là
Corsican edit
Etymology edit
From Latin labii, the first word of the sixth line of Ut queant laxis, on which the names for the notes of the solfège were based. Compare Italian la and French la.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
là
References edit
French edit
Etymology edit
Inherited from Middle French la, from Old French la, from Latin illāc. The grave accent on the a was added to disambiguate with la (“the”).
Pronunciation edit
- IPA(key): /la/
audio (France) (file) - (Quebec), IPA(key): (formal) /la/, (formal) /lɑ/, (informal) /lɔ/
- Homophone: la
Adverb edit
là
- referring to physical place
- referring to an abstract destination or goal; there
- Je suis presque là. ― I've almost got it. (literally, “I'm almost there.”)
Usage notes edit
- Some compounds formed with là are traditionally written with hyphens while others are not. Larousse[1] gives a non-exhaustive list which nevertheless illustrates examples of each group, where certain patterns can be detected:
Derived terms edit
See also edit
- y (near-synonym in certain contexts)
References edit
- “là”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Italian edit
Etymology edit
From Latin illāc. Compare Spanish allá, Portuguese lá, French là.
The original geminated -ll-, though lost in the standard language, is still found in most regional Italian varieties.
Pronunciation edit
Adverb edit
là
Usage notes edit
- See usage notes at lì.
Derived terms edit
Further reading edit
- là in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
- là in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)
Anagrams edit
Lahu edit
Verb edit
là
- to come
Mandarin edit
Alternative forms edit
- la — nonstandard
Romanization edit
- Hanyu Pinyin reading of 剌
- Hanyu Pinyin reading of 嘑/呼
- Hanyu Pinyin reading of 拉
- Hanyu Pinyin reading of 揧
- Hanyu Pinyin reading of 擶
- Hanyu Pinyin reading of 攋/𪮶
- Hanyu Pinyin reading of 楋
- Hanyu Pinyin reading of 爉
- Hanyu Pinyin reading of 瓎
- Hanyu Pinyin reading of 瘌
- Hanyu Pinyin reading of 癞
- Hanyu Pinyin reading of 癤/疖
- Hanyu Pinyin reading of 翂
- Hanyu Pinyin reading of 腊
- Hanyu Pinyin reading of 臈/腊
- Hanyu Pinyin reading of 臘/腊
- Hanyu Pinyin reading of 萺
- Hanyu Pinyin reading of 蜛
- Hanyu Pinyin reading of 蝋
- Hanyu Pinyin reading of 蝲
- Hanyu Pinyin reading of 蠟/蜡
- Hanyu Pinyin reading of 辢
- Hanyu Pinyin reading of 辣
- Hanyu Pinyin reading of 鑞/镴
- Hanyu Pinyin reading of 鬎
- Hanyu Pinyin reading of 鯻/𬶟
- Hanyu Pinyin reading of 蜡
Middle French edit
Adverb edit
là
- (late Middle French) Alternative form of la (there; at a given location)
Mochica edit
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
là
Synonyms edit
References edit
- José Antonio Salas, Diccionario mochica-castellano, castellano-mochica (2002)
Muong edit
Etymology edit
From Proto-Vietic *laː (“to work”). Cognate with Vietnamese là.
Pronunciation edit
Verb edit
là
Derived terms edit
Verb edit
là
- (Mường Bi) to be
References edit
- Nguyễn Văn Khang; Bùi Chỉ; Hoàng Văn Hành (2002) Từ điển Mường - Việt (Muong - Vietnamese dictionary), Nhà xuất bản Văn hoá Dân tộc Hà Nội
Mwan edit
Postposition edit
là
Portuguese edit
Adverb edit
là (not comparable)
Romansch edit
Etymology edit
Adverb edit
là
Scottish Gaelic edit
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
là m (genitive singular là, plural làithean)
- Alternative form of latha
Usage notes edit
- Usually used for special days of the calendar.
Derived terms edit
- Là Bealltainn (“Beltane, May Day”)
- Là Buidhe Bealltainn (“Beltane, May Day”)
- Là na Bliadhna Ùire (“New Year's Day”)
- Là na Gogaireachd (“April Fool's Day”)
- Là nam Màthraichean (“Mother's Day”)
- Là nam Pòg (“Saint Valentine's Day”)
- Là nan Amadan (“April Fool's Day”)
- Là nan Athraichean (“Father's Day”)
- Là nan Trì Rìghrean (“Epiphany”)
- Là Nollaige (“Christmas Day”)
Vietnamese edit
Pronunciation edit
- (Hà Nội) IPA(key): [laː˨˩]
- (Huế) IPA(key): [laː˦˩]
- (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA(key): [laː˨˩]
Audio (Hồ Chí Minh City) (file)
Etymology 1 edit
Non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 羅 (SV: la).
Noun edit
- fine silk
- 15th century, Nguyễn Trãi, “Ngôn chí 言志 3”, in Quốc âm thi tập (國音詩集):
𩛷 咹 油 固 𦼞 㙁 襖 默 奈 之 錦 羅 - [I don't mind] Even if my meals only have pickles [on the side],
[and] I have no reason to demand good silk for clothing.
- [I don't mind] Even if my meals only have pickles [on the side],
Etymology 2 edit
From Proto-Vietic *laː (“to work”). Doublet of làm.
Verb edit
- (copula) to be
- 1946, Tố Hữu, “Từ ấy [That Moment]”, in Từ ấy [That Moment]:
- Tôi đã là con của vạn nhà
Là em của vạn kiếp phôi pha
Là anh của vạn đầu em nhỏ
Không áo cơm, cù bất cù bơ…- I became the son of all families
The little brother of all fading lives
The big brother of all young ones
Who were starving, shivering and wandering…
- I became the son of all families
Usage notes edit
The verb là is used before a noun, which is part of the nominal predicate, but is not used before an adjectival predicate.
When a noun which follows là as the nominal predicate indicates professions or occupations, là and the verb làm are interchangeable.
- Bà ấy là / làm giáo viên ở trường này hơn hai mươi năm rồi. ― She has been a teacher at this school for more than twenty years.
Là may be used as the predicate to indicate existence, which is equivalent to "there is" or "there are". The word order is: place + là (+ classifier) + noun.
In formal Vietnamese, the verb là can be placed in front of an adjective as an intensifier for the emphasis denoted by the adjective which functions as the predicate. Compare the following sentences:
- Vấn đề này quan trọng. ― This issue is important. (No emphasis.)
- Tất cả chúng tôi đều thấy rằng vấn đề này là quan trọng, nên... ― We all realized that this issue is important indeed, therefore... (The emphasis is placed on the adjective quan trọng, and the verb là is used as an intensifier for the emphatic statement.)
As a copula verb that is somewhat semantically empty. It is not perfectly equivalent to copulae in other languages (such as English be, French être, Japanese です (desu), Hindi है (hai)), as it only links the subject to a noun or noun phrase. Teachers of foreign languages typically translate copulae of those languages to là, but also to thì (for linking to adjectives) to compensate this incompatibility.
See also edit
Etymology 3 edit
Verb edit
- (usually Northern Vietnam) to iron
- Synonym: ủi
- Là trong "giặt là hơi" là là chứ không phải là là.
- The là in "giặt là hơi" means ironing, not being. / "Giặt là hơi" means "wash and iron with steam", not "wash is steam".
Notes edit
Chữ Nôm character is composed of (⿰火𬙛).
Etymology 4 edit
Combining form edit
là
- reduplicant of lạ, only used in là lạ