la
An Unspecified Person Doing It
Waa la furay can mean “someone opened it” or “it was opened.”
How It Works
Use subject la when the actor is unknown, unimportant, or left unnamed. Depending on the situation, translate it as “someone,” “people,” generic “you,” or an English passive. The construction does not add a passive ending to the lexical verb.
La begins the verb phrase, before object pronouns and prepositions. The supplied examples use the default third-person singular verb pattern even when the affected object is plural. Compare daaqadaha waa la furay “the windows were opened” with daaqadaha way fureen “they opened the windows.” The latter identifies a plural subject through pronoun and verb agreement.
Distinguish this subject pronoun from prepositional la “with,” which expresses company. Subject la combines with prepositions into forms such as loo and lagu. It can also follow affirmative optative ha, allowing a wish or instruction with an unspecified agent.
Examples (3)
- Warqadda waa la akhriyay.
The letter was read.
La leaves the reader unspecified.
- Daaqadaha waa la furay.
The windows were opened.
The plural object does not trigger plural subject agreement.
- Halkan waa la shaqeeyaa.
People work here.
La denotes unspecified workers.
How It Connects
Learn This First
Distinguish accompaniment la from the formally similar indefinite-subject construction.
Related Patterns
Words in This Pattern
Practice la in Bubblegum
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