# ܗܝ
## Assyrian Neo-Aramaic
### Pronunciation

* ܗܲܝ:
** (Standard) IPA: [ʔajaː], [hɑjː]
** (Nineveh Plains) IPA: [ʔaːj]
    (Bakhdede) IPA: [ʔaːhi]
* ܗܵܝ:
** (Standard) IPA: [haːj]
** (Nineveh Plains) IPA: [ʔeː]

### Etymology 1

Likely a univerbation of ܗܵܐ (hā, “behold”) +‎ Aramaic הִיא (hī, “she”), from Proto-Semitic *šiʔa; compare Arabic هِيَ (hiya), Hebrew הִיא (hi) and Akkadian 𒅆𒄿 (šī).

#### Pronoun

ܗ̇ܝ or ܗܲܝ • (aya or hay) f sg (masculine ܗ̇ܘ (awa), masculine plural ܗܸܢܘܿܢ (hinōn), feminine plural ܗܸܢܹܝܢ (hinnēn))
* (personal) she, it
* (intensive) she herself, it itself
* (dialectal, demonstrative) that

##### Usage notes

* Assyrian Neo-Aramaic does not have a neuter gender. The sense of “it” comes when translating Assyrian inanimate nouns that are grammatically feminine into English inanimate nouns that are usually neuter.
* As an intensive pronoun, ܗ̇ܝ (aya) must come before the noun it describes.

##### Derived terms

* ܗܵܝܗܵܐ (hāyhā, “that”)
* ܗܝܼܵܝܘܼܬ݂ܵܐ (hīyāyūṯā, “identity”)
* ܗܝܼܟ݂ܲܕ݂ܗܝܼܵܝܵܐ (hīḵaḏhīyāyā, “identical”)

##### See also
### Etymology 2

Inherited from Aramaic הָי (hāy, “that”).

#### Pronoun

ܗܵܝ • (hāy) f sg (masculine ܗܵܘ (hāw), masculine plural ܗܵܢܘܿܢ (hānōn), feminine plural ܗܵܢܹܝܢ (hānēn))
* (demonstrative) that; that thing, that one (not physically present)
* (dialectal, proscribed) used as primary meaning for plurals

## Classical Syriac
### Etymology 1

From Proto-Semitic *šiʔa.

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: [hi]

#### Pronoun

ܗܝ • (hī) f (plural ܗܢܝܢ, masculine singular ܗܘ, masculine plural ܗܢܘܢ)
* (personal) she, it
* (intensive) she herself, it itself
* sometimes used somewhat like a definite article; the

##### Usage notes

* Syriac does not have a neuter gender. The sense of "it" comes when translating Syriac inanimate nouns that are grammatically feminine into English inanimate nouns that are usually neuter.
* As an intensive pronoun, ܗܝ (hī) must come before the noun it describes.

### Etymology 2

Modified from above, with the initial consonant quiescing.

#### Alternative forms

* -ܝ (-y)

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: [-(ʔ)i] (after a word ending in a consonant)
* IPA: [-j] (after a word ending in a vowel, forming a diphthong)

#### Pronoun

ܗܝ • ([h]ī, -y) f (plural ܐܢܝܢ, feminine singular ܗܘ, feminine plural ܐܢܘܢ)
* an enclitic used as a copula for a third-person singular feminine subject; she is, it is
* (with a preceding first- or second-person singular pronoun) an enclitic used as a copula for a singular feminine subject; (I) am, (you) are

##### Usage notes

* Usually, the form ܗܝ ([h]ī) is written separately from the word it follows while the alternative form -ܝ (-y) is written together with the word it follows.

##### See also

* ܐܝܬܝܗ

### Etymology 3
#### Pronunciation

* IPA: [hɑj]

#### Adjective

ܗܝ • (hāy) f (plural ܗܢܝܢ, singular masculine counterpart ܗܘ, plural masculine counterpart ܗܢܘܢ)
* (demonstrative) that

##### Usage notes

* As an attributive adjective, ܗܝ (hāy) can come either before or after the noun it describes without any change in meaning.

#### Pronoun

ܗܝ • (hāy) f (plural ܗܢܝܢ, masculine singular ܗܘ, masculine plural ܗܢܘܢ)
* (demonstrative) that thing, that one
* used somewhat like a definite article; the

##### Usage notes

* The sense of the definite article "the" is used especially when translating Ancient Greek texts, being the equivalent of the Ancient Greek feminine singular definite article ἡ (hē).

### References

* “hy”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–, retrieved 2011-06-11
* Costaz, Louis (2002) Dictionnaire syriaque-français ∙ Syriac–English Dictionary ∙ قاموس سرياني-عربي, 3rd edition, Beirut: Dar El-Machreq, pages 74a–b
* Payne Smith, Jessie (1903) A Compendious Syriac Dictionary Founded Upon the Thesaurus Syriacus of R. Payne Smith, D.D., Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 103a
* Sokoloff, Michael (2009) A Syriac Lexicon: A Translation from the Latin, Correction, Expansion, and Update of C. Brockelmann's Lexicon Syriacum, Winona Lake, Indiana, Piscataway, New Jersey: Eisenbrauns; Gorgias Press, page 339b