# ال
## Arabic
### Alternative forms

* اَمْ (am) — dialectal

### Etymology

Uncertain; Rubin posits that this is a reduced form of the lost singular of Arabic أُولَى (ʔulā, “these”); compare rare Hebrew אֵל (el, “these”) and Akkadian 𒌌𒇻𒌑𒌝 (ullûm, “that”). In this hypothesis, original initial /u/ would be lost due to low stress; the initial /a/ found in phrase-initial position would thus be prothetic.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /al-/, /-l-/
* Audio:(file)

### Article

اَلْ • (al-)
* the

#### Usage notes

* The /l/ of this prefix assimilates to and geminates the first letter of the base word when it begins with a traditionally-coronal consonant, natively called sun letters: ت (t), ث (ṯ), د (d), ذ (ḏ), ر (r), ز (z), س (s), ش (š), ص (ṣ), ض (ḍ), ط (ṭ), ظ (ẓ), ل (l), and ن (n). This does not traditionally include ج (j), as its original pronunciation was palatal rather than coronal, but in regions where it is pronounced /d͡ʒ ~ ʒ/ it can be found assimilating the definite article as well. The ل (l)’s assimilation is not observed by the article's spelling, which is invariably ال (al-); however, in fully vocalised texts, a shadda is written over the following sun letter to reflect gemination.
* The initial vowel a- is only pronounced when the article occurs either after a pause, at the beginning of an utterance, or after the preposition مِنْ (min). Otherwise, the article consists solely of the coronal consonant preceded by the final vowel of the previous word; if this previous word is consonant-final, then i is used as a linking vowel.

#### Descendants

* Egyptian Arabic: الـ (il-)
* Gulf Arabic: الـ (il-)
* Maltese: il-
* Moroccan Arabic: الـ (el-)
* → Persian: الـ (al-)

#### See also

* moon letter
* sun letter

#### References

* ↑ Aaron Rubin (2005) “Definite Articles”, in Studies in Semitic Grammaticalization, Brill, →DOI, →ISBN, pages 77-78

## Brahui
### Alternative forms

* ہَل (hal)

### Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Dravidian *eli. Cognate with Kannada ಇಲಿ (ili), Kodava ಎಲಿ (eli), Gondi యెల్లి (yelli), Tamil எலி (eli), Tulu ಎಲಿ (eli), Telugu ఎలుక (eluka) and Malayalam എലി (eli).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /al/

### Noun

اَل (al)
* mouse
    Synonym: مُوش (mūś)

## Bulgar
### Alternative forms

* الو (el$^{lü}$v) (without vowel points)
* الُو (el$^l$üv)

### Etymology

From Proto-Turkic *ellig.

### Numeral

الُّ (ellü)
* fifty

#### Descendants

* Chuvash: аллӑ (allă)

### References

* Tekin, Talât (1988) Volga Bulgar kitabeleri ve Volga Bulgarcası [Volga Bulgarian Ephitaphs and Volga Bulgarian Language]‎ (in Turkish), Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi, →ISBN, pages 90-91, 144-145, 198

## Egyptian Arabic
### Etymology

From Arabic الْـ (al--).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /i/, [ɪ] (always before sun letters, optionally before all consonants; geminates the following consonant)
* IPA: /ill/, [ɪlː] (optionally before vowels)
* IPA: /il/, [ɪl] (otherwise)

### Article

الـ • (il-)
* (definite article) the
* Used before abstract nouns; not translated in English.

## Gulf Arabic
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /(ʔ)ɪl/, [l], (before sun letters) /ɪ/

### Etymology 1

From Arabic اَلْ (al-).

#### Article

اِلـ • (il-)
* the definite article; the

### Etymology 2

Contraction of الي (illi, “the relative clause”), itself a contraction of Arabic اَلَّذِي m (allaḏī) and اَلَّتِي f (allatī)

#### Pronoun

اِلـ • (il-)
* (colloquial) the relative clause; that, who, which, etc
    Synonym: الي (illi)

### Etymology 3

Could be directly from Arabic إِلَىٰ (ʔilā).

#### Preposition

اِلـ • (il-)
* (colloquial) to (destination)
    Synonyms: (colloquial) لي (lē), (colloquial) ل (li)

##### Alternative forms

* لـ (l-)

## Hijazi Arabic
### Etymology

From Arabic اَلْ (al-).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /al/, (before sun letters) /a/

### Article

الـ • (al-)
* the definite article; the

## Kalami
### Etymology

Inherited from Sanskrit आर्द्र (ārdra).

### Adjective

ال (al) m
* wet

### References

* Baart, Joan L. G. (1997) “al”, in The sounds and tones of Kalam Kohistani: with wordlist and texts (Studies in Languages of Northern Pakistan; 1)‎, National Institute of Pakistan Studies, Quaid-i-Azam University; Summer Institute of Linguistics, page 77

## Karakhanid
### Etymology

From Proto-Turkic *o-l (“that”). Cognate with Turkish o (“he, she, it; that”) and Chinese 兀 (wù, “that”).

### Pronoun

ال (ol)
* (nominative case) he, she, it
* (nominative case) that

### Determiner

ال (ol)
* that

### Postposition

ال (ol)
* Denotes "to be" for third person singular when at the end of an object; is.
* Denotes third person singular after various tenses.

## Khalaj
### Noun

اَل (əl) (definite accusative اَلی, plural اَللَر)
* Arabic spelling of əl (“hand”)

#### Declension
## North Levantine Arabic
### Etymology 1

From Arabic ال (al-).

#### Article

الـ • (l-)
* the

##### Usage notes

* The article in fact consists solely of the consonant /l/, which is assimilated to the same onsets as in Standard Arabic (see above). Following the usage note there, some speakers extend this process of assimilation to the now-coronal ج (j /⁠ʒ⁠/).
* An epenthetic linking vowel is added as phonotactically necessary, be it before the article or after, in order to avoid a three-consonant cluster. Note that its notation with a schwa is not meant to represent IPA [ə], as its actual value varies between /i~e~o/ depending on context:
    النص المكتوب ― n-naṣṣ əl-maktūb ― the written text
    الكتاب المقدس ― lə-ktāb lə-mʾaddas ― the Holy Book, i.e. the Bible
* Assimilation is optionally ignored when the article precedes a consonant cluster where the initial consonant would normally trigger assimilation, as the epenthetic vowel separates them if it appears:
    الولاد الصغار ― lə-wlād lə-ṣḡār ― the small children

### Etymology 2

Reduction of the definite relative pronoun اللي (lli) or its alternative form لي (li).

#### Pronoun

ال • (l-)
* contraction of اللي
** 1961, Said Akl, Yara‎:يَارَا الجّدَايِلهَا شُقْرyāra j-jdāyilha šuʾrYara, whose braids are gold(literally, “Yara who her braids are gold”)

##### Usage notes

* Although this contraction is superficially identical to the definite article, some speakers do not assimilate it to a following coronal, allowing the two to be told apart in this context. Other speakers do, such as Said Akl in the reading linked from the quote above.

## Ottoman Turkish
### Etymology

From Proto-Turkic *el, *elig.

### Noun

ال • (el)
* hand

#### Derived terms

* ال دكرمنی (el değirmeni, “handmill”)
* ال عربه‌سی (el arabası, “handcart”)

#### Descendants

* Turkish: el

## Persian
### Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

### Noun

ال • (al)
* (Dari) plough; the beam of a plough

#### Derived terms

* ال زدن (al zadan)

## South Levantine Arabic
### Etymology

From Arabic ال (al-).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /l/, [l]

### Article

الـ • (l-)
* the (definite article)

#### Usage notes

* Phonemically, the article consists solely of the consonant /l/, which is assimilated to the same onsets as in Standard Arabic (see above), with some speakers extending the assimilation to the now-coronal ج (j /⁠ʒ⁠/). While the epenthetic vowel [ɪ] may be added before or after in order to avoid problematic consonant clusters, different speakers may be more or less tolerant of these clusters; those who tolerate an initial two-consonant cluster may not insert the vowel before /l/, meaning the article may be virtually inaudible in cases that the /l/ is assimilated.
    الميّ الباردة ― (i)l-mayy (i)l-bārde ― the cold water
    Audio (Ramallah):(file)
    الشباب الشاطرين ― (i)š-šabāb (i)š-šāṭrīn ― the smart guys
    Audio (Ramallah):(file)
    الكتاب الكبير ― li-ktāb li-kbīr ― the big book
    Audio (Ramallah):(file)
* Assimilation is optionally ignored when the article precedes a consonant cluster where the initial consonant would normally trigger assimilation, as the epenthetic vowel separates them if it appears:
    الزلمة الزغير ― (i)z-zalame li-zḡīr ― the small man
    Audio (Ramallah):(file)