aí

See also: Appendix:Variations of "ai"

Ladino

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin ad ibī (“to/at there”). Cognate with Spanish ahí.

Adverb

aí (Hebrew spelling אאי)

1. there

Old Irish

Alternative forms

• áe, aíï

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aːi̯/

Pronoun

aí

1. his, hers, theirs (optionally governed by the definite article)
2. (partitive genitive) of him, of her, of them

Inflection

Normally uninflected, but the following forms, which Thurneysen considers artificial Latinisms, are found in the Milan glosses:

• Accusative plural: aíï
• Dative plural: aíïb

Quotations

• c. 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 499–712, Wb. 25^d14

  Dos·n-aidlibea uili; ní ain nechtar n-aíï, indí nachid·chúalatar et tremi·tíagat

  He will visit them all; he will not protect either of them, [neither] those who did not hear it nor those who transgress it.

• c. 850-875, Turin Glosses and Scholia on St Mark, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 484–94, Tur. 110c

  Ba bés leusom do·bertis dá boc leu dochum tempuil, ⁊ no·léicthe indala n‑aí fon díthrub co pecad in popuil, ⁊ do·bertis maldachta foir, ⁊ n⟨o⟩·oircthe didiu and ó popul tar cenn a pecthae ind aile.

  It was a custom with them that two he-goats were brought by them to the temple, and one of the two of them was let go to the wilderness with the sin of the people, and curses were put upon him, and thereupon the other was slain there by the people for their sins.

Mutation

Mutation of aí

radical	lenition	nasalization
aí (pronounced with /h/ in h-prothesis environments)	unchanged	n-aí

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in Old Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “1 aí”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• Thurneysen, Rudolf (1940) [1909] D. A. Binchy and Osborn Bergin, transl., A Grammar of Old Irish, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, translation of Handbuch des Alt-Irischen (in German), →ISBN, §§ 444, 507 e, pages 279–80, 322; reprinted 2017

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /aˈi/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ɐˈi/

• Rhymes: -i
• Hyphenation: a‧í

Etymology 1

From Latin ad (“to, toward, at”) + ibī (“there”). Compare Galician aí, Spanish ahí.

Alternative forms

• ahi (pre-standardization spelling)
• ahy (obsolete)

Adverb

aí (not comparable)

2. there (close to the second person (you))

   O livro está aí, ao seu lado.

   The book is there, next to you.

4. towards the second person

   Irei aí.

   I’ll go to you.

6. then (soon afterwards)

   Synonym: então

   O telhado caiu, aí reconstruiram a casa.

   The roof collapsed, then they rebuilt the house.

8. in this case; in this situation; this way

   O livro pode ser queimado. Aí não tem como restaurá-lo.

   The book may be burned. This way it is impossible to restore it.

Derived terms

• aê
• aí vem
• por aí

See also

Portuguese demonstratives

		pronouns					adverbs
		singular		plural		neuter
		masculine	feminine	masculine	feminine
proximal	X	este	esta	estes	estas	isto	aqui, cá
	de + X	deste	desta	destes	destas	disto	daqui
	em + X	neste	nesta	nestes	nestas	nisto	—
medial	X	esse	essa	esses	essas	isso	aí
	de + X	desse	dessa	desses	dessas	disso	daí
	em + X	nesse	nessa	nesses	nessas	nisso	—
distal	X	aquele	aquela	aqueles	aquelas	aquilo	ali, lá, acolá
	de + X	daquele	daquela	daqueles	daquelas	daquilo	dali, dacolá
	em + X	naquele	naquela	naqueles	naquelas	naquilo	—
	a + X	àquele	àquela	àqueles	àquelas	àquilo
anaphoric	X	o	a	os	as	—	—
	de + X	do	da	dos	das
	em + X	no	na	nos	nas
	a + X	ao	à	aos	às

Interjection

aí!

2. yeah! (expressing joy, celebration, glee, etc.)

   Synonyms: aê!, é isso aí!

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Old Tupi a'y.

Alternative forms

• aígue

Noun

aí f (plural aís)

1. (Brazil, dialectal) sloth (any animal in the suborder Folivora)

   Synonyms: bicho-preguiça, preguiça

Descendants

• → English: ai

References

• A. B. H. Ferreira, Novo Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, second edition (Rio de Janeiro: Nova Fronteira, 1986)
• “aí”, in iDicionário Aulete (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2025
• “aí”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025
• “aí”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025
• “aí”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2025