ِم ْن َأ ِّي َم َكا ٍن min
ayyi maka ̄nin, from any placeي ِة َحا ٍلَِّ في/ َعَ لى َأ fı ̄ /
ala ̄
ayyati h
̇a ̄lin, in any case(f) َك ْم ‘how many?, how much?’
َك ْم takes the following noun, which it qualifies, in the indefinite
accusative singular, e.g.يا َر ًة ِع ْن َد َك؟ََّك ْم َس kam sayya ̄ratan
inda-ka? How many cars do youhave?َك ْم ِك َتا ً با َق َر ْأ َت؟ kam kita ̄ban qara
ta? How many books did you read?24.3 Vocative particles ن َدا ِءَُّح ُرو ُف ل
(a) The vocative particles are َيا ya ̄ for both genders, ي َهـاَُّأ
ayyuha ̄ forthe masculine, and يـ ُت َهـاََّأ
ayyatuha ̄ for the feminine. They canbe rendered as ‘O(h)...!’, ‘Hey (you)...!’, ‘I say...!’ Often they neednot be translated at all, the final exclamation mark after the nounor sentence being sufficient.(b) َيا ‘O...!’ is followed by a noun (in any number) or proper name
in the nominative case without the definite article or nunation,e.g.(c) In complex titles and compound names, the noun after the
vocative particle is followed by another noun and this last nounmust be in the genitive case. However, the noun after the vocativeparticle must be in the accusative instead of the nominative case,e.g.بُّ َ يا َر^ ya ̄ rabbu! O Lord! ّل ُه
ا
َ يا َألـ^ ya ̄^
alla ̄hu! O God!َ يا َر ُج ُل^ ya ̄ rag ̆ulu! O man! َ يا ِر َجا ُل^ ya ̄ rig ̆a ̄lu! O men!
ّي َد ُةََ يا َس^ ya ̄ sayyidatu! O lady! ّي َدا ُتََ يا َس^ ya ̄ sayyida ̄tu! O ladies!
َ يا ُيو ُس ُف^ ya ̄ yu ̄sufu! O Joseph! َ يا ُس َعا ُد^ ya ̄ su
a ̄du! O Suaad!171Interroga-
tive
particles
and
pronouns,
vocative
particles