أيها
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Arabic[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Particle[edit]
أَيُّهَا • (ʔayyuhā) (feminine أَيَّتُهَا (ʔayyatuhā))
- vocative particle preceding a noun used in direct address; only rarely omitted in such contexts; occasionally translated as O or hey
- 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 8:45:
- يَا أَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا لَقِيتُمْ فِئَةً فَاثْبُتُوا وَاذْكُرُوا ٱللّٰهَ كَثِيرًا لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ
- yā ʔayyuhā llaḏīna ʔāmanū ʔiḏā laqītum fiʔatan fa-ṯbutū wa-ḏkurū llāha kaṯīran laʕallakum tufliḥūna
- O you who have attained to faith, when you meet a host in battle, be firm, and remember God often; so that you might attain to a happy state!
- 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 12:70:
- فَلَمَّا جَهَّزَهُم بِجَهَازِهِمْ جَعَلَ ٱلسِّقَايَةَ فِي رَحْلِ أَخِيهِ ثُمَّ أَذَّنَ مُؤَذِّنٌ أَيَّتُهَا ٱلْعِيرُ إِنَّكُمْ لَسَارِقُونَ
- fa-lammā jahhazahum bijahāzihim jaʕala s-siqāyata fī raḥli ʔaḵīhi ṯumma ʔaḏḏana muʔaḏḏinun ʔayyatuhā l-ʕīru ʔinnakum la-sāriqūna
- And when he had provided them with their provisions, he placed the drinking-cup in his brother's camel-pack. And a herald called out: "O you people of the caravan! Verily, you are thieves!
Usage notes[edit]
- The subsequent noun stands in the nominative of the determinate state and must have the article ال (al-) attached to it.
- أَيُّهَا (ʔayyuhā) is often used in conjunction with a preceding يَا (yā) (this usage is the norm in the Quran, see first usage example above).
- أَيُّهَا (ʔayyuhā) is far less common than يَا (yā) and reserved for elevated registers. Whereas يَا (yā) is often left untranslated in English, أَيُّهَا (ʔayyuhā) is used in similar situations to English O.
- Unlike يَا (yā), أَيُّهَا (ʔayyuhā) inflects for gender. When addressing a female, a group of females, or else anything that is referred to by a grammatically feminine word (see second usage example above), the form أَيَّتُهَا (ʔayyatuhā) is used.
- يَا أَيُّهَا ٱلرَّجُلُ / ٱلرَّجُلَانِ / ٱلرِّجَالُ
- yā ʔayyuhā r-rajulu / r-rajulāni / r-rijālu
- Oh you man / two men / men!
- يَا أَيَّتُهَا ٱلْمَرْأَةُ / ٱلْمَرْأَتَانِ / ٱلنِّسَاءُ
- yā ʔayyatuhā l-marʔatu / l-marʔatāni / n-nisāʔu
- Oh you woman / two women / women!
See also[edit]
- يَا (yā)
Pronoun[edit]
أَيِّهَا • (ʔayyihā) f
- which one of them.
References[edit]
- Fischer, Wolfdietrich (2006) Grammatik des Klassischen Arabisch (in German), 4th edition, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, →ISBN, § 157