ها

Arabic

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /haː/

Particle

هَا • (hā)

1. behold, look, lo!

Derived terms

• هَٰذَا‎ (hāḏā)

Descendants

• → Galician: eis
• → Portuguese: eis
• → 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 nominative pronouns
		singular	dual	plural
1st person		أَنَا‎ (ʔanā)	نَحْنُ‎ (naḥnu)
2nd person	m	أَنْتَ‎ (ʔanta)	أَنْتُمَا‎ (ʔantumā)	أَنْتُمْ‎ (ʔantum)
	f	أَنْتِ‎ (ʔanti)		أَنْتُنَّ‎ (ʔantunna)
3rd person	m	هُوَ‎ (huwa)	هُمَا‎ (humā)	هُمْ‎ (hum), هُمُ‎ (humu)1
	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)
	f	إِيَّاكِ‎ (ʔiyyāki)		إِيَّاكُنَّ‎ (ʔiyyākunna)
3rd person	m	إِيَّاهُ‎ (ʔiyyāhu)	إِيَّاهُمَا‎ (ʔiyyāhumā)	إِيَّاهُمْ‎ (ʔiyyāhum)
	f	إِيَّاهَا‎ (ʔiyyāhā)		إِيَّاهُنَّ‎ (ʔiyyāhunna)
Enclitic accusative and genitive pronouns
		singular	dual	plural
1st person		ـنِي‎ (-nī), ـنِيَ‎ (-niya), ـي‎ (-y), ـيَ‎ (-ya)2	ـنَا‎ (-nā)
2nd person	m	ـكَ‎ (-ka)	ـكُمَا‎ (-kumā)	ـكُم‎ (-kum)
	f	ـكِ‎ (-ki)		ـكُنَّ‎ (-kunna)
3rd person	m	ـهُ‎ (-hu), ـهِ‎ (-hi)3	ـهُمَا‎ (-humā), ـهِمَا‎ (-himā)3	ـهُم‎ (-hum), ـهِم‎ (-him)3
	f	ـهَا (-hā)		ـهُنَّ‎ (-hunna), ـهِنَّ‎ (-hinna)3
1. هُمْ‎ (hum) becomes هُمُ‎ (humu) before the definite article الـ‎ (al--). 2. 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)). 3. ـهِـ‎ (-hi-) occurs after -i, -ī, or -ay, and ـهُـ‎ (-hu-) elsewhere (after -a, -ā, -u, -ū, -aw).

Egyptian Arabic

Suffix

ـها • (-ha) f sg

1. her (bound object pronoun)

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” and the diphthong “ay”
• It might also be spelled as ـا‎ when it's pronounced as “-a”, “-wa” or “-ya”.
• 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:
  • كَتَبهَا (“he wrote her”) can only be pronounced katábha, but كَتَبَا (“he wrote her”) can be either katába or kátaba.
  • جَرِّبهَا (“try it!”, masculine imperative) can only be pronounced jarríbha, but جَرّبَا (“try 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

From Middle Persian 𐭩𐭧𐭠‎ (-īhā).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): [hɑː]

 

• (Dari, formal/KBL) IPA^(key): [hɑː]

• (Dari, formal/KBL) IPA^(key): [hɑː]
  • (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [ʔɑː]
  • (Hazaragi/approx.) IPA^(key): [ʔɔː]

 

• (Iran, formal/TEH) IPA^(key): [hɒː]

• (Iran, formal/TEH) IPA^(key): [hɒː]
  • (Tehrani) IPA^(key): [ʔɒː]

• (Tajik, formal/DUS) IPA^(key): [hɔ]

• Phonetic Persian:

Traditional: [ها]‎

Iranian: [ها]‎

Readings
Classical reading?	hā
Dari reading?	hā
Iranian reading?	hâ
Tajik reading?	ho

• Note: The plural suffix always bears the primary stress in a word. گفتگو‎ (goftogu) - گفتگوها‎ (goftogu-hâ)

Suffix

ها • (-hâ)

1. A suffix forming the plural of a noun. Used for most nouns in colloquial language and inanimate nouns in formal language.

Usage notes

Although not reflected in all writing, this suffix should not attach the ه to the preceding character, though neither should any space should be written. In computing, this is accomplished with a zero-width non-joiner. For example, while some may write the plural of شب‎ (šab, “night”) as شبها or شب ها (typically for convenience, as many Persian keyboards do not have a ZWNJ), the preferred normal form would be شب‌ها‎ (šab-hâ), with the ب and ه separated, but without a substantial amount of intermediary space. Though this rule is not compulsory in general, and the suffix may be joined to the preceding word or separated, if the preceding word ends in a silent ه, it must be separated.

Synonyms

• ـان‎ (-ân), ـگان‎ (-gân), ـیان‎ (-yân)
• ـات‎ (-ât)
• ـین‎ (-in)
• ـون‎ (-un)

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)