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

Catalan personal pronouns and clitics

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

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

Franco-Provençal personal pronouns

			nominative	accusative	dative	tonic1	possessive2
singular	1st person		jo	mè			min
	2nd person		te	tè			tin
	3rd person	masculine	il	lo / le	lui		sin
		feminine	el	la	lyé
		neuter	o		y	—
		reflexive	—	sè
plural	1st person		nos				noutro
	2nd person		vos				voutro
	3rd person	masculine	ils	los / les	lor		lor
		feminine	els	les	lor / lyés
		reflexive	—	sè

¹ Disjunctive or object of a preposition.   ² Generally preceded by a definite article.

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