All versus Alles – tricky Luxembourgish words

Moien all zesummen!

Sidd dir all do?

In this very short Luxembourgish  lesson you will learn the difference between the tricky words all and alles.

First listen carefully to the correct pronunciation of both words:

all

alles

Let’s get started immediately with an example:

• Ech wunnen zu Lëtzebuerg. Alles ass schéin hei an all sinn esou frëndlech.

Let’s break it down:

1.  alles standing alone means everything

Alles ass schéin. – Everything is beautiful

And alles  really means everything, i.e. d’Natur, d’Architektur vun der Stad, d’Landschaft asw… .

👉 Have you noticed: the verb is conjugated in the 3. person singular: ass – Alles ass schéin.  

2.  all standing alone means everyone

all sinn esou frëndlech. – everyone is so friendly.

Here all stands for persons, i.e. all d’Leit  

👉  Have you noticed: the verb is conjugated in the plural: sinn – All sinn esou frëndlech.  

alles + verb (sing.)

Alles ass an der Rei. – Everything is okay.

Ech verstinn (net) alles. – I don’t understand everything.

Mir hunn am Restaurant alles giess. – We have eaten everything in the restaurant.

Dat ass net einfach, mee alles gëtt gutt. – This is not easy but everything will be alright.

all + noun – all the

If you add a noun to all it means all the

• All (d’Leit) hunn en Auto hei. – All the people have a car here.
• All d’Nopere sinn Englänner. – All the neighbours are English.
• All d’Froe goufe beäntwert. – All the questions have been answered.

It can be used for things and people alike. The noun always stands in the plural

In these cases all can be replaced by alleguer:  

Alleguer hunn en Auto. 

Alleguer d’Froe goufe beäntwert. 

Sidd dir alleguer do?

This a short explanation of all versus alles. Both words have more meanings but to avoid any confusion I won’t add on in this lesson.

Ass alles kloer?

Ech hoffen iech all / alleguer vill Spaass bei der Übung

Let’s practice:

Translate the following sentences into Luxembourgish:

1. 1. Have you done everything?
   2. All the friends came to their wedding.
   3. Have you (plural) understood everything?

Check the solution by downloading the PDF and practice  with MORE sentences to translate !

Get the PDF!

I hope you liked it and found it useful. And …. why not sharing this lesson with your friends:-)