-l-ʕajabi! ― How wonderful!
- يَا لَهُ مِنْ عَالَمٍ رَائِعٍ!
- yā lahu min ʕālamin rāʔiʕin!
- What a wonderful world!
- Used to call for help
- يَا لَلْأُمِّ لِلْأَطْفَالِ!
- yā lalʔummi lilʔaṭfāli!
- Oh for mother to the children! (Oh mother, help your children!)
Usage notes
It is often used in the form يَا لَهُ [مِنْ] ..., that is, يَا لَـ followed by an enclitic pronoun that does not refer to any previous noun. Rather the pronoun refers to what follows it, with an optional مِنْ in the middle.[1]
Inflection
base form | لَـ (la-) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Personal-pronoun including forms | |||||
singular | dual | plural | |||
m | f | m | f | ||
1st person | لِي / لِيَ (lī / liya) | لَنَا (lanā) | |||
2nd person | لَكَ (laka) | لَكِ (laki) | لَكُمَا (lakumā) | لَكُمْ (lakum) | لَكُنَّ (lakunna) |
3rd person | لَهُ (lahu) | لَهَا (lahā) | لَهُمَا (lahumā) | لَهُمْ (lahum) | لَهُنَّ (lahunna) |
Conjunction
لِـ • (li-)
- to, in order to: followed by the subjunctive mood
- دَخَلْتُ ٱلْمَطْبَخَ لِأَشْرَبَ مَاءً.
- daḵaltu l-maṭbaḵa li-ʔašraba māʔan.
- I entered the kitchen to drink water.
- used with the verbs أَرَادَ (ʔarāda) and أَمَرَ (ʔamara)
- only to (لَامُ الْعَاقِبَة (lāmu l-ʕāqiba))
Synonyms
- لِأَنْ (liʔan)
Etymology 3
Pronunciation
Particle
لِـ • (li-)
- Used to introduce an imperative with a jussive verb; let
- 9th century, Muslim ibn Al-Hajjaj, quoting Muhammad, “كتاب الحج”, in Sahih Muslim:
- لِتَأْخُذُوا مَنَاسِكَكُمْ فَإِنِّي لَا أَدْرِي لَعَلِّي لَا أَحُجُّ بَعْدَ حَجَّتِي هَذِهِ
- litaʔḵuḏū manāsikakum faʔinnī lā ʔadrī laʕallī lā ʔaḥujju baʕda ḥajjatī haḏihi
- Learn your rituals from me, for I do not know—perhaps this will be my last Hajj.
- (literally, “So that you may take your rituals, for I do not know—perhaps I will not perform Hajj after this Hajj of mine.”)
Etymology 4
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /la./
Particle
لَـ • (la-)
Usage notes
Frequently used after إِنَّ (ʔinna).
Derived terms
- لَقَدْ (laqad)
Etymology 5
Verb
لِ • (li) (form I) /li/
- second-person masculine singular imperative of وَلِيَ (waliya)
References
- Wehr, Hans (1979) “ل”, in J. Milton Cowan, editor, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th edition, Ithaca, NY: Spoken Language Services, →ISBN
- ^ de Sacy, Silvestre (1831) Grammaire arabe[1] (in French), volume 1, pages 475-476
Balti
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /l/, [l~lʱ~ɭ~ɫ̥]
Letter
ل (transliteration needed)
- The thirty-seventh letter of the Balti alphabet, written in the Perso-Arabic script
Burushaski
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /l/, [l]
Letter
ل (l)
- The thirty-eighth letter of the Burushaski alphabet, written in the Perso-Arabic script
Egyptian Arabic
Etymology
From Arabic لِـ (li-, “to; for”), usupring the usages of إِلَى (ʔilā).
Pronunciation
Preposition
لـ • (li- or l-)
- to, towards
- Synonym: نحية (niḥyit)
- for
- عملت لأخويا كيكة ― ʕamalt l-aḵūya kēka ― I made a cake for my brother
- Marks the beneficiary of ditransitive verbs: to
- قلت لأخويا ― ult l-aḵūya ― I told my brother
Usage notes
After الـ (il-, “the”), produces للـ (li-l-), which also assimilates with following consonants (see الـ).
When attached before pronouns in a verbal sentence, produces ـلـ (-l-), attaching after the verb (or after the attached patient pronoun) and acting as part of it, lengthening the vowel it directly follows. Resulting /ll/ clusters often go unwritten (see Arabic diacritics § Shaddah on Wikipedia.Wikipedia ).
- جالي وقالّي ― gā-li wi-ʔal-li ― He came to me and said to me
- عملتلك كيكة ― ʕamalti-lak kēka ― I made a cake for you
- ادّتهالك ― iddithā-lak ― I gave it to you
Kashmiri
Pronunciation
Letter
ل • (l)
- The thirty-sixth letter of the traditional alphabet chart of Kashmiri.
Forms
Isolated form | Final form | Medial form | Initial form |
---|---|---|---|
ل | ـل | ـلـ | لـ |
See also
Kazakh
Pronunciation
Letter
ل • (l)
Forms
Isolated form | Final form | Medial form | Initial form |
---|---|---|---|
ل | ـل | ـلـ | لـ |
See also
- Arabic script letters: әріптер (ärıpter) (alphabet appendix, script appendix): ا, ب, پ, ت, ج, چ, ح, د, ر, ز, س, ش, ع, ف, ق, ك, گ, ڭ, ل, م, ن, ە, ھ, و, ۇ, ۋ, ۆ, ى, ي [edit]
Khowar
Pronunciation
Letter
ل (lām)
- The thirty-ninth and first lam letter of the Khowar abjad.
Forms
Isolated form | Final form | Medial form | Initial form |
---|---|---|---|
ل | ـل | ـلـ | لـ |
See also
Malay
Pronunciation
- (Name of letter) IPA(key): [lam]
- (Phoneme) IPA(key): [l]
Letter
ل / ل / ل / ل
See also
- Arabic script letters (alphabet appendix, script appendix): ا, ب, ت, ة, ث, ج, چ, ح, خ, د, ذ, ر, ز, س, ش, ص, ض, ط, ظ, ع, غ, ڠ, ف, ڤ, ق, ک, ݢ, ل, م, ن, و, ۏ, ه, ء, ي, ى, ڽ [edit]
North Levantine Arabic
Etymology 1
From Arabic لِـ (li-, “to, for, toward”), with the base form possibly suppleted by Arabic إِلَى (ʔilā, “to, for, toward”). The suffixed forms continue Arabic لِـ (li-), however, not إِلَى (ʔilā).
This is surprising, as the إلـ (ʔil-) of suffixed forms like إلَك (ʔilak, “to you”) superficially resembles Arabic إِلَى (ʔilā) as well. However, the preposition's ending in North Levantine Arabic does not match the -ay- of forms like Arabic إِلَيْكَ (ʔilayka, “to you”). In fact, the actual descendants of the suffixed forms of إِلَى (ʔilā) lost their initial syllable إِ (ʔi-) entirely due to the general instability of ء (ʔ) in Arabic's history, and their North Levantine Arabic reflex is لَيْـ (lay-), as in ليك (layk, “to you”). See Etymology 2 below for the survival of this variant in North Levantine Arabic.
North Levantine Arabic إلـ (ʔil-) instead comes from Arabic لِـ (li-) via epenthesis, which may have been motivated by a phonetic constraint in early North Levantine Arabic against short monosyllables like *لَك (lak, “to you”). This is the same constraint that may have motivated the development of the initial syllable in إِجَا (ʔija, “to come”) and South Levantine Arabic إِشِي (ʔiši, “something”), which see.
Nevertheless, even if the suffixed form إلـ (ʔil-) reflects Arabic لِـ (li-, “to, for, towards”), the differing vowel of the base form لَـ (la-) indicates that it alone may still be from Arabic إِلَى (ʔilā, “to, for, toward”).
Preposition
ل • (la)
Usage notes
- Personal suffixes are attached to the stem ʔil-: إلي (ʔili, “to me”), إلك (ʔilak, “to you”), etc. Often, however, reduplicated forms from the stem laʾil- are used, thus لإلي (laʔili), لإلك (laʔilak).
Synonyms
Conjunction
ل • (la)
Usage notes
Synonyms
- كرمال (kirmāl) and synonyms there.
Suffix
ـلـ • (-l-, -ill-)
- to, for; dative suffix
- صِرت قَايلِتلَك مِليوْن مَرَّة مَا تدَعْوِسْلِي عَالأرض وْصِبَّاطَك كِلًّو وَحْل!
- ṣirt ʾāylitlak milyōn marra ma tdaʿwisli ʿal-ʾarḍ w-ṣibbatak killo waḥl!
- I've told you a million times, don't step all over the floor when your shoes are all dirty!
- (literally, “I've said to you a million times, don't step [for] me all over the floor and your shoes are all mud[dy]!”)
Usage notes
- Immediately followed by a personal suffix. ل (-l-) almost-always avoids creating superheavy syllables before itself.
- Superheavy syllables CVVC are avoided by contracting the long vowel, such as when attaching to a hollow verb. In particular, long ā, even when raised to ē as in Lebanon and urban Syria, always contracts to a rather than to i — and North Levantine varieties have overwhelmingly merged short u and short i into i, meaning that ū and ī also both contract into i.
- Some speakers extend this to the plural ending -īn of active participles.
- قَايلِين (ʔāylīn, “have said”, pl) ⇒ قَايلِينلي (ʔāylīnli) or قَايلِنلي (ʔāylinli, “have told me”, plural, literally “have said to me”).
- The suffix avoids all other kinds of heavy syllables by attaching to the base as either -ill- or -all-. The -all- ending is used on third-person masculine singular Form I biliteral verbs in the past tense, and the -ill- ending everywhere else.
- حَطّ (ḥaṭṭ, “he set down”, transitive) ⇒ حَطَّلِّي (ḥaṭṭalli, “he set down for me”, transitive)
- مشِيت (mšīt, “you walked”, masculine) ⇒ مشِيتِلِّي (mšītilli, “you walked to me; you walked for me”)
- كَتَبت (katabt, “you wrote”, masculine) ⇒ كَتَبتِلِّي (katabtilli, “you wrote to me; you wrote for me”)
- In other cases, i.e. in environments where sticking -l- directly onto the end of the base would not create a final heavy syllable, it attaches as is.
- كَتَبِت (katabit, “she wrote”) ⇒ كَتَبَِتلِي (katabatli, katabitli, “she wrote to me; she wrote for me”)
- Unlike in Egyptian Arabic, the Levantine form of this suffix can only attach to the base word, not to any preceding suffixes. This means it bumps any object suffixes off into their own words.
- حَطَّيْناه (ḥaṭṭaynḗ, “we put it”) ⇒ حَطَّيْنالِك ياه، حَطَّيْنالِك هو (ḥaṭṭaynēlik yē, ḥaṭṭaynēlik huwwe, “we put it for you”)
- This suffix isn't limited to appearing on verbs and their active participles. It can also attach to elatives, passive participles of verbs, and even other parts of speech.
- It only rarely appears on other parts of speech, and when it does, it's the result of an originally-unbound لَ (la, “to, for”) merging into a word it commonly appears with. That's the case with بَعدِلّـ (baʕdill-, “(of time) remaining for”), from بَعْد (baʕd, “still; remaining”, adverb, literally “[there is] still [time]”) + لـ (l-, “for; belonging to”).
- It's also uncommon for this suffix to attach to passive participles, which means that passive participles that have a final-syllable ū may only productively be able to contract it into a short u instead of fully merging it into a short i. Two somewhat-common examples are مَسمُحلـ (masmuḥl-, “permitted for”) and مقَدَّرلـ (mʔaddarl-, “fated for, preordained for”).
- It attaches to elatives to refer to the better or best of a set of choices, like أَريَحَلِي (ʔaryaḥli, “more/most comfortable for me”). It's generally invalid to use it on an elative that describes a negative trait, like *أَوْسَخلَك (*ʔawsaḵlak, “dirtier/dirtiest for you”) or *أصعَبلَك (ʔaṣʕablak, “more/most difficult for you”), because it imparts a positive slant on the trait the elative describes. In contrast, عَلَى (ʕala, “in relation to”) can construe elatives no matter what they mean: أَهيَن علَيك (ʔahyan ʕlēk, “easier for you”) is synonymous with أَهيَنلَك (ʔahyanlak, “easier for you”), but the only valid antonym is أَصعَب علَيك (ʔaṣʕab ʕlēk, “more/most difficult for you”, literally “more/most difficult in relation to you”) instead of *أصعَبلَك (ʔaṣʕablak, “more/most difficult for you”).
Etymology 2
From Arabic إِلَى (ʔilā, “to, for, toward”).
Preposition
ل • (la)
Usage notes
- Its suffix-base form is lay-, similarly to عَلَى (ʕala). This distinguishes it from the variant above when constructed with a personal suffix.
- Some dialects prefer this form to the above one in all situations. In dialects that don't, speakers may still use it in the phrases مِنُّو لَيه (minno lē, “in its entirety; altogether”, literally “from it to it”), قِدِر لَ (ʔidir la, “to be able to handle”, literally “to be able toward”), فِيه لَ (fī la, “can handle”, literally “can toward”), and إِجَا لَ (ʔija la, “to come for”). Other verbs of motion may also be substituted for إِجَا (ʔija) in the last sense, in which case the ل (la) retains the narrowed sense of “intent to apprehend or cause harm” suggested by come for.
Pashto
Pronunciation
- (letter name): IPA(key): /lɑm/
- (phoneme): IPA(key): /l/
Letter
ل • (lâm)
- The thirty-fourth letter of the Pashto alphabet.
Forms
Isolated form | Final form | Medial form | Initial form |
---|---|---|---|
ل | ـل | ـلـ | لـ |
See also
Persian
Pronunciation
Audio (Iran): (file)
Letter
ل / لـ / ـلـ / ـل • (lâm)
- The twenty-seventh letter of the Perso-Arabic alphabet. It is preceded by گ and followed by م. Its name is لام.
Punjabi
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
Letter
ل • (lām)
Forms
Isolated form | Final form | Medial form | Initial form |
---|---|---|---|
ل | ـل | ـلـ | لـ |
See also
Sindhi
Pronunciation
Letter
ل • (lām)
- The forty-sixth letter of the Sindhi abjad.
Forms
Isolated form | Final form | Medial form | Initial form |
---|---|---|---|
ل | ـل | ـلـ | لـ |
See also
- Arabic script letters: اکر (akharu) (script appendix): ا, ب, ٻ, ڀ, ت, ٿ, ٽ, ٺ, ث, پ, ج, ڄ, جھ, ڃ, چ, ڇ, ح, خ, د, ڌ, ڏ, ڊ, ڍ, ذ, ر, ڙ, ڙھ, ز, س, ش, ص, ض, ط, ظ, ع, غ, ف, ڦ, ق, ڪ, ک, گ, ڳ, گھ, ڱ, ل, م, ن, ڻ, و, ه, ء, ي [edit]
- Previous letter: ڱ
- Next letter: م
South Levantine Arabic
Etymology
Preposition
لـ • (la-)
Conjunction
لـ • (la-)
Suffix
ـلـ • (-l-, il, -ill-)
- to; for (indirect object suffix with an attached enclitic pronoun)
- Synonym: (detached version for emphasis) إلـ (ʔil-)
Usage notes
- This suffix is attached to a verb expressing the indirect object.
- If the verb ends in a consonant cluster, the "-l-" is geminated and the stress shifts before an enclitic pronoun starting with a vowel.
Inflection
base form | ـلـ (-l-) | ||
---|---|---|---|
Personal-pronoun including forms | |||
singular | plural | ||
m | f | ||
1st person | ـلي (-li, -illi) | ـلنا (-lna, -ilna) | |
2nd person | ـلك (-lak, -illak) | ـلك (-lek, -illek) | ـلكم (-lkom, -ilkom) |
3rd person | ـله (-lo, -illo) | ـلها (-lha, -ilha) | ـلهم (-lhom, -ilhom) |
Examples | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Vowel | One consonant | Two consonants | ||
Example | حكى (ḥáka, “he talked”) | كتب (kátab, “he wrote”) | كتبت (katábt, “I/you wrote”) | |
1st | singular | حكالي (ḥakā-li) | كتبلي (katáb-li) | كتبتلي (katabt-ílli) |
plural | حكالنا (ḥakā-lna) | كتبلنا (katab-ílna) | كتبتلنا (katabt-ílna) | |
2nd | masculine | حكالك (ḥakā-lak) | كتبلك (katáb-lak) | كتبتلك (katabt-íllak) |
feminine | حكالك (ḥakā-lek) | كتبلك (katáb-lek) | كتبتلك (katabt-íllek) | |
plural | حكالكم (ḥakā-lkom) | كتبلكم (katab-ílkom) | كتبتلكم (katabt-ílkom) | |
3rd | masculine | حكاله (ḥakā-lo) | كتبله (katáb-lo) | كتبتله (katabt-íllo) |
feminine | حكالها (ḥakā-lha) | كتبلها (katab-ílha) | كتبتلها (katabt-ílha) | |
plural | حكالهم (ḥakā-lhom) | كتبلهم (katab-ílhom) | كتبتلهم (katabt-ílhom) |
Urdu
Pronunciation
- (letter name): (Standard Urdu) IPA(key): /lɑːm/
- (phoneme): (Standard Urdu) IPA(key): /l/
Letter
ل • (lām)
- The thirtieth letter of the Urdu abjad.
Forms
Isolated form | Final form | Medial form | Initial form |
---|---|---|---|
ل | ـل | ـلـ | لـ |
See also
Uyghur
Pronunciation
- (letter name): IPA(key): /le/
- (phoneme): IPA(key): /l/
Letter
ل • (le)
- The twenty-first letter of the Uyghur alphabet.
Forms
Isolated form | Final form | Medial form | Initial form |
---|---|---|---|
ل | ـل | ـلـ | لـ |
See also
Yoruba
Pronunciation
Letter
ل (l)
Forms
Isolated form | Final form | Medial form | Initial form |
---|---|---|---|
ل | ـل | ـلـ | لـ |