ها

See also: ـها

Arabic

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /haː/

Particle

هَا • (hā)

behold, look, lo!

Derived terms

هَٰذَا (hāḏā)

Descendants

→ Old Galician-Portuguese: ei
- Galician: eis
- Portuguese: ei, eis
→ Old Spanish: he
- Spanish: he

Pronoun

ـهَا • (-hā) f sg (enclitic form of هِيَ (hiya))

her (bound object pronoun)
it, its (bound object pronoun, referring to inanimate nouns of feminine gender)
them, their (bound object pronoun, non-human)

Arabic personal pronouns
Isolated nominative¹ pronouns
		singular	dual	plural
1^st person		أَنَا (ʔanā)	نَحْنُ (naḥnu)
2^nd person	m	أَنْتَ (ʔanta)	أَنْتُمَا (ʔantumā)	أَنْتُمْ (ʔantum)
2^nd person	f	أَنْتِ (ʔanti)	أَنْتُمَا (ʔantumā)	أَنْتُنَّ (ʔantunna)
3^rd person	m	هُوَ (huwa)	هُمَا (humā)	هُمْ (hum), هُمُ (humu)²
3^rd person	f	هِيَ (hiya)	هُمَا (humā)	هُنَّ (hunna)

Isolated accusative pronouns
		singular	dual	plural
1^st person		إِيَّايَ (ʔiyyāya)	إِيَّانَا (ʔiyyānā)
2^nd person	m	إِيَّاكَ (ʔiyyāka)	إِيَّاكُمَا (ʔiyyākumā)	إِيَّاكُم (ʔiyyākum)
2^nd person	f	إِيَّاكِ (ʔiyyāki)	إِيَّاكُمَا (ʔiyyākumā)	إِيَّاكُنَّ (ʔiyyākunna)
3^rd person	m	إِيَّاهُ (ʔiyyāhu)	إِيَّاهُمَا (ʔiyyāhumā)	إِيَّاهُمْ (ʔiyyāhum)
3^rd person	f	إِيَّاهَا (ʔiyyāhā)	إِيَّاهُمَا (ʔiyyāhumā)	إِيَّاهُنَّ (ʔiyyāhunna)

Enclitic accusative and genitive pronouns
		singular	dual	plural
1^st person		ـنِي (-nī), ـنِيَ (-niya), ـي (-y), ـيَ (-ya)³	ـنَا (-nā)
2^nd person	m	ـكَ (-ka)	ـكُمَا (-kumā)	ـكُم (-kum)
2^nd person	f	ـكِ (-ki)	ـكُمَا (-kumā)	ـكُنَّ (-kunna)
3^rd person	m	ـهُ (-hu), ـهِ (-hi)⁴	ـهُمَا (-humā), ـهِمَا (-himā)³	ـهُم (-hum), ـهِم (-him)⁴
3^rd person	f	ـهَا (-hā)	ـهُمَا (-humā), ـهِمَا (-himā)³	ـهُنَّ (-hunna), ـهِنَّ (-hinna)³

1. Also used to emphasize attached pronouns and as a copula.
2. هُمْ (hum) becomes هُمُ (humu) before the definite article الـ (al--).
3. Specifically, ـنِي (-nī, “me”) is attached to verbs, but ـِي (-ī) or ـيَ (-ya, “my”) is attached to nouns. In the latter case, ـيَ (-ya) is attached to nouns whose construct state ends in a long vowel or diphthong (e.g. in the sound masculine plural and the dual), while ـِي (-ī) is attached to nouns whose construct state ends in a short vowel, in which case that vowel is elided (e.g. in the sound feminine plural, as well as the singular and broken plural of most nouns). Furthermore, -ū of the masculine sound plural is assimilated to -ī before ـيَ (-ya) (presumably, -aw of masculine defective -an plurals is similarly assimilated to -ay). Prepositions use ـِي (-ī) or ـيَ (-ya), even though in this case it has the meaning of “me” rather than “my”. The sisters of inna can use either form (e.g. إِنَّنِي (ʔinnanī) or إِنِّي (ʔinnī)).
4. ـهِـ (-hi-) occurs after -i, -ī, or -ay, and ـهُـ (-hu-) elsewhere (after -a, -ā, -u, -ū, -aw).

Egyptian Arabic

Suffix

ـها • (-ha) f sg

her (bound object pronoun)

North Levantine Arabic

Alternative forms

ـا

Suffix

ـها • (-a, -ha, -wa, -ya) f

Enclitic form of هي (hiyye)
she, her

Usage notes

The pronunciation in careful speech is “-ha”, but the “h” is in the process of being lost. Some speakers currently use “-a” after a consonant and “-ha” after a vowel or diphthong, and some others use “-ya” after vowels and diphthongs instead, but it's most-common for it to assimilate to the preceding sound:
- “-a” after a consonant
- “-ha” after the vowel “a”
- “-wa” after the vowel “o”/“u”
- “-ya” after the vowel “e”/“i” and the diphthong “ay”
It might also be spelled as ـا when it's pronounced as “-a”, “-wa” or “-ya”.
Syrian dialects tend to leave compensatory lengthening or gemination in place of the dropped /h/, while Lebanese dialects tend to drop the /h/ altogether and only leave behind phonemic stress:
- (rural or regional) فِيهَا تِشْوِيهَا بإِيدَيْها ― fīha tišwīha b ʔidayha; b ʔidēha ― She can grill it with her hands
- (Syria) فِيّا تِشْوِيّا بإيدَيَّا، بإِيدَيها ― fiyya tišwiyya b ʔidayya; b ʔidēha (or fīya tišwīya)
- (Lebanon) فِيَا تِشْوِيَا بإيدَيَا ― fiya tišwíya b ʔidáya
- This Lebanese phenomenon does not underlyingly affect geminate يّ (yy). Consider علَيَا (ʕ(a)láya, “on her”) but بَيَّا (bayya, “her father”).
The form with “h” attracts stress to the syllable before it automatically. The form with a dropped “h” still behaves this way for some speakers, but others allow the automatic stress rules to take precedent:
- If pronounced with an /h/, the word كَتَبْهَا، كَتَبَا (“he wrote it”) can only take the stress katábha, but without the /h/ it can be either katába or kátaba.
- If pronounced with an /h/, the word جَرِّبْهَا، جَرّبا (“try it!”, masculine imperative) can only take the stress jarríbha, but without the /h/ it can be either jarríba or járrba.

Persian

Etymology

Sound-symbolic/onomatopoeic. Compare Armenian հա (ha, “yeah”), Hindi हाँ (hā̃, “yes”), Dari (āh, “yeah”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [hɒː]

Interjection

ها • (hâ)

(dialectal, Iran) yeah, yes

South Levantine Arabic

Suffix

ـها • (-ha) f

Enclitic form of هي (hiyye)
she, her

North Levantine Arabic enclitic pronouns
		Singular		Plural
		after consonant	after vowel	Plural
1^st person	after verb	ـني (-ni)		ـنا (-na)
1^st person	else	ـِي (-i)	ـي (-y)	ـنا (-na)
2^nd person	m	ـَك (-ak)	ـك (-k)	ـكُن (-kun)
2^nd person	f	ـِك (-ek)	ـكِ (-ki)	ـكُن (-kun)
3^rd person	m	ـُه (-o)	ـه (-h)	ـهُن (-(h/w/y)un)
3^rd person	f	ـها (-(h/w/y)a)		ـهُن (-(h/w/y)un)

South Levantine Arabic enclitic pronouns
		Singular		Plural
		after consonant	after vowel	Plural
1^st person	after verb	ـني (-ni)		ـنا (-na)
1^st person	else	ـِي (-i)	ـي (-y)	ـنا (-na)
2^nd person	m	ـَك (-ak)	ـك (-k)	ـكُم (-kom) / ـكو (-ku)
2^nd person	f	ـِك (-ek)	ـكي (-ki)	ـكُم (-kom) / ـكو (-ku)
3^rd person	m	ـُه (-o)	ـه (-h)	ـهُم (-hom)
3^rd person	f	ـها (-ha)		ـهُم (-hom)