els

See also: ELS, ELs, Els, èls, -els, and eļš

English

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛlz/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛlz

Noun

els

1. plural of el

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛls/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛls

Adjective

els (not comparable)

1. Obsolete form of else.
   • c. 1522 (date written), Thomas More, “A Treatyce (Vnfynyshed) vppon These Wordes of Holye Scrypture, Memorare Nouissima, & Ineternum non Peccabis, Remember the Last Thynges, and Thou shalt Neuer Synne. […]”, in Wyllyam Rastell [i.e., William Rastell], editor, The Workes of Sir Thomas More Knyght, […], London: […] Iohn Cawod, Iohn Waly, and Richarde Tottell, published 30 April 1557, →OCLC, book I, page 80, column 1:

     Now if ye felt your belly in ſuche caſe, that ye muſt be fayne al daye to tende it with warme clothes, oꝛ els ye were not able to abide the payne, would ye recken your belly ſicke oꝛ whole? I wene ye would recken your belly not in good quart.

   • c. 1691, John Aubrey, Naturall Historie of Wiltshire:

     We have a custome, that when one sneezes, every one els putts off his hatt, and bowes, and cries God bless ye Sir.

Anagrams

• -les-, ESL, LES, LSE, Les, LαEs, SEL, SLE, les

Aragonese

Etymology

From Latin illos (“those ones”). Akin to Spanish ellos and Portuguese eles.

Pronoun

els

1. they (third-person plural masculine pronoun)

Synonyms

• ellos

Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Latin illōs, from ille.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /əls/, (before voiced sound) /əlz/
• (Valencia) IPA^(key): /els/, (before voiced sound) /elz/

• Audio:

  (file)

Article

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

1. the; masculine plural definite article

Pronoun

els (proclitic, enclitic los, contracted enclitic 'ls)

1. them (masculine, direct or indirect object)

   Els visitaré. ― I'll visit them.

   Els donaré una moneda. ― I'll give them a coin.

2. them (feminine, indirect object only)

   Els diré la veritat. ― I'll tell them the truth.

Usage notes

• els is the reinforced (reforçada) form of the pronoun. It is used before verbs.

Declension

	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-.

Catalan personal pronouns and clitics

Danish

Noun

els c

1. indefinite genitive singular of el

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛls/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: els
• Rhymes: -ɛls

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch else, from Old Dutch *alisa, from Frankish *alisu, from Proto-Germanic *alisō, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂élis-.

Compare German Erle, English alder, Danish el, Norwegian older, Icelandic elri.

Noun

els m (plural elzen, diminutive elsje n)

1. alder, tree of the genus Alnus

Derived terms

• elzenfeetiran
• elzenkatje

Descendants

• → Papiamentu: èls

Etymology 2

From Middle Dutch elsene, from Old Dutch [Term?], from Proto-Germanic *alisnō, *alusnō. Related to *ēlō, whence Dutch aal, German Ahle, English awl.

Noun

els f (plural elzen, diminutive elsje n)

1. (leather working) awl
2. (printing) bodkin

Descendants

• → Papiamentu: èls

Anagrams

• les

Franco-Provençal

Etymology

Inherited from Latin illās.

Pronoun

els f pl (postpositive -els) (ORB, broad)

1. they (third-person plural feminine nominative)

See also

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

Franco-Provençal personal pronouns

References

• els in Lo trèsor Arpitan – on arpitan.eu

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch *elles, genitive of *elli (Middle Dutch el), from Proto-West Germanic *alljas.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /els/

Adverb

els

1. elsewhere

Further reading

• “el, els”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “els”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN

Romansch

Etymology

From Latin illōs, from ille.

Pronoun

els

1. they (masculine, common, and indeterminate gender)

Swedish

Noun

els

1. indefinite genitive singular of el

Anagrams

• -sel

Volapük

Article

els

1. nominative plural of el