Today’s lesson is about the Arabic vocative particle and this vocative particle is called yaa يا.
What is the vocative particle? It is when you need to call someone. The Arabic vocative is called النداء /al nida’/, which literally means the calling. The verb of this is called ينادي /yonadi/ which means (he) calls. It is often referred to as the Arabic vocative style which translates to أسلوب النداء /osloob al nida’/.
What does it do to the noun? It turns it to a definite one.
It seems a bit weird that this is a grammar lesson in the first place. Why make a “calling” a grammar lesson? This is because in Arabic things are just different. Well, obviously it is a little bit more than that
There are vocative particles for calling in nouns. This is not present in in other languages, including English.
Let’s take a look at the following table which includes all the Arabic vocative particles.
They are split into near callings and farther ones:
| Vocative Particle | Transliteration | Distance |
| أ | /a/ | Near |
| أَي | /ay/ | Near |
| آ | /aa/ | Far |
| أيَا | /aya/ | Far |
| هَيَا | /haya/ | Far |
| وَا | /waa/ | Lamentation |
| يا | /ya/ | Near |
The first vocative particle that is recognized when learning Arabic is ya. This is the easiest to pick up on and basically turned into the most common of uses. This goes back to its use in the colloquial language as well as formal MSA.
Here are our examples:
| Vocative Particle | Example | Meaning | Transliteration |
| أ | أمحمد كيف ذهبت؟ | Oh Mohammed, How did you go? | /amohammed kayfa thahabt/ |
| أَي | أي صديقي إني تعبت | Oh my friend, I am tired | /ay sadeeqi inni ta’ibt/ |
| آ | آسارة ما هذا؟ | Oh Sarah, what is this? | /aasarah ma hatha/ |
| أيَا | أيا صديقي تحب الشعر | Oh my friend, you love poetry | /aya sadeeqi tohibu ashi’ir/ |
| هَيَا | هيا محمد لنذهب | Oh Mohammed, let’s go | /haya Mohammed linathhab/ |
| وَا | وا ألمي | Oh my pain | /wa alami/ |
| يا | يا أسماء تعالي هنا | Oh Asma’ come here | /ya asma’ ta’ali hona/ |
If you liked this article and would like to start learning Arabic, why not head over to our website and download the Kaleela Arabic learning app and learn to speak Arabic today? With the Kaleela Arabic learning app you can start learning Arabic on your own, at your own pace, whenever and wherever you want. It really is the best way to learn Arabic! Try it now and find out why.
