أيها

أَيُّ‎ (ʾayyu) +‎ هَا‎ (hā)

أَيُّهَا • (ʾayyuhā)

(feminine أَيَّتُهَا‎ (ʾayyatuhā))

1. vocative particle preceding a noun used in direct address; only rarely omitted in such contexts; occasionally translated as O or hey
   • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 8:45:

     ‏يَا أَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا لَقِيتُمْ فِئَةً فَاثْبُتُوا وَاذْكُرُوا ٱللَّٰهَ كَثِيرًا لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ‎

     yā ʾayyuhā llaḏīna ʾāmanū ʾiḏā laqītum fiʾatan fāṯbutū wāḏkurū llāha kaṯīran laʿallakum tufliḥūna

     O you who have attained to faith, when you meet a host in battle, be firm, and remember God often; so that you might attain to a happy state!

   • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 12:70:

     ‏فَلَمَّا جَهَّزَهُم بِجَهَازِهِمْ جَعَلَ ٱلسِّقَايَةَ فِي رَحْلِ أَخِيهِ ثُمَّ أَذَّنَ مُؤَذِّنٌ أَيَّتُهَا ٱلْعِيرُ إِنَّكُمْ لَسَارِقُونَ‎

     falammā jahhazahum bijahāzihim jaʿala s-siqāyata fī raḥli ʾaḵīhi ṯumma ʾaḏḏana muʾaḏḏinun ʾayyatuhā l-ʿīru ʾinnakum lasāriqūna

     And when he had provided them with their provisions, he placed the drinking-cup in his brother's camel-pack. And a herald called out: "O you people of the caravan! Verily, you are thieves!

• The subsequent noun stands in the accusative of the determinate state and must have the article ال‎ (al-) attached to it.
• أَيُّهَا‎ (ʾayyuhā) is often used in conjunction with a preceding يَا‎ (yā) (this usage is the norm in the Quran, see first usage example above).
• أَيُّهَا‎ (ʾayyuhā) is far less common than يَا‎ (yā) and reserved for elevated registers. Whereas يَا‎ (yā) is often left untranslated in English, أَيُّهَا‎ (ʾayyuhā) is used in similar situations to English O.
• Unlike يَا‎ (yā), أَيُّهَا‎ (ʾayyuhā) inflects for gender. When addressing a female, a group of females, or else anything that is referred to by a grammatically feminine word (see second usage example above), the form أَيَّتُهَا‎ (ʾayyatuhā) is used.

• يَا‎ (yā)

أَيِّهَا • (ʾayyihā) f

1. which one of them.

• Fischer, Wolfdietrich (2006) Grammatik des Klassischen Arabisch (in German), 4^th edition, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, →ISBN, § 157