ها

See also: ـها

Arabic

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /haː/

Particle

هَا • (hā)

1. behold, look, lo!

Derived terms

• هَٰذَا (hāḏā)

Descendants

• → Old Galician-Portuguese: ei
  • Galician: eis
  • Portuguese: ei, eis
• → Old Spanish: fe
  • Spanish: he

Pronoun

ـهَا • (-hā) f sg (enclitic form of هِيَ (hiya))

1. her (bound object pronoun)
2. it, its (bound object pronoun, referring to inanimate nouns of feminine gender)
3. them, their (bound object pronoun, non-human)

See also

Arabic personal pronouns

Isolated nominative1 pronouns
		singular	dual	plural
1st person		أَنَا (ʔanā)	نَحْنُ (naḥnu)
2nd person	m	أَنْتَ (ʔanta)	أَنْتُمَا (ʔantumā)	أَنْتُمْ (ʔantum), أَنْتُمُ (ʔantumu)2
	f	أَنْتِ (ʔanti)		أَنْتُنَّ (ʔantunna)
3rd person	m	هُوَ (huwa)	هُمَا (humā)	هُمْ (hum), هُمُ (humu)2
	f	هِيَ (hiya)		هُنَّ (hunna)
Isolated accusative pronouns
		singular	dual	plural
1st person		إِيَّايَ (ʔiyyāya)	إِيَّانَا (ʔiyyānā)
2nd person	m	إِيَّاكَ (ʔiyyāka)	إِيَّاكُمَا (ʔiyyākumā)	إِيَّاكُم (ʔiyyākum), إِيَّاكُمُ (ʔiyyākumu)2
	f	إِيَّاكِ (ʔiyyāki)		إِيَّاكُنَّ (ʔiyyākunna)
3rd person	m	إِيَّاهُ (ʔiyyāhu)	إِيَّاهُمَا (ʔiyyāhumā)	إِيَّاهُمْ (ʔiyyāhum), إِيَّاهُمُ (ʔiyyāhumu)2
	f	إِيَّاهَا (ʔiyyāhā)		إِيَّاهُنَّ (ʔiyyāhunna)
Enclitic accusative and genitive pronouns
		singular	dual	plural
1st person		ـنِي (-nī), ـنِيَ (-niya), ـي (-y), ـيَ (-ya)3	ـنَا (-nā)
2nd person	m	ـكَ (-ka)	ـكُمَا (-kumā)	ـكُم (-kum), ـكُمُ (-kumu)2
	f	ـكِ (-ki)		ـكُنَّ (-kunna)
3rd person	m	ـهُ (-hu), ـهِ (-hi)4	ـهُمَا (-humā), ـهِمَا (-himā)4	ـهُم (-hum), ـهُمُ (-humu)2, ـهِم (-him)4, ـهِمِ (-himi)2,4
	f	ـهَا (-hā)		ـهُنَّ (-hunna), ـهِنَّ (-hinna)4

1. Also used to emphasize attached pronouns and as a copula.
2. ـمْ (-m) becomes ـمُ (-mu) (or ـمِ (-mi) with vowel harmony) before the so-called elidable hamza (such as the definite article الـ (al--)).
3. Specifically, ـنِي (-nī, “me”) is attached to verbs, but ـِي (-ī) or ـيَ (-ya, “my”) is attached to nouns. In the latter case, ـيَ (-ya) is attached to nouns whose construct state ends in a long vowel or diphthong (e.g. in the sound masculine plural and the dual), while ـِي (-ī) is attached to nouns whose construct state ends in a short vowel, in which case that vowel is elided (e.g. in the sound feminine plural, as well as the singular and broken plural of most nouns). Furthermore, -ū of the masculine sound plural is assimilated to -ī before ـيَ (-ya) (presumably, -aw of masculine defective -an plurals is similarly assimilated to -ay). Prepositions use ـِي (-ī) or ـيَ (-ya), even though in this case it has the meaning of “me” rather than “my”. The sisters of inna can use either form (e.g. إِنَّنِي (ʔinnanī) or إِنِّي (ʔinnī)).
4. Vowel harmony: ـهِـ (-hi-) occurs after -i, -ī, or -ay, and ـهُـ (-hu-) elsewhere (after -a, -ā, -u, -ū, -aw).

Egyptian Arabic

Etymology

Inherited from Arabic ـهَا (-hā).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ha/
• (after clusters) IPA^(key): /aha/

Suffix

ـها • (-hā) pl

1. enclitic form of هي (hiyya)
   1. object pronoun, attached to verbs: her
   2. possessive pronoun, attached to nouns: her
   3. prepositional pronoun, attached to prepositions: her

See also

Egyptian Arabic enclitic pronouns

		Singular		Plural
		after consonant	after vowel
1st person	after verb	ـني (-ni)		ـنا (-na)
	else	ـي (-i)	ـيا (-ya)
2nd person	m	ـك (-ak)	ـك (-k)	ـكم (-kum) / ـكو (-ku)
	f	ـك (-ik)	ـكي (-ki) / ـك (-ki)
3rd person	m	ـه (-u) / ـو (-u)	ـه (-h)	ـهم (-hum)
	f	ـها (-ha)

North Levantine Arabic

Alternative forms

• ـا

Suffix

ـها • (-a, -ha, -wa, -ya) f

1. Enclitic form of هي (hiyye)
2. she, her

Usage notes

• The pronunciation in careful speech is “-ha”, but the “h” is in the process of being lost. Some speakers currently use “-a” after a consonant and “-ha” after a vowel or diphthong, and some others use “-ya” after vowels and diphthongs instead, but it's most-common for it to assimilate to the preceding sound:
  • “-a” after a consonant
  • “-ha” after the vowel “a”
  • “-wa” after the vowel “o”/“u”
  • “-ya” after the vowel “e”/“i” or the diphthong “ay”
• It might also be spelled as ـا when it's pronounced as “-a”, “-wa” or “-ya”.
• These are not hard regional boundaries, but Syrian dialects tend to leave compensatory lengthening or gemination in place of the dropped /h/, while Lebanese dialects tend to drop the /h/ altogether and only leave behind phonemic stress:
  • (rural or regional) فِيهَا تِشْوِيهَا بإِيدَيْها ― fīha tišwīha b ʔidayha; b ʔidēha ― She can grill it with her hands
  • (chiefly Syria) فِيّا تِشْوِيّا بإيدَيَّا، بإِيدَيها ― fiyya tišwiyya b ʔidayya; b ʔidēha (or fīya tišwīya)
  • (chiefly Lebanon) فِيَا تِشْوِيَا بإيدَيَا ― fiya tišwíya b ʔidáya
  • This Lebanese phenomenon does not affect underlyingly geminate يّ (yy). Consider علَيَا (ʕ(a)láya, “on her”) but بَيَّا (bayya, “her father”).
• The form with “h” attracts stress to the syllable before it automatically. The form with a dropped “h” still behaves this way for some speakers, but others allow the automatic stress rules to take precedent:
  • If pronounced with an /h/, the word كَتَبْهَا، كَتَبَا (“he wrote it”) can only take the stress katábha, but without the /h/ it can be either katába or kátaba.
  • If pronounced with an /h/, the word جَرِّبْهَا، جَرّبا (“try it!”, masculine imperative) can only take the stress jarríbha, but without the /h/ it can be either jarríba or járrba.

See also

North Levantine Arabic enclitic pronouns

		Singular		Plural
		after consonant	after vowel
1st person	after verb	ـني (-ni)		ـنا (-na)
	else	ـِي (-i)	ـي (-y)
2nd person	m	ـَك (-ak)	ـك (-k)	ـكُن (-kun)
	f	ـِك (-ek)	ـكِ (-ki)
3rd person	m	ـُه (-o)	ـه (-h)	ـهُن (-(h/w/y)un)
	f	ـها (-(h/w/y)a)

Persian

Etymology

Sound-symbolic/onomatopoeic. Compare Armenian հա (ha, “yeah”), Hindi हाँ (hā̃, “yes”), Dari آه (āh, “yeah”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [hɒː]

Interjection

ها • (hâ)

1. (dialectal, Iran) yeah, yes

South Levantine Arabic

Suffix

ـها • (-ha) f

2. Enclitic form of هي (hiyye)
3. she, her

See also

South Levantine Arabic enclitic pronouns

		Singular		Plural
		after consonant	after vowel
1st person	after verb	ـني (-ni)		ـنا (-na)
	else	ـِي (-i)	ـي (-y)
2nd person	m	ـَك (-ak)	ـك (-k)	ـكُم (-kom) / ـكو (-ku)
	f	ـِك (-ek)	ـكي (-ki)
3rd person	m	ـُه (-o)	ـه (-h)	ـهُم (-hom)
	f	ـها (-ha)

Tunisian Arabic

Etymology 1

From هَٰذَا.

Pronunciation 1

• IPA^(key): [hə]

Demonstrative

ها (hə)

1. (prenomial, archaic) (only before a definite noun; gender- and number-free) this, those

   هَا الكتِاب ― hə l-ktēb ― This book

   Synonyms: هَٰذَا, هَٰذِي, هَٰذُومَة

   Antonym: هِاك

Related terms

• هَاكُم
• هَٰذَا
• هَٰذُومَة
• هَٰذِي
• هِاكَة
• هِاكِي

Etymology 2

From Arabic هَا (hā)

Pronunciation 2

• IPA^(key): [hɐ]

Particle

ها (ha)

1. (to indicate presence or obviousness) here, Lo!

   هَاك تَاكِل! ― hāk tēkel! ― You are literally eating right now!

   هَاني بَحذِاك ― hāni baḥðēk ― Here I am next to you

   Coordinate term: رَا