l'

See also: ľ and Appendix:Variations of "l"

Asturian

Etymology 1

Contraction of the masculine article el.

Article

l' m

1. (definite) the

Usage notes

• The masculine singular article el contracts to l' before a word beginning with a vowel or h: l'asturianu (the Asturian), l'hermanu (the brother)

Related terms

• el
• 'l

Etymology 2

Contraction of the feminine article la.

Article

l' f

1. (definite) the

Usage notes

• The feminine singular article la contracts to l' before a word beginning with a or ha: l'asturiana (the Asturian), l'habitación (the habitation)

Related terms

• la

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern, Balearic, Central, Valencia, Northwestern) [l‿]

Article

l' m or f

1. contraction of el: the
2. contraction of la: the

Usage notes

• el is contracted to l' before a vowel or h-.

  l'avi ― the grandfather

• la is contracted to l' before a vowel or h-, except before a following unstressed (h)i- or (h)u-.

  l'àvia ― the grandmother

  l'hora ― the hour

  l'única filla (stressed ⟨u⟩) ― the only daughter

  la ullada (unstressed ⟨u⟩) ― the glance

Pronoun

l'

1. contraction of el
2. contraction of la

Usage notes

• l' is the elided (elida) form of the pronoun. It is used before verbs beginning with a vowel. The exceptions regarding the contraction of la mentioned above apply as well.

  L'envejo. ― I envy him/her.

  La interessa. (unstressed ⟨i⟩) ― It interests her.

Declension

Catalan personal pronouns and clitics

number	person		nominative	proclitic		enclitic		possessive
				accusative	dative	accusative	dative
singular	1st	standard	jo, mi3	em, m’		-me, ’m		meu
		majestic1	nós	ens		-nos, ’ns		nostre
	2nd	standard	tu	et, t’		-te, ’t		teu
		formal1	vós	us		-vos, -us		vostre
		very formal2	vostè	el, l’	li	-lo, ’l	-li	seu
	3rd	m	ell	el, l’	li	-lo, ’l	-li	seu
		f	ella	la, l’4	li	-la	-li	seu
		n	―	ho	li	-ho	-li	seu
plural
	1st		nosaltres	ens		-nos, ’ns		nostre
	2nd	standard	vosaltres	us		-vos, -us		vostre
		formal2	vostès	els		-los, ’ls		seu
	3rd	m	ells	els		-los, ’ls		seu
		f	elles	les	els	-les	-los, ’ls	seu
3rd reflexive			si	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-.

Corsican

Article

l'

1. (before a vowel) apocopic form of u, lu: the
2. (before a vowel) apocopic form of a, la: the
3. (before a vowel) apocopic form of i, li: the
4. (before a vowel) apocopic form of e, le: the

Pronoun

l'

1. (before a vowel) apocopic form of u, lu: him
2. (before a vowel) apocopic form of a, la: her
3. (before a vowel) apocopic form of i, li: them
4. (before a vowel) apocopic form of e, le: them

See also

Corsican personal pronouns

number	person		nominative	prepositional	dative	accusative
singular	1st		eiu	mè	mi
	2nd		tù	tè	ti
	3rd	m	ellu		li	u, l'
		f	ella			a, l'
plural	1st		noi		ci
	2nd		voi		vi
	3rd	m	elli		li	i, l'
		f	elle			e, l'

References

• https://infcor.adecec.net/

Esperanto

Etymology

Borrowed from French l' and Italian l'.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /l/

Article

l' (definite)

1. (poetic) apocopic form of la: the

Usage notes

It is used mainly in poetry and lyrics as a tool for enforcing a specific meter or rhythm, although it may at times be used in prose for a poetic stylistic effect.

A space is used after l' (e.g. "de l' mondo", not "de l'mondo"). It is most common after prepositions ending in a vowel, with de l' (“of the”) being most common by far.

When possible it is pronounced at the end of the proceeding syllable rather than at the start of the following syllable (e.g. de l' animo (“of the soul”) is typically pronounced /del aˈni.mo/ rather than /de laˈni.mo/).

Frequent or consistent use of l' can be found as a feature of the idiolects of some people, but this is considered non-standard, and is discouraged by the majority of fluent speakers.

Derived terms

• ĉe l' (“at the”)
• de l' (“of the”)
• je l'
• pri l' (“about the”)
• pro l' (“because of the”)
• tra l' (“through the”)

Further reading

• “l’”, in Plena Ilustrita Vortaro de Esperanto [Complete Illustrated Dictionary of Esperanto], 2020, →ISBN
• “la”, in Reta Vortaro [Online Dictionary] (in Esperanto), 1997-2026

Franco-Provençal

Determiner

l' m or f

1. apocopic form of la
2. apocopic form of lo

Pronoun

l' m or f

1. apocopic form of la
2. apocopic form of lo

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /l‿/

  • Audio (France (Lyon)):

    (file)

Article

l' m or f (singular, definite)

1. (before a vowel or mute h) apocopic form of le, la: the
2. (Quebec, Louisiana, colloquial, after a vowel) apocopic form of le: the
   • 2002, Jean-François Pauzé, “La Manifestation”, in Break Syndical:

     À la manifestation, / on rêvait d'révolution / se gelant l'cul avec une poignée de comparses / sous la pluie froide du mois d'mars

     At the demonstration, / we dreamed o' revolution / freezing da asses off with a handful of cronies / in the cold rain of March

Pronoun

l' m or f (third-person singular)

1. (before a vowel or mute h) apocopic form of le, la: him, her, it
2. (Quebec, Louisiana, colloquial, after a vowel) apocopic form of le: him, it
   • 2002, Jean-François Pauzé, Marie-Annick Lépine, “Toune d'automne”, in Break Syndical:

     Icitte y'a papa qui se r'met / fe sa p'tite opération / t'aurais du l'voir, y fakait / fallait l'traiter aux p'tits oignons

     Here's Dad recoverin' / doin' his lil operation / you shoulda seen him, he was doin' it / you hadda treat him like a pro

Related terms

French personal pronouns

number	person	gender	nominative (subject)	accusative (direct complement)	dative (indirect complement)	locative (at)	genitive (of)	disjunctive (tonic)1	emphatic reflexive
singular	first	—	je, j’	me, m’		—	—	moi	moi-même
	second	—	tu	te, t’		—	—	toi	toi-même
	third	masculine	il2	le, l’	lui	y	en	lui	lui-même
		feminine	elle	la, l’				elle	elle-même
		indeterminate	on3, l’on (formal), ce4, c’, ça	—	—	—	—	—	—
		reflexive	—	se, s’5		—	—	soi	soi-même
plural	first	—	nous	nous		—	—	nous	nous-mêmes
	second6	—	vous	vous		—	—	vous	vous-mêmes, vous-même6
	third	masculine	ils7	les	leur	y	en	eux7	eux-mêmes7
		feminine	elles					elles	elles-mêmes

¹ The disjunctive (tonic) forms are also used after an explicit preposition (de/d’, à, pour, chez, dans, vers, sur, sous, ...), instead the accusative, dative, genitive, locative, or reflexive forms, where a preposition is implied.
² Il is also used as an impersonal nominative-only pronoun.
³ On can also function as a first person plural (although agreeing with third person singular verb forms).
⁴ The nominal indeterminate form ce (demonstrative) can also be used with the auxiliary verb être as a plural, instead of the proximal or distal gendered forms.
⁵ The reflexive third person singular forms (se or s’) for accusative or dative are also used as third person plural reflexive.
⁶ Vous is also used as the polite singular form, in which case the plural disjunctive tonic vous-mêmes becomes singular vous-même.
⁷ Ils, eux and eux-mêmes are also used when a group has a mixture of masculine and feminine members.

Further reading

• “l'”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Friulian

Article

l' m or f (definite)

1. (before a vowel) apocopic form of il, la: the

Inflection

Friulian definite articles

	singular	plural
masculine	il l'	i
feminine	la l'	lis

Haitian Creole

Etymology

Contration of li, from French lui.

Pronoun

l'

1. alternative spelling of l; contraction of li

Ido

Article

l'

1. (before a vowel) apocopic form of la: the

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /l/

Article

l' m or f (apocopated) (definite)

1. (before a vowel) apocopic form of il/lo, la: the

Inflection

Italian definite articles

	singular	plural
masculine	il lo (l')	i gli
feminine	la (l')	le

Pronoun

l' m or f (apocopated)

1. (before vowels) apocopic form of lo, la: him, her, it

Usage notes

• Optionally elides before a vowel, especially before ho and ha: l'ho, l'ha. Elision before other verbs beginning with a stressed vowel is less common: lo era instead of l'era, lo è instead of l'è.

See also

Italian personal pronouns

			nominative		atonic (clitic)11						tonic12
					accusative / dative-reflexive	accusative	dative		locative	partitive	prepositional-reflexive	oblique
singular
	first		io		mi, m', -mi, me9				―		―	me
	second		tu		ti, t', -ti, te9							te
	second formal / polite5		Lei, Ella8		―	La, -La, L'	Le, -Le					Lei
	third	m	lui, egli,8 ello,8 elli,3, 8 esso8		si,6 s', -si, se,9 ci13	lo, l', -lo, il4	glie9	gli, -gli, il4	ci, c', vi,1 v'1	ne, n'	sé	lui, esso8
		f	lei, ella,8 essa8			la, l', -la		le, -le, gli,2 -gli2				lei, essa8
plural
	first		noi		ci, c', -ci, ce,9 ne,4 n'4				―		―	noi
	second		voi, Voi7		vi, Vi,7 v', V',7 -vi, -Vi,7 ve9							voi, Voi7
	second formal / polite5		Loro		―	Le, -Le	Loro10					Loro
	third	m	loro	elli,3, 8 ellino,4, 8 eglino,4, 8 essi8	si, s', -si, se9	li, -li	loro,10 gli,2 -gli,2 glie9		ci, c', vi,1 v'1	ne, n'	sé	loro	essi8
		f		elle,3, 8 elleno,4, 8 esse8		le, -le							elle,8 esse8

¹ Formal.
² Informal.
³ Archaic.
⁴ Obsolete or literary.
⁵ Grammatically third person forms used semantically in the second person as a formal or polite way of addressing someone (with the first letter frequently capitalised as a sign of respect, and to distinguish them from third person subjects). Unlike the singular forms, the plural forms are mostly antiquated terms of formal address in the modern language, and second person plural pronouns are almost always used instead.
⁶ Also used as indefinite pronoun meaning “one”, and to form the passive.
⁷ Formal (capitalisation optional); in many regions, can refer to just one person (compare with French vous).
⁸ Traditional grammars still indicate the forms egli (animate), ello / ella (animate), esso / essa and their plurals as the nominative forms of the third person pronouns; outside of very formal or archaizing contexts, all such forms have been replaced by the obliques lui, lei, loro.
⁹ Forms used when followed by a third-person direct object proclitic (lo, la, li, le, or ne).
¹⁰ Used after verbs.
¹¹ Unstressed forms, stand alone forms are found proclitically (except dative loro / Loro), others enclitically (-mi, -ti, etc.).
¹² Disjunctive, emphatic oblique forms used as direct objects placed after verbs (or before them, chiefly in literary Italian), in exclamations, along prepositions (prepositional) and some adverbs (come, quanto, etc.); also used with a to create alternative emphatic dative forms.
¹³ Only in "ci si", replaces indefinite si (“one”) before reflexive si (“oneself”).

Ladin

Article

l' f (singular)

1. (before a vowel) apocopic form of la: the

See also

• l
• la
• i
• les

Leonese

Etymology 1

Contraction of the masculine article el.

Article

l' m sg

1. apocopic form of el: the

Usage notes

• The masculine singular article el contracts to l' before a word beginning with a vowel or h.

Etymology 2

Contraction of the feminine article la.

Article

l' f sg

1. apocopic form of la: the

Usage notes

• The feminine singular article la contracts to l' before a word beginning with a or ha.

Ligurian

Alternative forms

• r' (Monaco)

Article

l' m sg or f sg (definite)

1. (before a vowel) alternative form of o and u: the [with a masculine noun in the singular]

   ‎l' + ‎omu (“man”) → ‎l'omu (“the man”)

2. (Monaco, before a vowel) alternative form of a: the [with a feminine noun in the singular]

   ‎l' + ‎aiga (“water”) → ‎l'aiga (“the water”)

See also

Ligurian definite articles

	singular	plural
masculine	o / u / l'	i / ë
feminine	a / l'	e

Pronoun

l'

1. (Monaco) apocopic form of u and a

   ghe l'o ditu ― I told him about it

Middle French

Article

l'

1. elided form of le, la: the

Usage notes

• Earlier manuscripts omit the apostrophe
• lame ― the soul

Neapolitan

Etymology

From Latin ille, illa.

Particle

l' m and f (singular and plural definite)

1. (before a vowel) apocopic form of 'o, 'a: the

Old French

Article

l'

1. (before a vowel sound) apocopic form of la/le: the

Usage notes

• Original manuscripts omit the apostrophe
• lame ― the soul

Romagnol

Alternative forms

• e' before a consonant

Article

l' m (before a vowel)

1. the

Sassarese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /l‿/, (after a word ending in a vowel) /r‿/

Article

l'

1. apocopic form of lu
2. apocopic form of la
3. apocopic form of li

Inflection

Sassarese definite articles

	singular	plural
masculine	lu (l')	li (l')
feminine	la (l')

Pronoun

l'

1. apocopic form of lu
2. apocopic form of la
3. apocopic form of li

Usage notes

• Used before a vowel sound.