ل

See also: J, ك‎, Ꭻ, and Ꮣ

ل	U+0644, ل ARABIC LETTER LAM

← ك
[U+0643]

Arabic

م →
[U+0645]

ﻝ	U+FEDD, ﻝ ARABIC LETTER LAM ISOLATED FORM

← ﻜ
[U+FEDC]

Arabic Presentation Forms-B

ﻞ →
[U+FEDE]

ﻞ	U+FEDE, ﻞ ARABIC LETTER LAM FINAL FORM

← ﻝ
[U+FEDD]

Arabic Presentation Forms-B

ﻟ →
[U+FEDF]

ﻟ	U+FEDF, ﻟ ARABIC LETTER LAM INITIAL FORM

← ﻞ
[U+FEDE]

Arabic Presentation Forms-B

ﻠ →
[U+FEE0]

ﻠ	U+FEE0, ﻠ ARABIC LETTER LAM MEDIAL FORM

← ﻟ
[U+FEDF]

Arabic Presentation Forms-B

ﻡ →
[U+FEE1]

Arabic

Pronunciation

(letter name): IPA^(key): /laːm/
(phoneme): IPA^(key): /l/, /ɫ/

Letter

ل / ل‍ / ‍ل‍ / ‍ل‎ • (lām)

The twenty-third letter of the Arabic alphabet. It is preceded by ك‎ (k) and followed by م‎ (m).

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-)

to, for, belonging to.

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 (li-l-layla, “for tonight”), لِلّٰهِ‎ (li-llāhi, “to God”). The pronunciation is entirely regular in all of these cases.

Inflection

Inflected forms
Base form					لِـ (li-)
Personal-pronoun- including forms	Singular		Dual	Plural
Personal-pronoun- including forms	Masculine	Feminine	Common	Masculine	Feminine
First person	لِي/ لِيَ‎ (lī / liya)			لَنَا‎ (lanā)
Second person	لَكَ‎ (laka)	لَكِ‎ (laki)	لَكُمَا‎ (lakumā)	لَكُمْ‎ (lakum)	لَكُنَّ‎ (lakunna)
Third person	لَهُ‎ (lahu)	لَهَا‎ (lahā)	لَهُمَا‎ (lahumā)	لَهُمْ‎ (lahum)	لَهُنَّ‎ (lahunna)

Derived terms

لِمَا‎ (limā)
لِمَ‎ (lima)
مَالِ‎ (māli)

Descendants

(via third-person singular masculine form لَهُ‎ (lahu)):

→ Azerbaijani: ləh
→ Persian: له‎ (lah)

Preposition

لَـ • (la-)

Used to express admiration or to call for help
‏يَا لَلْعَجَبِ!‎‎
yā la-l-ʕajabi!
How wonderful!
‏يَا لَهُ مِنْ عَالِمِ رَائِعِ!‎‎
yā lahu min ʕālimi rāʔiʕi!
What a wonderful world!

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

Inflected forms
Base form					لَـ (la-)
Personal-pronoun- including forms	Singular		Dual	Plural
Personal-pronoun- including forms	Masculine	Feminine	Common	Masculine	Feminine
First person	لِي/ لِيَ‎ (lī / liya)			لَنَا‎ (lanā)
Second person	لَكَ‎ (laka)	لَكِ‎ (laki)	لَكُمَا‎ (lakumā)	لَكُمْ‎ (lakum)	لَكُنَّ‎ (lakunna)
Third 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)
- 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 33:33:
  ‏إِنَّمَا يُرِيدُ اللّٰهُ لِيُذُهِبَ عَنْكُمُ الرِّجْسَ‎
  ʔinnamā yurīdu llāhu liyuḏuhiba ʕankumu r-rijsa
  (please add an English translation of this quote)
only to (لَامُ الْعَاقِبَة‎ (lāmu l-ʕāqiba))
- 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 28:8:
  ‏فَالْتَقَطَهُ آلُ فِرْعَوْنَ لِيَكُونَ لَهُمْ عَدُوًّا وَحَزَنًا‎
  fāltaqaṭahu ʾālu firʿawna li-yakūna lahum ʿaduwwan wa-ḥazanan
  And so the family of the Pharaoh picked him up, only to become an enemy and a grief.

Synonyms

لِأَنْ‎ (liʔan)

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /li./
(after وَ‎ (wa) or فَـ‎ (fa-)) IPA^(key): /l/

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
  (please add an English translation of this quote)
- 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 18:29:
  ‏وَقُلِ ٱلْحَقُّ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ فَمَنْ شَاءَ فَلْيُؤْمِنْ وَمَنْ شَاءَ فَلْيَكْفُرْ‎
  waquli l-ḥaqqu min rabbikum faman šāʔa falyuʔmin waman šāʔa falyakfur
  And say, "The truth is from your Lord, so whoever wills, let him believe; and whoever wills, let him disbelieve."

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /la./

Particle

لَـ • (la-)

(intensifying particle) truly, verily, certainly, surely
- 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 29:41:
  ‏وَإِنَّ أَوْهَنَ ٱلْبُيُوتِ لَبَيْتُ ٱلْعَنْكَبُوتِ‎
  wa-ʾinna ʾawhana l-buyūti la-baytu l-ʿankabūti
  And indeed, the weakest of homes is the home of the spider,

Usage notes

Frequently used after إِنَّ‎ (ʔinna).

Derived terms

لَقَدْ‎ (laqad)

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /li/

Verb

لِ • (li) (form I)

second-person masculine singular active 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 (in French), volume 1, pages 475-476

Balti

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /l/, [l~lʱ~ɭ~ɫ̥]

Letter

ل (l)

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

Kashmiri

Pronunciation

(letter name): IPA^(key): /laːm/
(phoneme): IPA^(key): /l/

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

Kazakh

Cyrillic	Л, л (L, l)
Arabic	ل
Latin

Pronunciation

(letter name): IPA^(key): /læm/
(phoneme): IPA^(key): /l/

Letter

ل • (l)

The nineteenth letter of the Kazakh in Arabic Script. It represents the Cyrillic letter Л.

Forms

Isolated form	Final form	Medial form	Initial form
ل	ـل	ـلـ	لـ

Khowar

Pronunciation

(letter name): IPA^(key): /lam/
(phoneme): IPA^(key): /l/

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

Malay

Pronunciation

(Name of letter) IPA^(key): [lam]
(Phoneme) IPA^(key): [l]

Letter

ل / ل‍ / ‍ل‍ / ‍ل‎

The twenty-seventh letter of the Malay alphabet, written in the Arabic script.

North Levantine Arabic

Etymology 1

From Arabic لِ‎ (li, “to, for, towards”). The initial syllable in suffixed forms is likely a contemporary development rather than influence from Arabic إِلَى‎ (ʔilā, “to, for, towards”), whose initial glottal stop would have naturally been lost as seen below; instead, compare the development of the initial syllable in إِجَا‎ (ʾija, “to come”).

Preposition

ل • (la)

to, towards
for
by; made by; pertaining to

Usage notes

Personal suffixes are attached to the stem ʾil-: إلي‎ (ʾili, “to me”), إلك‎ (ʾilak, “to you”), etc. Often, however, reduplicated forms from the stem laʾil- are used, thus لإلي‎ (laʾili), لإلك‎ (laʾilak).

Synonyms

(towards): ع‎ (ʿa); صوب‎ (ṣawb)
(for): كرمال‎ (kirmāl) and synonyms there.

Conjunction

ل • (la)

in order that

Usage notes

Also equivalent to the often-invisible English for as in for to.

Synonyms

كرمال‎ (kirmāl) and synonyms there.

Suffix

ـلـ • (-l-, -ill-)

to, for; dative suffix
‏صِرت قَايلِتلَك مِليوْن مَرَّة مَا تدَعْوِسْلِي عَالأرض البَعدنَا منَضّفِينو!‎‎
ṣirt ʾāylitlak milyōn marra ma tdaʿwisli ʿal-ʾarḍ l-baʿdna mnaḍḍfīno!
I've told you a million times, don't step all over the floor if we've just cleaned it!
(literally, “I've said to you a million times, don't step [for] me all over the floor that we've just cleaned!”)

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.
  جَاب‎ (jāb (jēb), “he brought”) ⇒ جَبلِي (jabli, “he brought me”, literally “he brought to me”), not *جَابلِي (*jābli (*jēbli)).
  شُوف‎ (šūf, “look at, check out”, masculine imperative) ⇒ شِفلِي (šifli, “look at [...] for me, check out for me”)
- Some speakers extend this to the plural ending -īn of active participles.
  قَايلِين‎ (ʾāylīn, “have said”, pl) ⇒ قَايلِينلي (ʾāylīnli) or قَايلِنلي (ʾāylinli, “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) ⇒ مشِيتِلَّك (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 down”) ⇒ حَطَّيْنالِك ياه، حَطَّيْنالِك هو (ḥaṭṭaynēlik yē, ḥaṭṭaynēlik huwwe, “we put it down 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 (baʿdill-, “(of time) remaining for”), from بَعْد‎ (baʿd, “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 end in ū will generally contract it into a short u instead of a short i if it's attached to them. Two somewhat-common examples are مَسمُحلـ‎ (masmuḥl-, “permitted for”) and مقَدَّرلـ‎ (mʾaddarl-, “fated for, preordained for”).
- It can only attach to elatives to refer to the better or best of a set of choices, like أَريَحَلِي‎ (ʾaryaḥli, “more/most comfortable for me”) and أَنضَفلنَا‎ (ʾanḍaflna, “cleaner/cleanest for us”). It's generally invalid to use it on an elative that describes a negative trait, like *أَوْسَخلَك‎ (*ʾawsaḵlak, “dirtier/dirtiest for you”) or *أصعَبلَك‎ (ʾaṣʿablak, “more/most difficult for you”), because it imparts a positive slant on the trait the elative describes. In contrast, عَلَى‎ (ʿala, “in relation to”) can construe elatives no matter what they mean: أَهيَن علَيك‎ (ʾahyan ʿlēk, “easier for you”) is synonymous with أَهيَنلَك‎ (ʾahyanlak, “easier for you”), but the only valid antonym is أَصعَب علَيك (ʾaṣʿab ʿlēk, “more/most difficult for you”, literally “more/most difficult in relation to you”) instead of *أصعَبلَك‎ (ʾaṣʿablak, “more/most difficult for you”).

Etymology 2

From Arabic إِلَى‎ (ʔilā, “to, for, toward”).

Preposition

ل • (la)

to, toward

Usage notes

Its suffix-base form is lay-, similarly to عَلَى‎ (ʿala). This distinguishes it from the preposition above when constructed with a personal suffix.
For the most part, only used in the phrases مِنُّو لَيه‎ (minno lē, “in its entirety; altogether”, literally “from it to it”), قِدِر لَ (ʾidir la, “to be able to handle”, literally “to be able toward”), فِيه لَ (fī la, “can handle”, literally “can toward”), and إِجَا لَ (ʾija la, “to come for”). However, it is also uncommonly used to construe other verbs of motion as a generalized sense of the last phrase, where it retains the sense of intending “to apprehend or cause harm” suggested by come for:
‏وَاللَّه حَإِضهَر لَيك‎
waḷḷa ḥaʾiḍhar lēk
I swear, I'm going to come out there and come for you.
(literally, “I swear I'm going to come out toward you”)

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

Persian

Pronunciation

Audio (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.

Sindhi

Pronunciation

(letter name): IPA^(key): /lam/
(phoneme): IPA^(key): /l/

Letter

ل (lām)

The forty-sixth letter of the Sindhi abjad.

Forms

Isolated form	Final form	Medial form	Initial form
ل	ـل	ـلـ	لـ

South Levantine Arabic

Etymology

From Arabic لِ‎ (li).

Preposition

لـ • (la-)

to (someone); belonging to; for
to (a place)
Synonym: على‎ (ʕala)
until, up to
Synonyms: حتّى‎ (ḥatta), لحدّ‎ (la-ḥadd)

Conjunction

لـ • (la-)

so that (before a subjuctive verb)
Synonyms: حتّى‎ (ḥatta-), عشان‎ (ʕašan), منشان‎ (minšān)

Suffix

ـلـ • (-l-, il, -ill-)

to; for (indirect object suffix with an attached enclitic pronoun)
Synonym: (detached version for emphasis) إلـ‎ (ʾil-)

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

Inflected forms of ل
Base form				ـلـ (-l-)
Personal-pronoun- including forms	singular		plural
Personal-pronoun- including forms	m	f	plural
1^st person	ـلي‎ (-li, -illi)		ـلنا‎ (-lna, -ilna)
2^nd person	ـلك‎ (-lak, -illak)	ـلك‎ (-lek, -illek)	ـلكم‎ (-lkom, ilkom)
3^rd person	ـله‎ (-lo, -illo)	ـلها‎ (-lha, -ilha)	ـلهم‎ (-lhom, ihom)

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)
1st	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

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

Yoruba

Pronunciation

(letter name): IPA^(key): /lí/
(phoneme): IPA^(key): /l/

Letter

ل (l)

The thirteenth letter of the Yoruba alphabet in the ajami script, equivalent to Latin script l.

Forms

Isolated form	Final form	Medial form	Initial form
ل	ـل	ـلـ	لـ