habla

• IPA^(key): /ˈabla/ [ˈa.β̞la]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -abla
• Syllabification: ha‧bla

Inherited from Old Spanish fabla, from Latin fābula (“discourse”). Compare fábula, a borrowed doublet.

habla f (plural hablas)

1. speech (faculty of speech)
2. speaking (action)

• Before feminine nouns beginning with stressed /ˈa/ like habla, the singular definite article takes the form of el (otherwise reserved for masculine nouns) instead of the usual la: el habla. This includes the contracted forms al and del (instead of a la and de la, respectively): al habla, del habla.

This also applies to the indefinite article, which takes the form of un, which is otherwise used with masculine nouns (although the standard feminine form una also occurs): un habla or una habla. The same is true with determiners algún/alguna and ningún/ninguna, as well as for numerals ending with 1 (e.g., veintiún/veintiuna).

However, if another word intervenes between the article and the noun, the usual feminine singular articles and determiners (la, una etc.) are used: la mejor habla, una buena habla.

• In these cases, el and un are not masculine but feminine, deriving from Latin illa and una, respectively, even though they are identical in form to the corresponding masculine singular articles. Thus, they are allomorphs of the feminine singular articles la and una.
• The use of these allomorphs does not change the gender agreement of the adjectives modifying the feminine noun: el habla única, un(a) habla buena.
• In the plural, the usual feminine plural articles and determiners (las, unas, etc.) are always used.

• → Tagalog: abla

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

habla

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

   Habla. ― He [or she] speaks.

   (Usted) habla. (formal singular) ― (You) speak.

   ¡Habla! (informal singular) ― Speak!

• “habla”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024

Borrowed from Early Modern Spanish hablar. Attested in Fr. San Buenaventura's Vocabulario de lengua tagala (1613). Doublet of abla and pabula, later borrowings.

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /habˈla/ [hɐbˈla]
• Rhymes: -a
• Syllabification: hab‧la

hablá (Baybayin spelling ᜑᜊ᜔ᜎ)

1. (law) accusation; complaint (in court)

   Synonyms: sakdal, demanda, akusasyon, reklamo

• “habla”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018
• Noceda, Fr. Juan José de, Sanlucar, Fr. Pedro de (1860) Vocabulario de la lengua tagala, compuesto por varios religiosos doctos y graves‎^[1] (in Spanish), Manila: Ramirez y Giraudier
• Santos, Fr. Domingo de los (1835) Tomas Oliva, editor, Vocabulario de la lengua tagala: primera, y segunda parte.‎^[2] (in Spanish), La imprenta nueva de D. Jose Maria Dayot
• San Buena Ventura, Fr. Pedro de (1613) Juan de Silva, editor, Vocabulario de lengua tagala: El romance castellano puesto primero‎^[3], La Noble Villa de Pila
  • page 19: “Acuſar) Habla [(pc)] quejandole de otro”
  • page 223: “Denunçiar) Habla [(pc)] poniendo algun pleyto”
  • page 485: “Pleyto) Habla (pc) que vno pone ſobre algunas tierras oro caſas o otra coſa”
  • page 506: “Quejarſe) Habla (pc) ante algun tribunal”