les

See also: Appendix:Variations of "les"

Languages (34)

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Page categories

English

Alternative forms

lez

Pronunciation

(UK, US) IPA^(key): /lɛz/
- Audio (Southern England): (file)
Rhymes: -ɛz

Noun

les (plural leses)

(slang, colloquial, derogatory) Clipping of lesbian.

Adjective

les (comparative more les, superlative most les)

(slang, colloquial, derogatory) Clipping of lesbian.

Anagrams

SEL, SLE, Els, ELs, LSE, els, ELS, ESL

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch les (“lesson”), from Middle Dutch lesse, from Latin lēctiō.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /lɛs/
Audio: (file)

Noun

les (plural lesse, diminutive lessie)

lesson

Aragonese

Etymology

From Latin ille (“that one”).

Pronoun

les

them (indirect object)

Synonyms

lis

Asturian

Alternative forms

lles (archaic)

Etymology

From Latin illas.

Article

les f pl (masculine sg el, feminine sg la, neuter sg lo, masculine plural los)

(definite) the

Catalan

Etymology 1

Inherited from Latin illās, from ille.

Pronunciation

(Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /ləs/
(Valencia) IPA^(key): /les/
Rhymes: -es

Article

les f pl (masculine plural els, masculine singular el, feminine singular la)

the; feminine plural definite article

Pronoun

les (enclitic and proclitic)

them (feminine, direct object)

Declension

Catalan personal pronouns and clitics

	strong/subject	weak (direct object)		weak (indirect object)		possessive
singular		proclitic	enclitic	proclitic	enclitic
1st person	jo, mi³	em, m’	-me, ’m	em, m’	-me, ’m	meu
1st person majestic¹	nós	ens	-nos, ’ns	ens	-nos, ’ns	nostre
2nd person	tu	et, t’	-te, ’t	et, t’	-te, ’t	teu
2nd person formal¹	vós	us	-vos, -us	us	-vos, -us	vostre
2nd person very formal²	vostè	el, l’	-lo, ’l	li	-li	seu
3rd person masculine	ell	el, l’	-lo, ’l	li	-li	seu
3rd person feminine	ella	la, l’⁴	-la	li	-li	seu
3rd person neuter		ho	-ho	li	-li	seu
3rd person reflexive	si	es, s’	-se, ’s	es, s’	-se, ’s	seu
plural
1st person	nosaltres	ens	-nos, ’ns	ens	-nos, ’ns	nostre
2nd person	vosaltres	us	-vos, -us	us	-vos, -us	vostre
2nd person formal²	vostès	els	-los, ’ls	els	-los, ’ls	seu
3rd person masculine	ells	els	-los, ’ls	els	-los, ’ls	seu
3rd person feminine	elles	les	-les	els	-los, ’ls	seu
3rd person reflexive	si	es, s’	-se, ’s	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-.

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Latin laesus.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): (Central) [ˈlɛs]
IPA^(key): (Balearic) [ˈləs]
IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈles]

Adjective

les (feminine lesa, masculine plural lesos, feminine plural leses)

(law) harmed

Derived terms

crim de lesa humanitat

Related terms

il·lès

Czech

Czech Wikipedia has an article on:

les

Wikipedia ^cs

Etymology

Inherited from Old Czech les, from Proto-Slavic *lěsъ.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈlɛs]
Audio: (file)
Hyphenation: les
Rhymes: -ɛs
Homophone: lez

Noun

les m inan

forest
Synonym: hvozd

Declension

Declension of les (hard masculine inanimate)

	singular	plural
nominative	les	lesy
genitive	lesa	lesů
dative	lesu	lesům
accusative	les	lesy
vocative	lese	lesy
locative	lese	lesích
instrumental	lesem	lesy

Related terms

nouns

adjectives

proverb

jak se do lesa volá, tak se z lesa ozývá

Danish

Noun

les c

indefinite genitive singular of le

Dutch

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /lɛs/
Audio: (file)
Hyphenation: les
Rhymes: -ɛs

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch lesse, from Latin lēctiō.

Noun

les f (plural lessen, diminutive lesje n)

course, lesson

Derived terms

Descendants

Afrikaans: les
→ Caribbean Javanese: lès
→ Indonesian: les
→ Papiamentu: lès, les

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

les

inflection of lessen:
1. first-person singular present indicative
2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
3. imperative

Anagrams

els

Franco-Provençal

Etymology 1

Inherited from Latin illās.

Determiner

les f pl

feminine plural of lo (“the”)

Pronoun

les f pl (ORB, broad)

them (third-person plural feminine accusative)

References

les [3] in DicoFranPro: Dictionnaire Français/Francoprovençal – on dicofranpro.llm.umontreal.ca
les in Lo trèsor Arpitan – on arpitan.eu

Etymology 2

Determiner

les m pl

Alternative form of los, masculine plural of lo (“the”)

Pronoun

les m pl (ORB, broad)

Alternative form of los m pl (“them”)

References

les in DicoFranPro: Dictionnaire Français/Francoprovençal – on dicofranpro.llm.umontreal.ca
les in Lo trèsor Arpitan – on arpitan.eu

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French les, from Old French les, from Latin illōs m and illās f which are the accusative plurals of ille.^[1]

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /lɛ/, (in liaison) /lɛ.z‿/ ~ /le.z‿/
IPA^(key): /le/, (in liaison) /le.z‿/
Audio: (file)
Homophones: lé, lés, lez, lait, laits

Article

les

plural of le: the
plural of la: the

Usage notes

de les is never used: contracted into des.
à les is never used: contracted into aux.

Pronoun

les m pl or f pl

plural of le: them
plural of la: them

Related terms

French personal pronouns

Number	Person	Gender	Nominative (subject)	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	le, l’	lui	y	en	lui
		Feminine	elle	la, l’	lui	y	en	elle
		Indeterminate	on¹	—	—	—	—	—
		Reflexive	—	se, s’⁴		—	—	soi⁴
Plural	First	—	nous	nous		—	—	nous
	Second	—	vous²	vous²^,3		—	—	vous²
	Third	Masculine	ils³	les	leur	y	en	eux³
	Third	Feminine	elles	les	leur	y	en	elles

¹ Also used as the first person plural.

² Also used as the polite singular form.

³ Also used when a group has both men and women.

⁴ Also used as third person plural reflexive.

References

^ Dauzat, Albert with Jean Dubois, Henri Mitterand (1964) “le, la, les”, in Nouveau dictionnaire étymologique (in French), Paris: Librairie Larousse

Anagrams

sel

Galician

Verb

les

second-person singular present indicative of ler

German

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /leːs/

Verb

les

(colloquial) first-person singular present of lesen
Synonym: (standard) lese
(colloquial) singular imperative of lesen
Synonym: (standard) lies

Hungarian

Etymology

From Proto-Ugric *läćɜ (“hiding place; lurk”).^[1]^[2] Cognates include Southern Mansi [script needed] (lǟš-), Northern Mansi [script needed] (lāś-).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈlɛʃ]
Audio: (file)
Rhymes: -ɛʃ

Noun

les (plural lesek)

cover, hideaway, ambush (the place where one is concealed, in wait to attack by surprise, or the act of concealing oneself there)
Synonyms: lesállás, leshely

Hypernyms: búvóhely, rejtekhely, (hiding place in general) rejtek
(hunting) hide, blind
(soccer) offside
Synonyms: lesállás, leshelyzet

Declension

Inflection (stem in -e-, front unrounded harmony)
	singular	plural
nominative	les	lesek
accusative	lest	leseket
dative	lesnek	leseknek
instrumental	lessel	lesekkel
causal-final	lesért	lesekért
translative	lessé	lesekké
terminative	lesig	lesekig
essive-formal	lesként	lesekként
essive-modal	—	—
inessive	lesben	lesekben
superessive	lesen	leseken
adessive	lesnél	leseknél
illative	lesbe	lesekbe
sublative	lesre	lesekre
allative	leshez	lesekhez
elative	lesből	lesekből
delative	lesről	lesekről
ablative	lestől	lesektől
non-attributive possessive - singular	lesé	leseké
non-attributive possessive - plural	leséi	lesekéi

Possessive forms of les
possessor	single possession	multiple possessions
1st person sing.	lesem	leseim
2nd person sing.	lesed	leseid
3rd person sing.	lese	lesei
1st person plural	lesünk	leseink
2nd person plural	lesetek	leseitek
3rd person plural	lesük	leseik

Derived terms

Expressions

lesben áll

Verb

les

(transitive) to spy, peep, peek, pry
(transitive) to stare, goggle, eye
(transitive, intransitive) to cheat at a test by looking at someone else's work

Conjugation

conjugation of les

Other forms	Verbal noun		Present part.	Past part.	Future part.	Adverbial participle		Causative
Click for archaic forms			1st person sg	2nd person sg informal	3rd person sg, 2nd p. sg formal	1st person pl	2nd person pl informal	3rd person pl, 2nd p. pl formal
Indicative mood	Present	Indef.	lesek	lesel	les	lesünk	lestek	lesnek
		Def.	lesem	lesed	lesi	lessük	lesitek	lesik
		2nd-p. o.	leslek	―
	Past	Indef.	lestem	lestél	lesett	lestünk	lestetek	lestek
		Def.	lestem	lested	leste	lestük	lestétek	lesték
		2nd-p. o.	lestelek	―
	Future		Future is expressed with a present-tense verb with a completion-marking prefix and/or a time adverb, or—more explicitly—with the infinitive plus the conjugated auxiliary verb fog, e.g. lesni fog.
	Archaic Preterit	Indef.	lesék	lesél	lese	lesénk	lesétek	lesének
		Def.	lesém	leséd	lesé	lesénk	lesétek	lesék
		2nd-p. o.	lesélek	―
	Archaic Past		Two additional past tenses: the present and the (current) past forms followed by vala (volt), e.g. les vala, lesett vala/volt.
	Archaic Future	Indef.	lesendek	lesendesz	lesend	lesendünk	lesendetek	lesendenek
		Def.	lesendem	lesended	lesendi	lesendjük	lesenditek	lesendik
		2nd-p. o.	lesendelek	―
Conditional mood	Present	Indef.	lesnék	lesnél	lesne	lesnénk	lesnétek	lesnének
		Def.	lesném	lesnéd	lesné	lesnénk (or lesnők)	lesnétek	lesnék
		2nd-p. o.	lesnélek	―
	Past		Indicative past forms followed by volna, e.g. lesett volna
Subjunctive mood	Present	Indef.	lessek	less or lessél	lessen	lessünk	lessetek	lessenek
		Def.	lessem	lesd or lessed	lesse	lessük	lessétek	lessék
		2nd-p. o.	lesselek	―
	(Archaic) Past		Indicative past forms followed by légyen, e.g. lesett légyen
Infinitive	lesni		lesnem	lesned	lesnie	lesnünk	lesnetek	lesniük
Other forms	lesés		leső	lesett	lesendő	lesve (lesvén)
The archaic passive conjugation had the same -(t)at/-(t)et suffix as the causative, followed by -ik in the 3rd-person singular (and the concomitant changes in conditional and subjunctive mostly in the 1st- and 3rd-person singular like with other traditional -ik verbs).

potential conjugation of les

Click for archaic forms			1st person sg	2nd person sg informal	3rd person sg, 2nd p. sg formal	1st person pl	2nd person pl informal	3rd person pl, 2nd p. pl formal
Indicative mood	Present	Indef.	leshetek	leshetsz	leshet	leshetünk	leshettek	leshetnek
		Def.	leshetem	lesheted	lesheti	leshetjük	leshetitek	leshetik
		2nd-p. o.	leshetlek	―
	Past	Indef.	leshettem	leshettél	leshetett	leshettünk	leshettetek	leshettek
		Def.	leshettem	leshetted	leshette	leshettük	leshettétek	leshették
		2nd-p. o.	leshettelek	―
	Archaic Preterit	Indef.	lesheték	leshetél	leshete	lesheténk	leshetétek	leshetének
		Def.	leshetém	leshetéd	lesheté	lesheténk	leshetétek	lesheték
		2nd-p. o.	leshetélek	―
	Archaic Past		Two additional past tenses: the present and the (current) past forms followed by vala, e.g. leshet vala, leshetett vala/volt.
	Archaic Future	Indef.	leshetendek or lesandhatok	leshetendesz or lesandhatsz	leshetend or lesandhat	leshetendünk or lesandhatunk	leshetendetek or lesandhattok	leshetendenek or lesandhatnak
		Def.	leshetendem or lesandhatom	leshetended or lesandhatod	leshetendi or lesandhatja	leshetendjük or lesandhatjuk	leshetenditek or lesandhatjátok	leshetendik or lesandhatják
		2nd-p. o.	leshetendelek or lesandhatlak	―
Conditional mood	Present	Indef.	leshetnék	leshetnél	leshetne	leshetnénk	leshetnétek	leshetnének
		Def.	leshetném	leshetnéd	leshetné	leshetnénk (or leshetnők)	leshetnétek	leshetnék
		2nd-p. o.	leshetnélek	―
	Past		Indicative past forms followed by volna, e.g. leshetett volna
Subjunctive mood	Present	Indef.	leshessek	leshess or leshessél	leshessen	leshessünk	leshessetek	leshessenek
		Def.	leshessem	leshesd or leshessed	leshesse	leshessük	leshessétek	leshessék
		2nd-p. o.	leshesselek	―
	(Archaic) Past		Indicative past forms followed by légyen, e.g. leshetett légyen
Inf.	(leshetni)		(leshetnem)	(leshetned)	(leshetnie)	(leshetnünk)	(leshetnetek)	(leshetniük)
Positive adjective			leshető	Neg. adj.	leshetetlen	Adv. part.	(leshetve / leshetvén)

Derived terms

(With verbal prefixes):

References

^ Entry #1792 in Uralonet, online Uralic etymological database of the Hungarian Research Centre for Linguistics.
^ les in Zaicz, Gábor (ed.). Etimológiai szótár: Magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete (‘Dictionary of Etymology: The origin of Hungarian words and affixes’). Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó, 2006, →ISBN. (See also its 2nd edition.)

Icelandic

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /lɛːs/
Rhymes: -ɛːs

Noun

les n (genitive singular less, nominative plural les)

(linguistics) lexeme (set of inflected forms taken by a single word)
(computing) lexeme (individual instance of a continuous character sequence without spaces, used in lexical analysis)

Declension

Declension of les
n-s	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	les	lesið	les	lesin
accusative	les	lesið	les	lesin
dative	lesi	lesinu	lesum	lesunum
genitive	less	lessins	lesa	lesanna

Synonyms

(lexeme): flettiorð

Derived terms

Verb

les

first-person singular of lesa (“to read”)
Ég les mikið af þýskum bókum.
I read a lot of German books.
third-person singular of lesa (“to read”)
Pálmi les alltaf sömu söguna, þótt hann eigi margar bækur.
Pálmi always reads the same story, even though he has many books.

Indonesian

Etymology 1

From Dutch les (“course, lesson”), from Middle Dutch lesse, from Latin lēctiō.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈlɛs]
Hyphenation: lès

Noun

lès (first-person possessive lesku, second-person possessive lesmu, third-person possessive lesnya)

(education, colloquial) cram school, private tuition.

Verb

lès

(education, colloquial) to cram, to study hard, to learn at cram school.

Etymology 2

From Dutch lis (“reed”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈlɛs]
Hyphenation: lès

Noun

lès (first-person possessive lesku, second-person possessive lesmu, third-person possessive lesnya)

rein.

Etymology 3

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈləs]
Hyphenation: lês

Noun

lês (first-person possessive lesku, second-person possessive lesmu, third-person possessive lesnya)

alternative spelling of lis

Interlingua

Pronoun

les

(dative) to them

Usage notes

Precedes conjugated verbs.
Can be of mixed gender (not just masculine).

Ladin

Etymology

From Latin illas.

Article

les f (plural)

the

Middle English

Alternative forms

lese, lees, leas, leasse

Etymology

From Old English lēas (“false, void, loose”).

Cognate with Middle High German lōs (“loose”), Old Swedish lø̄s (“loose”); a doublet of loos.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /lɛːs/

Adjective

les

false; lying; deceptive

Noun

les (uncountable)

falsehood; a lie
- 15th c., “[The Creation]”, in Wakefield Mystery Plays; Re-edited in George England, Alfred W. Pollard, editors, The Towneley Plays (Early English Text Society Extra Series; LXXI), London: […] Oxford University Press, 1897, →OCLC, page 5, lines 120–121:
  He is so fayre, withoutten les, / he semys full well to sytt on des.
  He is so good, without falsehood; / (so) he's really suited to sit on a dais.
- c. 1480, “The Creation”, in The Towneley Plays, lines 158–159:
  We held with hym ther he saide leasse / And therfor have we all unpeasse.
  We stayed with him when he uttered untruth, / and therefore we all feel discord.
- c. 1480, “The Creation”, in The Towneley Plays, lines 193–195:
  Ye shall have joye and blis therin / Whils ye will kepe you out of syn, / I say withoutten lese.
  You'll have joy and tranquility within / if you keep yourself out of sin, / I say, without lies.

Middle French

Etymology

from Old French les, from Latin illōs m and illās f

Article

les m pl or f pl (masculine singular le, feminine singular la)

the

Descendants

French: les

Norman

Norman Definite Articles
	singular	plural
masculine	le / l'	les
feminine	la / l'	les

Pronunciation

Audio (Jersey): (file)

Article

les pl (singular lé, and la)

Alternative form of l's
les boutons ― the nipples

les êpices ― the spices

les lédgeunmes ― the vegetables

les ridgieaux ― the curtains
- 2013 March, Geraint Jennings, “Mar martello”, in The Town Crier‎^[1], archived from the original on 13 March 2016, page 20:
  Dans les clios étout nou vait des tracteurs et des machinnes tandi qu'lé travas du fèrmyi r'prend san rhythme coumme tréjous.
  In the fields tractors and machines can be seen too as farm work picks up again as always.

Norwegian Bokmål

Verb

les

imperative of lese

Norwegian Nynorsk

Verb

les

present tense of lesa
imperative of lesa

Old Czech

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *lěsъ.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): (13^th CE) /ˈlɛs/
IPA^(key): (15^th CE) /ˈlɛs/

Noun

les m inan

forest
Synonym: hvozd

Declension

Declension of les (hard o-stem)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	les	lesy	lesi, lesové
genitive	lesa, lesu	lesú	lesóv
dative	lesu	lesoma	lesóm
accusative	les	lesy	lesy
vocative	lese	lesy	lesi, lesové
locative	lesě, lesu	lesú	lesiech
instrumental	lesem	lesoma	lesy

This table shows the most common forms around the 13th century.
See also Appendix:Old Czech nouns and Appendix:Old Czech pronunciation.

Descendants

Czech: les

Old French

Etymology

From Latin illas and illos.

Article

les

the (feminine plural oblique definite article)
the (feminine plural nominative definite article)
the (masculine plural oblique 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.

Descendants

Middle French: les
- French: les

Old Irish

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [lʲesʲ]

Pronoun

les

third-person singular masculine of la

Alternative forms

less

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [l͈ʲes]

Noun

les m

Alternative spelling of less (“benefit, advantage”)

Mutation

Old Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Nasalization
les also lles after a proclitic ending in a vowel	les pronounced with /l(ʲ)-/	unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Old Slovak

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *lě̑sъ. First attested in 1386.

Noun

les m inan

forest, woods (dense uncultivated tract of trees)

Descendants

Pannonian Rusyn: лєс (ljes)
Slovak: les

References

Majtán, Milan et al., editors (1991–2008), “les”, in Historický slovník slovenského jazyka [Historical Dictionary of the Slovak Language] (in Slovak), volumes 1–7 (A – Ž), Bratislava: VEDA, →OCLC

Rohingya

Etymology

Compare with Bengali লেজ (lej).

Noun

les

tail

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Bulgarian лес (les).

Noun

les n (plural lesuri)

(Oltenia) thicket

Declension

Declension of les

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) les	lesul	(niște) lesuri	lesurile
genitive/dative	(unui) les	lesului	(unor) lesuri	lesurilor
vocative	lesule		lesurilor

References

les in Academia Română, Micul dicționar academic, ediția a II-a, Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 2010. →ISBN

Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /lêːs/

Etymology 1

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *lěsъ (“tree, forest”).

Alternative forms

lijȇs (Ijekavian)

Noun

lȇs m (Cyrillic spelling ле̑с)

coffin
(regionally) lumber
(regionally) forest, woods

Declension

Declension of les

	singular	plural
nominative	lȇs	lésovi
genitive	lesa	lésōvā
dative	lesu	lesovima
accusative	les	lesove
vocative	lese	lesovi
locative	lesu	lesovima
instrumental	lesom	lesovima

Etymology 2

From German Löss.

Noun

lȇs m (Cyrillic spelling ле̑с)

(geology) loess

Slovak

Slovak Wikipedia has an article on:

les

Wikipedia ^sk

Etymology

Inherited from Old Slovak les, from Proto-Slavic *lěsъ.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [les]

Noun

les m inan (genitive singular lesa, nominative plural lesy, genitive plural lesov, declension pattern of dub, related adjective lesný, diminutive lesík or lesíček)

forest, woods

Declension

Declension of les

	singular	plural
nominative	les	lesy
genitive	lesa	lesov
dative	lesu	lesom
accusative	les	lesy
locative	lese	lesoch
instrumental	lesom	lesmi

Slovene

Slovene Wikipedia has an article on:

les

Wikipedia ^sl

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *lěsъ.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /léːs/
Rhymes: -eːs
Hyphenation: les

Noun

lẹ̑s m inan


at	v lesu
to	v les
from	iz lesa

(uncountable) wood
Synonyms: lesovina, lesnina, lesna snov
(uncommon, uncountable) trees in a forest^[→SSKJ]
Synonyms: drevo, drev
(usually in the plural, archaic or literary) forest, woods
Synonyms: gozd, boršt, gmajna, gaj, gošča, gozdek, gozdič, gozdiček, gozdni labirint, hosta, lesovje, log, loza, šuma
(Christianity, rare) cross
Synonyms: križ, krucifiks

Declension

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First masculine declension (hard o-stem, inanimate, -ov- infix) , long mixed accent
nom. sing.	lẹ̑s
gen. sing.	lesȃ
	singular	dual	plural
nominative imenovȃlnik	lẹ̑s	lesȏva	lesȏvi
genitive rodȋlnik	lesȃ	lesóv	lesóv
dative dajȃlnik	lẹ̑su, lẹ̑si	lesȏvoma, lesȏvama	lesȏvom, lẹ̑sȏvam
accusative tožȋlnik	lẹ̑s	lesȏva	lesȏve
locative mẹ̑stnik	lẹ̑su, lẹ̑si	lesȏvih	lesȏvih
instrumental orọ̑dnik	lẹ̑som	lesȏvoma, lesȏvama	lesȏvi
(vocative) (ogȏvorni imenovȃlnik)	lẹ̑s	lesȏva	lesȏvi

stylistically marked

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First masculine declension (hard o-stem, inanimate) , fixed accent
nom. sing.	lẹ̑s
gen. sing.	lẹ̑sa
	singular	dual	plural
nominative imenovȃlnik	lẹ̑s	lẹ̑sa	lẹ̑si
genitive rodȋlnik	lẹ̑sa	lẹ̑sov	lẹ̑sov
dative dajȃlnik	lẹ̑su, lẹ̑si	lẹ̑soma, lẹ̑sama	lẹ̑som, lẹ̑sam
accusative tožȋlnik	lẹ̑s	lẹ̑sa	lẹ̑se
locative mẹ̑stnik	lẹ̑su, lẹ̑si	lẹ̑sih, lẹ̑sah	lẹ̑sih, lẹ̑sah
instrumental orọ̑dnik	lẹ̑som	lẹ̑soma, lẹ̑sama	lẹ̑si
(vocative) (ogȏvorni imenovȃlnik)	lẹ̑s	lẹ̑sa	lẹ̑si

Derived terms

Spanish

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /les/ [les]
Rhymes: -es
Syllabification: les

Etymology 1

Inherited from Latin illīs, dative plural of ille.

Pronoun

les

dative of ellos and ellas; to them, for them
Los chicos están hambrientos, les llevaré algo de comer.
The boys are hungry, I'll bring them something to eat.
dative of ustedes; to you all, for you all (formal)
Hijas, ¿quieren que les compre algo de la tienda?
Daughters, do you want me to buy you all anything from the store?
(leísmo, dialectal) accusative of ustedes; you all (formal)
Synonyms: los, las

¿Necesitan que [yo] les ayude en algo?
Do you need me to help you all with anything?
(leísmo, dialectal, proscribed except in impersonal sentences with "se") accusative of ellos and ellas; them
Synonyms: lo, la

Se les considera unos tontos. [non-proscribed]
They consider them fools.

Ayer les vi cenando en un restaurante. [proscribed]
Yesterday I saw them dining at a restaurant.
(gender-neutral, neologism) dative of elles; to them, for them
Les pedí que por favor hagan silencio.
I asked them to please be quiet.

Etymology 2

Gender-neutral e replaces the gendered endings/elements a and o.

Article

les gender-neutral pl

(gender-neutral, neologism) the (plural)
Les estudiantes están prestando atención a la clase.
The students are paying attention to the class.

Tok Pisin

Etymology

From English lazy.

Adjective

les

lazy
tired, fed up

Verb

les

be lazy
be tired, be fed up

Welsh

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /leːs/
Rhymes: -eːs

Etymology 1

Borrowed from English lace.

Noun

les f (plural lesau, not mutable)

lace (light fabric patterned with holes)

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Middle English lease, from Anglo-Norman les, from Old French lais, lez (“a lease”).

Noun

les f (plural lesoedd, not mutable)

lease

Alternative forms

lês (obsolete)

Derived terms

lesddeiliad (“leaseholder”)

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

les

Soft mutation of lles.

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
lles	les	unchanged	unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

[1] Dauzat, Albert with Jean Dubois, Henri Mitterand (1964) “le, la, les”, in Nouveau dictionnaire étymologique (in French), Paris: Librairie Larousse

[2] Entry #1792 in Uralonet, online Uralic etymological database of the Hungarian Research Centre for Linguistics.

[3] les in Zaicz, Gábor (ed.). Etimológiai szótár: Magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete (‘Dictionary of Etymology: The origin of Hungarian words and affixes’). Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó, 2006, →ISBN. (See also its 2nd edition.)

[1]

[1]

[2]

singular	nominative	accusative	dative	tonic¹	possessive²
1^st person	jo	mè			min
2^nd person	te	tè			tin
3^rd person masculine	il	lo / le	lui		sin
3^rd person feminine	el	la	lyé
3^rd person neuter	o		y	—
3^rd person reflexive	—	sè
plural	nominative	accusative	dative	tonic¹	possessive²
1^st person	nos				noutro
2^nd person	vos				voutro
3^rd person masculine	ils	los / les	lor		lor
3^rd person feminine	els	les	lor / lyés
3^rd person reflexive	—	sè
¹ Disjunctive or object of a preposition.		² Generally preceded by a definite article.

				nominative	dative	accusative	disjunctive
first person	singular			yo	me		mí¹
	plural	masculine²		nosotros	nos		nosotros
	plural	feminine		nosotras	nos		nosotras
second person	singular	tuteo		tú	te		ti¹
		voseo		vos	te		vos
		formal³		usted	le, se⁴	lo/la⁵	usted
	plural	familiar⁶	masculine²	vosotros	os		vosotros
		familiar⁶	feminine	vosotras	os		vosotras
		formal/general³		ustedes	les, se⁴	los/las⁵	ustedes
third person	singular	masculine²		él	le, se⁴	lo	él
		feminine		ella		la	ella
		neuter		ello⁷		lo	ello
	plural	masculine²		ellos	les, se⁴	los	ellos
	plural	feminine		ellas	les, se⁴	las	ellas
	reflexive			—	se		sí¹

les

English

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Noun

Adjective

Anagrams

Afrikaans

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Aragonese

Etymology

Pronoun

Synonyms

Asturian

Alternative forms

Etymology

Article

Catalan

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

Article

Pronoun

Declension

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

Adjective

Derived terms

Related terms

Further reading

Czech

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Declension

Related terms

Further reading

Danish

Noun

Dutch

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Noun

Derived terms

Descendants

Etymology 2

Verb

Anagrams

Further reading

Franco-Provençal

Etymology 1

Determiner

Pronoun

See also

References

Etymology 2

Determiner

Pronoun

References

French

Etymology

Pronunciation

Article

Usage notes

Pronoun

Related terms

References

Further reading

Anagrams

Galician

Verb

German

Pronunciation

Verb

Hungarian

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Declension