kull / kollha

Each and All

Level 2

Ordinary kull precedes a singular count noun; kollu is masculine singular, and kollha covers feminine singular or plural totality.

How It Works

Kull means “each/every” and normally precedes a singular count noun: Kull student qara ktieb., “Every student read a book.” The students are considered separately. The sentence does not say that they all read one shared book. A plural or collective head does not follow this ordinary construction; peripheral non-count uses can describe types rather than countable individuals.

Kull means ‘each/every’. In kull darba li, singular darba identifies each occasion even when many occasions occur. Niftaħ it-tieqa kull darba li nidħol. means ‘I open the window every time I enter’. Each entering occasion is paired with an opening.

Kollu and kollha express totality and follow the referent in these examples. A whole film takes masculine singular kollu. In Il-kamra kollha kienet kiesħa., ‘The whole room was cold’, the quantifier, copula, and adjective reflect feminine singular agreement.

Il-mistednin kollha waslu. means ‘All the guests arrived’: the entire guest set is included, with plural verb agreement. Feminine singular and plural kollha share their spelling. Plural ‘we’ and ‘you’ also permit kollha. Person-inflected constructions meaning ‘full of’ are a separate use rather than a paradigm to substitute into these totality expressions.

Examples (5)

  1. Niftaħ it-tieqa kull darba li nidħol.

    I open the window every time I enter.

    Kull distributes the event over occasions.

  2. Il-film kollu kien tajjeb.

    The whole film was good.

    Kollu expresses masculine singular totality.

  3. Il-kamra kollha kienet kiesħa.

    The whole room was cold.

    Kollha covers a feminine singular referent.

  4. Il-mistednin kollha waslu.

    All the guests arrived.

    Kollha includes the complete plural group.

  5. Kull student qara ktieb.

    Every student read a book.

    Kull selects the ordinary singular count noun student and distributes reading over the students; one shared book is not asserted.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

kull / kollhaLevel 2Each and All

Learn This First

Contrast distribution over singular units with totality of an object or group. Every student reading a book does not assert one shared book; the lesson separately limits ordinary noun selection and excludes the full-of construction.