se

se

1. (international standards) ISO 639-1 language code for Northern Sami.

From Mandarin 瑟 (sè).

• IPA^(key): /sɛ/
• Rhymes: -ɛ

se (plural ses)

1. (music) A type of ancient Chinese plucked zither.

• 'e's, -es, E's, ES, Es, E♭s, E♯s, e's, es, es-

se

1. cloud

• s'n (used without a following noun)
• syn (obsolete)

From Dutch zijn, z'n (“his, its”). An Afrikaans innovation is the use of se regardless of the number or gender of the possessor, which may be due to a merger with the Dutch genitive suffix -s as well as, perhaps, the adjective suffix -s, -sch.

• IPA^(key): /sə/

• Audio

  (file)

se

1. follows a noun to indicate that this noun possesses that which follows, much like English 's

   Dis my ouma se huis. — This is my grandmother’s house.

• van

From Proto-Albanian *tśe(i), *tśi from Proto-Indo-European *kʷe-, *kʷ(e)i- (“how, what”). Interrogative and relative pronoun, especially in connection with a preposition.

• IPA^(key): /sɛ/

se

1. that, as, when

   Më duket se ke nevojë për disa shokë të rinj. — It seems to me that you need some new friends.

   Im vëlla më tha se don të bisedojë me ty rreth librit të ri. — My brother told me that he wants to talk to you about the new book.

• si
• sa

• 's (unstressed form)

Cognate with German sie.

se

1. she, her (accusative)
2. they, them

• de

From Proto-Mongolic *usun.

• IPA^(key): /sə/

se

1. water

• Üjiyediin Chuluu (Chaolu Wu), Introduction, Grammar, and Sample Sentences for Baoan, SINO-PLATONIC PAPERS (Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA), November 1994
• Henry G. Schwarz, The Minorities of Northern China: A Survey (1984), page 140: 'water' Daur os

se

1. that, this

   Petra eo se? — What's that?

From Latin sē.

se (enclitic, contracted 's, proclitic es, contracted proclitic s')

1. himself, herself, itself (direct or indirect object)
2. oneself (direct or indirect object)
3. themselves (direct or indirect object)
4. each other (direct or indirect object)

• -se is the full (plena) form of the pronoun. It is normally used after verbs ending with a consonant or ⟨u⟩, or between some adverbs/pronouns and a verb. In some varieties of Catalan (Balearic/Valencian) it can also occur in sentence-initial position.
• The use of se and other direct personal pronouns can indicate the passive in Catalan.

• IPA^(key): [se]

se

1. one (number).

se

1. one.

• ze (Sette Comuni)

From Middle High German si(e) (“they”), merged from Old High German sie m pl, sio f pl, siu n pl, from Proto-Germanic *īz m, *ijôz f, *ijō n, the nominative plural forms of *iz. Cognate with German sie, Dutch zij.

se

1. (Luserna) they

• “se” in Cimbrian, Ladin, Mòcheno: Getting to know 3 peoples. 2015. Servizio minoranze linguistiche locali della Provincia autonoma di Trento, Trento, Italy.

se

1. one.

From Old Czech sě, from Proto-Slavic *sę, from Proto-Balto-Slavic *sen, from Proto-Indo-European *swé.

• IPA^(key): [ˈsɛ]

• audio

  (file)

se (reflexive pronoun)

1. (accusative) oneself (clitic form of reflexive pronoun sebe)

   myself

   yourself

   himself

   herself

   itself

   ourselves

   yourselves

   themselves

• sebe

• si

se (also s)

1. with

• se in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
• se in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989
• se in Internetová jazyková příručka

From Latin sē.

se

1. (reflexive) oneself

From Old Danish se, from Old Norse (East) *sēa, (Old Norse (West) sjá), from Proto-Germanic *sehwaną, cognate with English see, German sehen, from Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- (“to see, notice”).

• IPA^(key): [ˈseˀ]
• Rhymes: -eːˀ

se (imperative se, infinitive at se, present tense ser, past tense så, perfect tense har set)

1. to see
2. (reciprocal passive) to see each other

reciprocal

sé

1. one

Borrowed from Italian se, influenced by French si and Latin sī.

• Audio

  (file)

• IPA^(key): [se]
• Hyphenation: se

se

1. if

• IPA^(key): /sɛ/

se (plural sewo)

1. law

• si

From Old Portuguese se, sse, from Latin sē.

se

1. Used for passive constructions with transitive verbs and undetermined agent; one
   • 2000, Domingo Frades Gaspar, Vamus a falal: Notas pâ coñocel y platical en nosa fala, Editora regional da Extremadura, Theme II, Chapter 2: Recunquista:

     Non poemos analizar con pormenoris estis siglos, pero tampoco se debi toleral que, sin fundamentus, se poña en duda algo que a Historia documentá nos lega sobre nossa terra.

     We can’t thoroughly analyse these centuries, but one mustn’t tolerate that, unfoundedly, something documented history tells us about our land be questioned [by someone].

2. Reflexive and reciprocal pronoun: oneself, himself, herself, itself, themselves, yourself; each other, one another
   • 2000, Domingo Frades Gaspar, Vamus a falal: Notas pâ coñocel y platical en nosa fala, Editora regional da Extremadura, Anexu: A Porcá:

     Cumían algu de herba por camiñus, se bañaban i os devulvían a casa por as tardis.

     They ate some pasture along the way, bathed themselves and were returned to their home in the afternoon.

• Takes the form -si when suffixed to an impersonal verb form.

• Valeš, Miroslav (2021) Diccionariu de A Fala: lagarteiru, mañegu, valverdeñu [Fala Dictionary]‎, CIDLeS, →ISBN, page 255

• IPA^(key): /seː/

se n (genitive singular ses, plural se)

1. The name of the Latin-script letter C/c.

se

1. flower
2. gills

From Proto-Finnic *se, from Proto-Uralic *śe. For plural forms, see etymology of ne.

The variation in stems (se-, si-, sii-) dates back to at least Late Proto-Finnic. The oblique stem si-, seen in most inflected forms, is also found in other Finnic languages, such as the following cognates of the partitive singular sitä: Karelian sitä, Livvi sittäh, Veps sidä, Votic sitä. This is possibly a remnant of the original expected form **si (due to final e > i) which was reversed in some forms, possibly as influence from the plural ne.

The stem sii- seen in internal locative case forms may have been generalized from the plural forms as a means to distinguish from partitive/essive sitä, sinä; expected internal locative cases *sissä, *sistä may have been avoided as a dissimilation. Compare Veps siš (inessive singular of se).

• IPA^(key): /ˈse/, [ˈs̠e̞]
• Rhymes: -e
• Syllabification^(key): se

se (stems se-, si- and sii-)

1. (demonstrative) it
2. (demonstrative) that (when the speaker does not point at the thing, either physically or mentally)
3. (colloquial or dialectal) he, she, one, (singular) they (the pronoun does not determine the sex/gender of the person)
4. (colloquial) the (as a definite article; see the usage notes below)

• Due to the influence of Germanic languages, and nowadays especially to that of English, se may often be used as a kind of definite article in colloquial Finnish, though in standard Finnish, where word order expresses whether something is definite or indefinite, this colloquial usage is ungrammatical. (Compare the usage of yksi.)

(standard) Mies tuli luokseni. → (colloquial) Se mies tuli mun luokse.

The man came to me.

(standard) Luokseni tuli mies. → (colloquial) Yks mies tuli mun luokse.

A man came to me.

se

1. that (not pointed at by the speaker)

Irregular.

• (he or she): hän
• see (rare, dialectal (Southwestern Finnish))

• See se/derived terms § Finnish.

• Kven: se

• es

From Middle French se, from Old French se, from Latin sē. See also soi.

• IPA^(key): /sə/

• audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ə
• Homophone: ce

se m or f (pre-vocalic s')

1. The third-person reflexive and reciprocal direct and indirect object pronoun.
   1. (to) himself
   2. (to) herself
   3. (to) oneself
   4. (to) itself
   5. (to) themselves
   6. (to) each other
2. (Louisiana) The second-person plural reflexive and reciprocal direct and indirect object pronoun.

   Je suis partie à la chasse et faut vous autres se comportes bien. ― I'm going hunting and y'all need to behave yourselves.

• Se becomes s' before a vowel or unaspirated h, and sometimes, in nonstandard writing, in other cases where the e would be silent, e.g. in lyrics.
• Se is often used with an actual subject, but it is also very often used with an abstract subject:

  Il est normal de se parler. — It is normal to talk to oneself.

• s'en aller

See Template:French personal pronouns for other pronouns.

• The other reflexive and reciprocal direct and indirect object pronouns: me, m', te, t', nous, vous.
• The third-person reflexive and reciprocal disjunctive pronoun: soi.

• “se”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• es, ès

From Old Galician and Old Portuguese se (13th century, Cantigas de Santa Maria), from Latin sī.

se

1. if

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

• xe

se

1. accusative/dative of si
2. The third-person reflexive pronoun.
   1. (to) himself
   2. (to) herself
   3. (to) oneself
   4. (to) itself
   5. (to) themselves
   6. (to) each other

• “se” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006–2022.
• “se” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
• “se” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

se

1. husband

• sei

From Middle Low German sê, variously from Old Saxon sia and Old Saxon siu, ultimately developed from forms of Proto-Germanic *hiz and possibly influenced by Proto-Germanic *sa.

• IPA^(key): /zeː/, /seː/, /zɛɪ/, /sɛɪ/

se

1. she

   Se is Anke. — She is Anke (Annie).

se

1. they

   Se kaamt ut Bremen. — They come from Bremen.

   • 1861, G. Ungt, Twee Geschichten in Mönstersk Platt. Ollmanns Jans in de Friümde un Ollmanns Jans up de Reise, page 163:

     Dao gävven⁵ sick de Beiden dann auk an, datt se wier by ähr keimen.⁶

     ⁵ gaben – gaben sich an – strengten sich an.   ⁶ zu ihnen kamen.

• dative and possessive of se: ehr, eer, er, är, ähr

From Proto-Gbe *se (“to hear”). Cognates include Fon sè (“to understand, hear, feel”), Saxwe Gbe sè (“to hear”), Adja sè (“to understand, hear, feel, respond”), Ewe se (“to hear”)

• IPA^(key): /sè/

sè

1. to hear, to listen
2. to understand

From French c'est (“it is”).

se

1. to be
2. that is (compare French c'est)
3. it is (compare French c'est)

• Use ye at the end of a clause.
• This word does not appear when the predicate is an adjective or prepositional phrase, except when the preposition in the prepositional phrase is pou (“for”) or tankou (“like”).

• IPA^(key): [ˈʃɛ]

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʃɛ

se (clitic)

1. Alternative form of sem.

• See se/derived terms § Hungarian.

• se-

• (not … either, not even): se in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh: A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (’The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962.
• ([folksy, informal] alternative form of sem): se, redirecting to sem in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh: A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (’The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962.

From Esperanto se.

• IPA^(key): /se/, /sɛ/

se

1. if

   La klerko komencus laborar se ilu povus. — The clerk would begin to work if he could.

   Se me povus, me komprus altra domo. — If I could, I would buy another house.

se (plural se-i)

1. The name of the Latin script letter S/s.

• (Latin script letter names) litero; a, be, ce, che, de, e, fe, ge, he, i, je, ke, le, me, ne, o, pe, que, re, se, she, te, u, ve, we, xe, ye, ze ^{(Category: io:Latin letter names)}

• see (dialectal)

From Proto-Finnic *se. Cognates include Finnish se and Estonian see.

• (Ala-Laukaa) IPA^(key): /ˈse/, [ˈs̠e̞]
• (Soikkola) IPA^(key): /ˈse/, [ˈʃe̞]
• Rhymes: -e
• Hyphenation: se

se

1. this, that (not bound to a specific location)
   • 1936, N. A. Iljin and V. I. Junus, Bukvari iƶoroin șkouluja vart, Leningrad: Riikin Ucebno-pedagogiceskoi Izdateljstva, page 63:

     Linnuille höö siihe kagraa siputtiit.

     They sprinkled oats onto it for the birds.

   • 1936, L. G. Terehova; V. G. Erdeli, Mihailov and P. I. Maksimov, transl., Geografia: oppikirja iƶoroin alkușkoulun kolmatta klaassaa vart (ensimäine osa), Leningrad: Riikin Ucebno-Pedagogiceskoi Izdateljstva, page 7:

     Inmihiset panniit merkille i sen, etti kaik predmetat päivääl, päivytpaiston aikanna, viskajaat kupahaiset.

     People noticed this as well, that all objects during the day, being a sunny time, cast shadows.

2. (dialectal) that (distal)
   • 2008, “Läkkäämmä omal viisii [We're speaking [our] own way]”, in Inkeri‎, volume 4, number 69, St. Petersburg, page 12:

     Tämä on Logoven kylä, a se ono Reppoilan kylä.

     This is the village Logovi, and that is the village Reppoila.

se

1. this, that (not bound to a specific location)
   • 1936, N. A. Iljin and V. I. Junus, Bukvari iƶoroin șkouluja vart, Leningrad: Riikin Ucebno-pedagogiceskoi Izdateljstva, page 40:

     Peen tulo saatii siint pellost.

     A small income was received from this field.

2. (dialectal) that (distal)

• Although Junus (1936; p. 99) describes sen as the accusative and senen as the genitive, in practice, sen is often used as a short form of the genitive as well.
• In the Soikkola dialect, the functions of too (“that”) have merged into se.

• V. I. Junus (1936) Iƶoran Keelen Grammatikka‎, Leningrad: Riikin Ucebno-pedagogiceskoi Izdateljstva, page 99
• Ruben E. Nirvi (1971) Inkeroismurteiden Sanakirja, Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura, page 514
• Olga I. Konkova; Nikita A. Dyachkov (2014) Inkeroin Keel: Пособие по Ижорскому Языку‎, →ISBN, pages 13-14

se (third person)

1. Reflexive: oneself, himself, herself, itself, themselves.

   Illa se videva in le speculo. ― She saw herself in the mirror.

2. Reciprocal: each other, one another.

   Quando illes se cognosceva? ― When did they meet (each other)?

3. Used for passive constructions with undetermined agent (translated by "one").

   De mi casa se vide le mar. ― From my house the sea is seen.

   (Literally, “...the sea sees itself.”)

4. Hence, used for expressions of the type "to get/become ...-ed".

   espaventar — “to frighten”; espaventar se = "to get frightened" (lit., "to frighten oneself")

• (reflexive, reciprocal, oneself, himself, herself, itself, themselves, each other, one another): Many verbs bear a reflexive pronoun by default. Se must be replaced by me, te, etc., according to the subject.

  infiltrar se — “to infiltrate”

  repentir se — “to repent”

From Latin sī.

se

1. if
   • 1877, Antonio Ive, Canti popolari istriani: raccolti a Rovigno, volume 5, Ermanno Loescher, page 99:

     Biela, se ti vedissi li galiere

     Beautiful one, if you saw the galleys

From Latin sī.[1]

• IPA^(key): /se/^**
• Rhymes: -e
• Hyphenation: se

se

1. if

   Se non è vero, è ben trovato.

   If it is not true, it is a good story.

2. whether
3. if only

• See se/derived terms § Italian.

From Latin sē.

• IPA^(key): /se/^°
• Rhymes: -e
• Hyphenation: se

se

1. Alternative form of si

• Used when followed by a third-person direct object clitic (lo, la, li, le, or ne).

From Latin sīc.

• IPA^(key): /se/^*
• Rhymes: -e
• Hyphenation: se

se

1. (archaic) Alternative form of così

se

1. (archaic) Alternative form of così: if (only); even if

   se Dio ti lasci, lettor, prender frutto / di tua lezione ― even if God leaves you, reader, take fruit of your lesson

• Used to express a conditional with the implicit hope on the part of the speaker that something does or does not happen. Always followed by the subjunctive.

• se in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)

se

1. Rōmaji transcription of せ
2. Rōmaji transcription of セ

From Sanskrit स (sa), सा (sā), from Proto-Indo-European *só.

se

1. he/she/it (absent from speaker) (3rd-person personal pronoun)

• áya

From Proto-Finnic *se, from Proto-Uralic *śe. Cognates include Finnish se and Estonian see.

• IPA^(key): /ˈse/

se

1. this, that

se

1. this, that
2. it (inanimate)

• P. M. Zaykov (1999) Грамматика Карельского языка (фонетика и морфология) [Grammar of the Karelian language (phonetics and morphology)], →ISBN, page 58

From Finnish se, from Proto-Finnic *se, from Proto-Uralic *śe.

• IPA^(key): /ˈse/

se

1. this, that

se

1. this, that
2. he, she, it

• (he, she): hän

• Eira Söderholm (2017) Kvensk grammatikk, Tromsø: Cappelen Damm Akademisk, →ISBN, page 278

From Latin sē.

se

1. (indefinite) one, you, we, they, people. Note: often translated using the passive voice in English.
2. (reflexive) oneself, himself, herself, itself, themselves; (reciprocal) each other, one another. Note: With some verbs, si is not translated in English.

• IPA^(key): /se/, [sɛʔ]

se

1. to know
2. to be able to

• Hkaw Luk (2017) A grammatical sketch of Lacid‎, Chiang Mai: Payap University (master thesis)

From Proto-Indo-European *swé (reflexive pronoun).

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /seː/, [s̠eː]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /se/, [sɛː]

• Audio (Classical)

  (file)

sē (accusative and ablative, no nominative)

1. (reflexive) the accusative of the third-person singular and plural reflexive pronoun: oneself, himself, herself, itself, themselves

   Vōcālis est littera quae per sē syllabam facere potest. ― A vowel is a letter that can form a syllable by itself.

   Quīntus quōmodo sē habet hodiē? ― How's Quintus doing today? (literally, “is holding himself”)

   In mare sē praecipitāvit. ― He drowned himself in the ocean.

2. (reflexive) the ablative of the third-person singular and plural reflexive pronoun

• sēsē is very common as the emphatic form of the accusative pronoun, especially in reference to a preceding ipse, or at the beginning or the end of a clause.

• See se/derived terms § Latin.

• See se/derived terms § Latin.

From Late Latin se(d), from Latin sī (“if”) + quid (“what”).

• IPA^(key): /se/

se

1. if

From Proto-Finnic *se, from Proto-Uralic *śe. Cognates include Finnish se and Estonian see.

se

1. that
2. he

From Proto-Slavic *sę.

• IPA^(key): [sɛ]

se

1. myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves, oneself
2. each other, one another
3. used to form passives

• se wě

• Starosta, Manfred (1999), “se”, in Dolnoserbsko-nimski słownik / Niedersorbisch-deutsches Wörterbuch (in German), Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag

• IPA^(key): /zə/

se

1. unstressed form of si

See Template:lb-decl-personal pronouns for declension.

• See se/derived terms § Malay.

Shortened form of esa, from Proto-Malayic *əsa.

• IPA^(key): /sə/
• Rhymes: -sə, -ə

se (Jawi spelling س)

1. one

• See se/derived terms § Malay.

• See se/derived terms § Malay.

• ser

Sometimes thought to have been inherited from Arabic سَ (sa), from سَوْفَ (sawfa). However, it is more likely that the similarity is entirely coincidental and that Maltese se(r) is merely a shortened form of sejjer.

• IPA^(key): /sɛ/

se

1. Indicates a future tense.

se

1. Nonstandard spelling of sè.

• English transcriptions of Mandarin speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.

se

1. accusative of si (“they”)

• IPA^(key): /sɛː/, /seː/

From Old English swē, swǣ, variants of swā (“so”). More at so.

se

1. so

se

1. Alternative form of see (“sea”)

se

1. Alternative form of see (“see”)

se

1. Alternative form of sche

From Old French se, from Latin sē.

se

1. The third-person reflexive and reciprocal direct object pronoun.
   1. himself
   2. herself
   3. oneself
   4. itself
   5. themselves
   6. each other
2. The third-person reflexive and reciprocal indirect object pronoun.
   1. to himself
   2. to herself
   3. to oneself
   4. to itself
   5. to themselves
   6. to each other

      ils se donnerent bataille ― they gave each other battle (they gave battle to each other)

• Whether to translate as himself, herself, oneself, itself, themselves or each other depends on the gender (male, female or none) and number (singular or plural).
• Usually becomes s' before a vowel. In older manuscripts, it becomes s- with no apostrophe.

• French: se

• su, sia

Variously from Old Saxon sia and Old Saxon siu, ultimately developed from forms of Proto-Germanic *hiz and possibly influenced by Proto-Germanic *sa.

• Stem vowel: ê⁴
  • (originally) IPA^(key): /seː/

sê

1. (third person singular female nominative) she
2. her (accusative of sê)
3. (third person plural nominative) they
4. them (accusative of sê)

See Template:gml-perpron for declension.

• See se/derived terms § Middle Low German.

From Latin sē.

• IPA^(key): /sə/
• Rhymes: -e

se

1. reflexive third person pronoun: oneself, himself, itself, herself, themselves etc.

From Old Tupi xe. Cognate with Guaraní che.

• IPA^(key): [se]

• Hyphenation: se
• Rhymes: -e

se

1. (second-class) first-person singular personal pronoun (I, me, my)

   Se akanhemu aikú nhaãsé se kirá aikú.

   I am scared because I am fat.

   Aé uputari upitá se irũmu.

   He wants to stay with me.

   Se manha uwiké uka pisasú upé.

   My mother enters the new house.

• As a second-class pronoun, se is used as the subject of a sentence when its verb is a second-class one (those verbs are sometimes referred to as adjectives). The personal pronoun se is also used when governed by any postposition with the exception of arama and supé. Finally, se is used as a possessive pronoun as well.

• ÁVILA, Marcel Twardowsky (2021) Proposta de dicionário nheengatu–português, page 688
• NAVARRO, Eduardo de Almeida (2016) Curso de língua geral (nheengatu ou tupi moderno): a língua das origens da civilização amazônica, 2nd edition, →ISBN, pages 11 and 108

From Old Frisian siā, from Proto-Germanic *sehwaną.

IPA^(key): /sɛ/

se (present se, 2nd singular sjochst, 3rd singular sjocht, past saag, perfect sen)

1. (Sylt) to see

From Proto-Iranian *cwā́, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *ćwā́, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱwṓ.

se ?

1. dog

From Old Norse sjá, from Proto-Germanic *sehwaną.

• IPA^(key): /seː/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eː
• Hyphenation: se
• Homophones: C, c

se (imperative se, present tense ser, passive ses or sees, simple past så, past participle sett, present participle seende)

1. to see (perceive with the eyes).

• “se” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

• þē – late nom. masc. sg. form

From Proto-West Germanic *siz, replacing earlier *sā, from Proto-Germanic *sa.

• IPA^(key): /seː/

sē

1. the

   sē mōna ― the moon

   sēo sunne ― the sun

   þæt seofonstierre ― the Pleiades

   þā steorran ― the stars

sē

1. that

   Sele mē þone hamor.

   Give me that hammer.

sē

1. that

   Hē fōr hām, and æfter þām ne ġeseah iċ hine nǣfre mā.

   He went home, and after that I never saw him again.

2. the one / that one

   Iċ eom sē þe cnocaþ.

   I am the one who knocks.

   Hēo nis sēo þe þū oferreċċan þearft.

   She's not the one you need to convince.

   Rǣtst þū nū þās bōc oþþe þā?

   Are you reading this book right now or that one?

   Hwæðer is þīn, þē þæt swearte hors þē þæt hwīte?

   Which one is yours, the black horse or the white one?

3. (relative) that, who, what

   Ne biþ eall þæt glitnaþ nā gold.

   Not everything that glitters is gold.

• The word "the" was used somewhat more sparingly in Old English than in the modern language. One reason is, English had only recently developed a word for "the" (sē previously only meant "that"), leaving many nouns and phrases which had a definite meaning but which people continued to use without a definite article out of custom. Examples of words which usually went without the word "the" include:
  • Names of peoples, such as Engle (“the Angles”), Seaxan (“the Saxons”), and Crēcas (“the Greeks”). Ġelīefst þū þæt Dene magon bēon oferswīðde? (“Do you believe the Danes can be defeated?”).
  • All river names. On Temese flēat ān sċip (“A boat was floating on the Thames”).
  • A few nouns denoting types of locations, namely sǣ (“the sea”), wudu (“the woods”), and eorþe (“the ground”). Þū fēolle on eorðan and slōge þīn hēafod (“You fell on the ground and hit your head”). Note that eorþe was often used with a definite article when it meant "the Earth."
  • "the world," whether expressed with weorold or middanġeard. Iċ eom æt hām on ealre weorolde, þǣr þǣr sind wolcnu and fuglas and mennisċe tēaras (“I feel at home in the whole world, where there are clouds and birds and human tears”).
  • A couple of abstract concepts, namely sōþ (“the truth”) and ǣ (“the law”). Iċ seċġe ēow sōþ, þæt iċ swerie (“I'm telling you the truth, I swear”).
  • Dryhten (“the Lord”).
  • morgen (“the morning”) and ǣfen (“the evening”). Iċ ārās on lætne morgen and ēode niðer (“I got up late in the morning and went downstairs”).
  • The four seasons, lengten (“spring”), sumor (“summer”), hærfest (“fall”), and winter (“winter”). On sumore hit biþ wearm and on wintra ċeald (“In the summer it's warm and in the winter it's cold”).
  • forþġewitennes (“the past”), andweardnes (“the present”), and tōweardnes (“the future”). Þā þe forðġewitennesse ġemunan ne magon, hīe bēoþ ġeniðrode hīe tō ġeedlǣċenne (“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”).
  • forma sīþ (“the first time”), ōþer sīþ (“the second time”), etc. Hwæt þōhtest þū þā þū mē forman sīðe ġemēttest? (“What did you think when you met me for the first time?”).
  • þīestra (“the dark”). Iċ āwēox, ac iċ nǣfre ne ġeswāc mē þīestra tō ondrǣdenne (“I grew up, but I never stopped being scared of the dark”).
  • Genitive phrases could include the word "the" before the head noun, but most often did not. Instead, genitive phrases were commonly formed like possessive phrases in modern English, with the genitive noun preceding the head noun ("John's car," not "the car of John"). Thus “the fall of Rome” was Rōme hryre, literally “Rome's fall,” and “the god of fire” was fȳres god, literally “fire's god.”

For quotations using this term, see Citations:se.

• Middle English: se, ze, sæ

From Latin sē.

• sei
• soi

se m or f (invariable)

1. himself (reflexive direct and indirect third-person singular pronoun)
2. herself (reflexive direct and indirect third-person singular pronoun)
3. itself (reflexive direct and indirect third-person singular pronoun)
4. oneself (reflexive direct and indirect third-person singular pronoun)
5. themselves (reflexive direct and indirect third-person plural pronoun)

• French: se

From Latin si.

se

1. if
2. then (afterwards; following)

• French: si

se

1. she
2. they

• IPA^(key): [sʲe]

se

1. Alternative form of so used after palatalized consonants and front vowels

From Proto-Germanic *sa.

• IPA^(key): /sɛː/

sē m (demonstrative)

1. definite article: the

   sē māno ― the moon

2. demonstrative adjective: that, those

   Hē gaf thē gift. ― He gave that gift.

se

1. one.

Compare German sie.

• IPA^(key): /sə/

se

1. she
2. her

• See se/derived terms § Pennsylvania German.

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

• IPA^(key): /se/

se (demonstrative, Perso-Arabic spelling سےۡ)

1. the
2. that (agr: rem fem / rem non-nom masc)

• Liljegren, Henrik; Haider, Naseem (2011) Palula Vocabulary (FLI Language and Culture Series; 7)‎, Islamabad, Pakistan: Forum for Language Initiatives, →ISBN

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)