See also:ى [U+0649 ARABIC LETTER ALEF MAKSURA], ی [U+06CC ARABIC LETTER FARSI YEH], ې [U+06D0 ARABIC LETTER E], ۍ [U+06CD ARABIC LETTER YEH WITH TAIL], ئ [U+0626 ARABIC LETTER YEH WITH HAMZA ABOVE], ے [U+06D2 ARABIC LETTER YEH BARREE], andۓ [U+06D3 ARABIC LETTER YEH BARREE WITH HAMZA ABOVE]
After kasra it is pronounced as a long ī/iː/ or y/j/ after fatḥa, ḍamma and before other vowels.
In the final position alif maqṣūra (ألف مقصورَة (“restricted alif”)) is always written without dots (ـى). alif maqṣūra always follows a fatḥa and is transliterated as ā; see ى for its pronunciation. It is also called alif layyina (ألف لينَة (“flexible alif”))
The traditional usage remains in Egypt and Sudan, for which the final yāʾ is written without dots and is visually identical to alif maqṣūra.
The tenth letter in traditional abjad order, which is used in place of numerals for list numbering (abjad numerals). It is preceded by ط (ṭ) and followed by ك (k).
أَنَا (ʾanā) has four enclitic forms which are employed in different contexts and are generally not interchangeable. The enclitic forms ـنِي (-nī) and ـنِيَ (-niya) are attached to prepositions ending in نْ (n) with no final vowel (e.g., مِنْ (min) and عَنْ (ʿan)) and to verbs. They may also be added to the class of particles traditionally called "the sisters of إِنَّ (ʾinna)" (except لَعَلَّ (laʿalla)).
The forms ـِي(-ī) and ـيَ(-ya) are used elsewhere mostly interchangeably, though restrictions in metrical poetry often determine which variant is used. All short case endings before the suffix are elided (that is, those of the singular, the broken plural, and the so-called sound feminine plural), as in قَوْلِي(qawlī, “my speech (nominative, accusative, or genitive)”), أَصَابِعِي(ʾaṣābiʿī, “my fingers (nominative, accusative, or genitive)”), and مُعَلِّمَاتِي(muʿallimātī, “my female teachers (nominative, accusative, or genitive)”).
In cases where ـِي(-ī) would be preceded by a long vowel, as when suffixing sound masculine plural nouns, only ـيَ(-ya) is used. If the word ends in a long close vowel (that is, -ū or -ī), the long close vowel assimilates to /i/ and the suffix is geminated, thus producing ـِيَّ(-iyya), as in مُعَلِّمِيَّ(muʿallimiyya, “my teachers (nominative, accusative, or genitive)”) (from مُعَلِّمُو(muʿallimū, “(the) teachers of (nominative)”) or مُعَلِّمِي(muʿallimī, “teachers of (accusative or genitive)”)) and قَاضِيَّ(qāḍiyya, “my judge (nominative, accusative, or genitive); my judges (nominative, accusative, or genitive)”) (from قَاضِي(qāḍī, “(the) judge of (nominative)”) or from قَاضُو(qāḍū, “(the) judges of (nominative)”) or قَاضِي(qāḍī, “(the) judges of (accusative or genitive)”)). Therefore, when suffixed, such nouns, like nouns with short endings, are described as indeclinable in traditional Arabic grammar. However, the last long vowel is retained if it is open (that is, -ā), as in إِصْبَعَايَ(ʾiṣbaʿāya, “my two fingers (nominative)”) (from إِصْبَعَا(ʾiṣbaʿā, “(the) two fingers of (nominative)”). If the word ends in the diphthong -aj, ـيَ(-ya) is used, /j/ is elided, and the suffix is geminated, as in إِصْبَعَيَّ(ʾiṣbaʿayya, “my two fingers (accusative or genitive)”) (from إِصْبَعَيْ(ʾiṣbaʿay, “(the) two fingers of (accusative or genitive)”). Thus, suffixed dual nouns are distinguishable in case, unlike all the other forms.
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 (ʾinnanī) or إِنِّي (ʾinnī)). 3. ـهِـ (-hi-) occurs after -i, -ī, or -ay, and ـهُـ (-hu-) elsewhere (after -a, -ā, -u, -ū, -aw).
The nisba suffix, an extremely productive suffix used to derive adjectives (with the meaning “related to ...”) or nouns (with the meaning “person related to ...”) from other nouns: for instance, فَنِّيّ (fanniyy, “artistic, artist”) derived from فَنّ (fann, “art”), عِرَاقِيّ (ʿirāqiyy, “Iraqi, an Iraqi”) derived from عِرَاق (ʿirāq, “Iraq”).
