الـ
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Persian
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Borrowed from Arabic ال (al-, “the”, definite article).
Pronunciation
[edit]- See usage notes.
Particle
[edit]الـ • (al- or -l-)
- Used in certain unadapted borrowings from Arabic.
- علیٰالتحقیق ― ala-l-tahqīq/ala-l-tahqiq ― certainly, surely
- ابوالهول ― abu-l-hawl/abo-l-howl ― sphinx
- بالکل ― bi-l-kull/be-l-koll ― totally, entirely
- of; used as the equivalent of the ezâfe between Arabic borrowings to form compound words, which often do not exist in Arabic.
- بین (beyn, “between”) + الـ (-l-) + ملل (melal, “nations”) + ـی (-i) → بینالمللی (beyno-l-melali, “international”)
- حق (haqq, “wage, payment”) + الـ (-s-) + سکوت (sokut, “silence”) → حقالسکوت (haqqo-s-sokut, “hush money”)
- دستور (dastur, “rule, guideline”) + الـ (-l-) + عمل (amal, “action”) → دستورالعمل (dasturo-l-'amal, “written instructions”)
- مجمع (majma', “assembly”) + الـ (-l-) + جزایر (jazâyer, “islands”) → مجمعالجزایر (majma'o-l-jazâyer, “archipelago”)
Usage notes
[edit]- When used word-initially, the vowel of ا is pronounced as /a/.
- When used to form compound words, the letter ا becomes silent and joins the final vowel of the former word to the first consonant of the latter word. If the former word does not end with a vowel, the vowel ـُ is added (/o/ in Iranian Persian, otherwise a variation of /u/), regardless of what the vowel would actually be in Arabic. Otherwise, if the former part does end in a vowel, the final vowel is used. If the final vowel is long, it is pronounced as it's short equivalent.
- The consonant of ل assimilates to Arabic rules; see ال (al-).