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Corsican
Etymology
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
Noun
là
- (music) la, the note 'A'.
References
French
Etymology
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
Adverb
là
- referring to physical place
- there
- Antonym: ici
- Je t’attendrai là. ― I'll wait for you there.
- here; present (used with être)
- Synonym: ici (with verbs other than être)
Je suis (toujours) là.- I'm (still) here.
- referring to an abstract destination or goal; there
- Je suis presque là. ― I've almost got it. (literally, “I'm almost there.”)
Usage notes
- Some compounds formed with là are traditionally written with hyphens while others are not. Larousse gives a non-exhaustive list which nevertheless illustrates examples of each group, where certain patterns can be detected:
Derived terms
See also
- y (near-synonym in certain contexts)
References
Italian
Etymology
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
- IPA(key): /ˈla/*
- (regional) IPA(key): */ˈla/*
- Rhymes: -a
- Hyphenation: là
Adverb
là
- there
- Synonym: lì
Usage notes
Derived terms
Further reading
- là in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
- là in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)
Anagrams
Lahu
Verb
là
- to come
Mandarin
Alternative forms
Romanization
là (la4, Zhuyin ㄌㄚˋ)
- 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
Adverb
là
- (late Middle French) Alternative form of la (there; at a given location)
Mochica
Pronunciation
Noun
là
- water
Synonyms
References
- José Antonio Salas, Diccionario mochica-castellano, castellano-mochica (2002)
Muong
Etymology
From Proto-Vietic *laː (“to work”). Cognate with Vietnamese là.
Pronunciation
Verb
là
- (Mường Bi) to do
Là chi đĩ?- What are you doing?
- là wiêc ― to work
Derived terms
Verb
là
- (Mường Bi) to be
References
- 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
Postposition
là
- under, in
Portuguese
Adverb
là (not comparable)
- Obsolete spelling of lá
Romansch
Etymology
From Latin illāc.
Adverb
là
- there
Scottish Gaelic
Pronunciation
Noun
là m (genitive singular là, plural làithean)
- Alternative form of latha
Usage notes
- Usually used for special days of the calendar.
Derived terms
Vietnamese
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
Non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 羅 (SV: la).
Noun
là • (𬗢, 纙, 羅, 罗)
- 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- Even if my meals only have pickles ,
I have no reason to demand good silk for clothing.
Etymology 2
From Proto-Vietic *laː (“to work”). Doublet of làm.
Verb
là • (羅, 𱺵, 𪜀, 𦉼)
- (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…
Usage notes
The verb là is used before a noun, which is part of the nominal predicate, but is not used before an adjectival predicate.
- Hải là kĩ sư. ― Hải is an engineer.
- Tôi ø ngốc quá. ― I was so silly.
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.
- Giữa hồ là (một) hòn đảo. ― There is an island in the middle of the lake.
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
Etymology 3
Verb
là • ()
- (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
Chữ Nôm character is composed of (⿰火𬙛).
Etymology 4
Combining form
là
- reduplicant of lạ, only used in là lạ