le

Forms

le (article and pronoun f pl, singular la; dative pronoun f sg)^[1][2]

Etymology

The article and the object pronoun “them” are inherited from Latin ille (“that”) in the feminine plural, with the first syllable lost.^[3][2][4][1] Most dictionaries start from the nominative plural ⟨illae⟩,^{[3][4][5][6][7]} while Wiktionary starts from the accusative ⟨illās⟩.^[1] The article is a Romance innovation, made from the Latin demonstrative;^[7] Sardinian alone took its article from ipse.^[7] The same plural forms are French les, Occitan las, Catalan les, Spanish las, Portuguese as and Romanian -le.^[7][8]

The dative ⟨le⟩ “to her” has a separate history: it comes from Vulgar Latin *illae, a form made on the model of the datives of feminine nouns of the first declension such as puellae (“to the girl”), in place of classical illī, which served for both genders.^[2][1][3] Zingarelli describes ille itself as made of two elements of uncertain interpretation.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT dates the article and the accusative pronoun to 960,^[3] Nocentini to the 11th century,^[7] and Zingarelli to before 1237.^[5] The dative “to her” follows about 1250 according to GRADIT.^[3] DEI dates it to the 13th century and records it, in the old language, also as a masculine “to him” in the 14th century.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Old texts use the dative freely: in the Novellino Sir Tristan, quando ... le volea parlare (“when he wanted to speak to her”), went to a fountain in the king's garden and muddied its stream as a signal.^[10] In the old language and in verse the article was often elided before a vowel, as in Petrarch's lungo l'amate rive (“along the beloved banks”);^[6] Tommaseo still describes the elision as common in 1869,^[11] while modern usage keeps the full form, and forms such as l'ali and l'ore belong to poetry or regional speech.^[2][6]

The dative became the form of courteous address with Lei, used to men as well as women and often written Le in letters.^[3][2][6] With a feminine plural reference (“to them”) it is uncommon, though Treccani quotes it from Giovanni Arpino and notes it in speech.^[6] The accusative also has an indefinite neuter use in idioms such as le pensa tutte (“he thinks up every trick”) and le spara grosse (“he tells tall tales”).^[5][6] In popular Tuscan le is also a pleonastic subject, a shortening of elle, as in Manzoni's le son ciance (“they are idle talk”).^[5][6][12]

Timeline

• 960 – GRADIT's date for the article and the pronoun “them”.^[3]
• 11th century – Nocentini's date for the article.^[7]
• Before 1237 – Zingarelli's date for the article and pronoun.^[5]
• c. 1250 – The dative “to her” is recorded.^[3]
• 14th century – The dative is also used for “to him”.^[9]

Meanings

Article

1. The, before feminine plural nouns, whether they begin with a consonant or a vowel: le finestre, le amiche.^[3][2][6]
2. Before a family name, the women of one family: stasera vengono le Ferraro.^[3][4]
3. In telling the time: sono le cinque.^[3]

Pronoun

1. them, referring to feminine plural nouns, as a direct object: Le chiavi? Le ho lasciate in macchina.^[3][4][5]
2. With an indefinite neuter sense, in idioms: le pensa tutte.^[5][6]
3. To her, to it (feminine), as an indirect object: Quando vedi Giulia, le dai questo libro?^[3][2][6]
4. (formal) To you, in courteous address with Lei, to a man or a woman; often written Le in letters: Le posso offrire un caffè?^[3][2][5]
5. (Tuscan, popular) They, as a pleonastic feminine subject.^[5][6][12]

Related words

• la
• il
• lo
• gli
• i
• Latin ille

Usage notes

With the prepositions the article forms alle, dalle, delle, nelle and sulle; with con the separate con le is normal, and colle is spoken or literary.^[2][5] Before the pronouns lo, la, li, le and ne the dative becomes glie- and is written together with them: gliele, glielo.^[2][5] In speech the dative is often replaced by gli.^[3][2]

The GDLI also records a rare feminine noun le, a boatmen's word for the strip of land between a river and the road along it, from Old French lé “width”.^[13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
7. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
9. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2189
10. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 8, 867
11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET, p. 2, 1780
12. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
13. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 8, 869