Letter 28 of 28

How Do You Pronounce Ya (ي)?

ي
Yaيَاء

Y as in yes, and the long "ee".

The sound

As a consonant, the English y of yes and year. As a long vowel it stretches "ee", as in الدِّين (ad-din).

The last letter of the alphabet, two dots below. At the end of words it often appears without dots as alif maqsurah (ى), said as a long "aa", as in مُوسَىٰ (Musa).

The four written forms

Arabic letters change shape by position, alone, at the start, in the middle, and at the end of a word.

ي
Isolated
ي‍
Initial
‍ي‍
Medial
‍ي
Final

Ya with harakat

The three short vowels: fatha says "a", kasra says "i", damma says "u".

يَ
ya
Fatha · "a"
يِ
yi
Kasra · "i"
يُ
yu
Damma · "u"
Spot it in the Quran
يَوْمٌ
yawm
day
الدِّينُ
ad-din
the religion, the judgement
إِيَّاكَ
iyyaka
You alone
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