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The Calling Ya
By ArabicTree | January 12, 2008
In Arabic, when you want to call someone, you address them with ya (يا), which is known as “the Calling Ya.” For example, you would say: يا اللهُ (ya Allah) “O Allah,” or يا أحمَدُ (ya Ahmed).
Grammatically, the calling ya is very easy–it only has a small effect on the one called:
- If the one called is in a possessive case (eg. the son of Uthmaan, the wife of ‘Ali, the Creator of the Universe) then the one called becomes mansoob–so it’s “ya Aba Bakr,” or “ya Rasulallah” (and not “ya Abu Bakr” or “ya Rasulullah”).
- In all other cases, the one called becomes marfoo‘ (with single tanween)–eg. “ya Ahmadu, ya Allahu“
As easy as that!