يا

• IPA^(key): /jaː/

يَا • (yā)

1. O; hey; you; vocative particle preceding a noun used in direct address, only rarely omitted in such contexts

   يَا كَرِيمُ... ― yā karīmu... ― (Hey) Kareem, ...

   يَا حِمارُ! ― yā ḥimāru! ― You idiot!

   • 1971, “زَهْرَةُ المَدَائِن (zahratu l-madāʔin) [The Flower of [All] Cities]”, in Said Akl (lyrics), The Rahbani Brothers (music), القُدْسْ فِي البَال (al-quds fī l-bāl) [Jerusalem in My Heart], performed by Fairuz:

     يَا قُدْسُ يَا قُدْسُ يَا قُدْسُ يَا مَدِينَةَ الصَّلَاة أُصَلِّي

     yā qudsu yā qudsu yā qudsu yā madīnata ṣ-ṣalāh ʾuṣallī

     O Jerusalem, O Jerusalem, O Jerusalem, O city of prayer... I pray

• If the noun following يَا describes a certain person and is singular, sound feminine plural or broken plural, it governs the nominative case in the construct state. If it describes a certain person and is sound dual or sound masculine plural, it governs the nominative case in the indefinite state.

1. يَا مُحَمَّدُ! ― yā muḥammadu! ― O Muhammad!

   يَا طَبِيبُ دَاوِنِي!

   yā ṭabību dāwinī!

   O doctor, treat me! (addressing a certain doctor)

   يَا مُوَظِّفُونَ! ― yā muwaẓẓifūna! ― O employees!

   يَا نَاسُ! ― yā nāsu! ― O people!

• If the noun following يَا is meant in general and isn't meant to address a certain person, it governs the accusative case in the indefinite state.

1. يَا طَبِيبًا دَاوِنِي!

   yā ṭabīban dāwinī!

   O any doctor, treat me! (calling for a doctor)

   يَا فَاهِمًا اِلدَّرْسَ اِشْرَحْهُ لَنَا!

   yā fāhiman id-darsa išraḥhu lanā!

   O anyone who understands the lesson, explain it to us!

• If the noun following يَا is in a genitive construction, it governs the accusative case in the construct state.

1. يَا مُدَرِّسَ ٱلْفَصْلِ نَظِّمْ فَصْلَكَ!

   yā mudarrisa l-faṣli naẓẓim faṣlaka!

   O teacher of the class, organise your class!

   يَا مُوَظِّفِي هٰذِهِ ٱلشَّرِكَةِ

   yā muwaẓẓifī hāḏihi š-šarikati

   O employees of this company!

   يَا أَبَانَا! ― yā ʔabānā! ― O our father!

   يَا حَبِيبِي! ― yā ḥabībī! ― O my dear!

• If we want to use the noun following يَا in the definite state, we must use another particle أَيُّهَا (ʔayyuhā) (masculine) or أَيَّتُهَا (ʔayyatuhā) (feminine) together with يَا.

1. يَا أَيُّهَا ٱلطَّبِيبُ دَاوِنِي!

   yā ʔayyuhā ṭ-ṭabību dāwinī!

   O you doctor, treat me!

   يَا أَيُّهَا ٱلنَّاسُ! ― yā ʔayyuhā n-nāsu! ― O you people.

• In Qur'anic and to some degree Classical orthography, يَا (yā) was written يَٰـ and joined to the following word. Compare the following verse (Surat al-Baqara 55, translation Muhammad Asad).

  (original orthography)

  وَإِذۡ قُلۡتُمۡ يَـٰمُوسَىٰ لَن نُّؤۡمِنَ لَكَ حَتَّىٰ نَرى ٱللَّهَ جَهۡرَةࣰ فَأَخَذَتۡكُمُ ٱلصَّـٰعِقَةُ وَأَنتُمۡ تَنظُرُونَ

  (modernized orthography)

  وَإِذْ قُلْتُمْ يَا مُوسَى لَنْ نُؤْمِنَ لَكَ حَتَّى نَرَى ٱللّٰهَ جَهْرَةً فَأَخَذَتْكُمُ ٱلصَّاعِقَةُ وَأَنْتُمْ تَنْظُرُونَ

  wa-ʔiḏ qultum yā mūsā lan nuʔmina laka ḥattā narā llāha jahratan fa-ʔaḵaḏatkumu ṣ-ṣāʕiqatu wa-ʔantum tanẓurūna

  And [remember] when you said, “O Moses indeed we shall not believe thee unto we see God face to face!” – whereupon the thunderbolt of punishment overtook you before your very eyes.

• يااللّٰه (ya-llāh)

• → Armenian: յա (ya)
• → Hebrew: יא (ya)
• → Hindi: या (yā)
• → Ottoman Turkish: یا (ya)
  • Turkish: ya
• → Valencian Catalan: ye
• → Persian: یا (yâ)

• near vocative particles: أَ (ʔa), أَيْ (ʔay)
• far vocative particles: أَيَا (ʔayā), آ (ʔā), هَيَا (hayā)

• أَيُّهَا (ʔayyuhā), أَيَّتُهَا (ʔayyatuhā)
• نَكِرَة مَقْصُودَة (nakira(t) maqṣūda)
• نَكِرَة غَيْرُ مَقْصُودَةٍ (nakira(t) ḡayru maqṣūdatin)
• مُنَادًى (munādan)
• تَرْخِيم (tarḵīm)
• لُغَةُ مَنْ يَنْتَظِرُ (luḡatu man yantaẓiru)
• لُغَةُ مَنْ لَا يَنْتَظِرُ (luḡatu man lā yantaẓiru)

• Fischer, Wolfdietrich (2006) Grammatik des Klassischen Arabisch (in German), 4^th edition, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, →ISBN, § 157

From Arabic يَا (yā).

• IPA^(key): /ja/ (mostly unstressed)

يا • (ya)

1. vocative particle, rarely omitted

   طمني يا دكتور، ايه حالة ابننا دلوقت؟

   ṭamminni ya doktor, ē ḥālet ibnena dilwaʾt?

   Assure me [O] doctor, what's the health status of our son now?

Reduced to /j/ before /a/, which may sometimes be reflected in spelling:

‎يـ (y-) + ‎احمد (áḥmad) → ‎يحمد (yáḥmad, “hey, Ahmed”)

From Persian یا (yâ).

• (Cairene) IPA^(key): /ja/

يا • (ya)

1. either ... or

   يا ده يا ده. ― ya da ya da. ― Either this or that.

Learned borrowing from Arabic ـِيًّا (-iyyan), the adverbial accusative of the adjective-forming ـِيّ (-iyy). Equivalent of ـي (-i) +‎ ـًا (-an).

• IPA^(key): /ijjan/

ـيّاً or ـيًّا • (-iyyan)

1. (somewhat formal) Forms adverbs from nouns and adjectives: -ly

   ‎حصري (ḥaṣri, “exclusive”) + ‎ـيًّا → ‎حصريًّا (ḥaṣriyyan, “exclusively”)

   ‎حرف (ḥarf, “letter”) + ‎ـيًّا → ‎حرفيًّا (ḥarfiyyan, “literally”)

This is only used in a slightly higher register, otherwise, adjectives are used adverbially with no change in the word's form, and nouns are often times prefixed with بـ (bi-).

This is one of the only morphemes in colloquial Egyptian Arabic that still uses nunation.

Borrowed from Classical Persian یا (yā).

يا • (yā) (Standard Gujarati યા) (Lisan ud-Dawat)

1. or

Borrowed from Arabic يَا (yā).

يا • (yā) (Standard Gujarati યા) (Lisan ud-Dawat)

1. O!

• (Kuwait) IPA^(key): /jaː/

From Arabic يَا (yā).

يا • (ya)

1. vocative particle

   يا غريب كون اديب ― yā ḡərīb kūn ədīb ― O stranger be respectful

Borrowed from Persian یا (yâ, “or”).

يا • (ya)

1. either ... or

   يَا هَذَا يَا هَذَا.

   yā hāḏa yā hāḏa.

   Either this or that.

From Arabic يَا (yā).

يا • (yā)

1. Hey

   Synonyms: أ (a), وا (wa)

   يا داك لولد، أش كاتدير؟ ― yā dak l-weld ash katdir?. ― Hey you kid, what are you doing?

From Berber ⵢⴰⴷ (yad)

يا • (yā)

1. (regional, Eastern) already

   مشيت يا للبحر ― mšīt yā l-el-bḥar. ― I already went to the sea.

يا • (yā)

1. either...or

   يا غاتعطيني شنو بغيت، يا غانمشي فحالي

   yā ġatɛtini šnu bġit, yā ġanmši fḥali.

   Either you give me what I want, or I will leave.

From Arabic يَا (yā).

يا • (yā)

1. vocative particle

   Alternative form: كـ (ka-) (regional, possibly archaic)

From Arabic إيَّا (ʔiyyā).

يا • (yā-, yyā-)

1. accusative particle, used with pronominal suffixes to express English object pronouns, like me, him, etc.

   شو بدك ياني قول؟ ― šū baddak yāni ʔūl? ― What do you want me to say?

   رح فرجيك ياهن. ― raḥ farjīk yāhun. ― I'll show them to you.

   ما فيني اشرحلك ياه. ― mā fīni ʔišraḥ-lak yā. ― I can't explain it to you.

2. Takes the place of a subject pronoun after و (w, “and”) when coordinating multiple pronouns

   شو رأيك نروح أنا وياكي سوا؟

   šu raʔyik nrūḥ ʔana w yyāki/yāki sawa?

   What do you say you and I go together?

   The two options are pronounced wiyyāki and w yāki.

• As an accusative particle, it is used with false verbs (example 1) and in double accusative constructions (example 2). Optionally used after verbs that are already suffixed with an indirect-object pronoun (example 3).
• More common than subject pronouns after و (w, “and”) in the sense above. For example, أنا وياكي (ʔana w (y)yāki, “I and you”) is more common than أنا وإنتي (ʔana w ʔinti, literally “I and you”). This usage in fact developed in other Arabic varieties into a preposition ويا (wiyya, wiya, “with”).

Borrowed from Persian یا (yâ, “or”).

يا • (yā, ya)

1. or

   Synonyms: أو (ʔaw), يو (yaw)

   يا ... يا

   yā ... yā

   either ... or

   • 1961, Said Akl [Akl’s orthography: Saɥid ɥaçl], “Xala”, in Ya̵ra: ceɥr [yāra: šiʕr, Arabic: يارا: شعر, Yara: poetry], 1st edition, page 27:

     çana l deçtu ya hewwi l daçni...

     [أنا الدقتو يا هوي الداقني...]

     ʔana l-diʔtu ya hiwwi l-dēʔni...

     Am I the one that tasted him or is he the one that tasted me...

From Arabic يَا (yā).

• IPA^(key): /ja/, [ja]

• Audio (Ramallah):

  (file)

يا • (ya)

1. vocative particle

Borrowed from Persian یا (yâ, “or”).

• IPA^(key): /ja/, [ja]

• Audio (Ramallah):

  (file)

يا • (ya)

1. either ... or

   Synonyms: ولّا (willa), أو (ʔaw)

   معيش وقت اليوم — يا بروح عالنادي يا بشوف صحابي.

   maʕīš waʔt il-yōm — ya barūḥ ʕan-nādi ya bašūf ṣḥābi

   I don't have time today — I either go to the gym or see my friends.

From Arabic إِيَّا (ʔiyyā).

يّا • (yyā-)

1. alternative spelling of ايا (iyya-), especially after a vowel