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"unless" in seven languages

Meaningunless

Spanish

a menos que

/a ˈmenos ke/

inherited

French

à moins que

/a mwɛ̃ kə/

inherited

Formal French adds an empty ne: à moins qu'il ne pleuve.

Italian

a meno che

/a ˈmeno ke/

inherited

Usually followed by non: a meno che non piova.

Portuguese

a menos que

/a ˈmenus ki/

inherited

Romanian

dacă nu

/ˈdakə nu/

other source · dacă 'if' + nu 'not' (Latin NŌN)

Catalan

a menys que

/ə ˈmeɲs kə/

inherited

English

unless

/ənˈlɛs/

native English · Middle English onlesse 'on a less (condition)'

English → Italianunlessa meno cheNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh. But English has relatives: minus, minor, minimum.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

MINUS‘less’

All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.

The story

All three say 'at less that' and take the subjunctive. English unless is built the same way from its own native less — a parallel, not a borrowing.

English relatives: minus, minor, minimum

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In a sentence

  • esSaldremos a menos que llueva.
  • frOn sortira, à moins qu'il ne pleuve.
  • itUsciremo, a meno che non piova.
  • ptVamos sair, a menos que chova.
  • roIeșim, dacă nu plouă.
  • caSortirem, a menys que plogui.
  • enWe'll go out unless it rains.

More words from the same Latin

More in Little words

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