Learn the Arabic letter Yaa with word samples 2023

The Arabic letter Yaa ي is the 28th letter in the Arabic alphabet. It has -almost- the shape of a duck with two dots down.

In addition to the isolated form, this letter has 3 forms in an Arabic word.

The shapes of the letter Yaa ي:

Terminal	Middle	Initial	Isolated
ـي	ـيـ	يـ	ي

How to pronounce Yaa ي? 

The pronunciation of the letter Yaa ي is the same as the pronunciation of the English letters Y, I, and EE. 

Examples of words with Yaa ي:

Here are some examples of the letter Yaa ي at the beginning, middle, and end of the word:

The initial Yaa ي:

Arabic	English	Pronunciation
يقطين	Pumpkin	Yaqtin
يوم	Day	Yawm
يمامة	Dove	Yamama

The middle Yaa ي:

Arabic	English	Pronunciation
سيّارة	Car	Sayyaara
بعيد	Far	Ba’eed
سريع	Fast	Saree’

The terminal Yaa ي:

Arabic	English	Pronunciation
كرسي	Chair	Kursii
رأي	Opinion	Raa’y
صبي	Boy	Sabii

The letter Yaa ي with the Harakat حركات:

The letter Yaa ي with fat.ha فتحة:

Arabic	English	Pronunciation
ثيَاب	Clothes	Thiyab
ريَاضة	Sports	Riyada
يَعسوب	Dragonfly	Yaa’sub

The letter Yaa ي with the Damma ضمة:

Arabic	English	Pronunciation
بيُوت	Houses	Buyut
يُوسفي	tangerine	Yusifi
عيون	Eyes	Ou’un

The letter Yaa ي with Kasra كسرة:

Arabic	English	Pronunciation
جيِّد	Good	Jayyed
سيِّء	Bad	Sayee‘
قيِّم	Valuable	Qayyem

The letter Yaa ي with Sukuun سكون:

Arabic	English	Pronunciation
حليْب	Milk	Halib
قميْص	Shirt	Qamis
عيْن	Eye	Ayin

The letter Yaa ي as a long vowel and weak letter

The letter Yaa ي is one of the Arabic long vowels which are: Alif ا, Waaw و and Yaa ي. In Arabic, these letters are called “weak letters حروف العلة”, because they can change between each other. Here is an example that explains more:

Arabic	English	Pronunciation
مشى	(He) walked	Masha
يمشي	(He) is walking	Yamshi
رمى	(He) threw	Rmaa
يرمي	(He) is throwing	Yarmii

The verbs رمى ، مشى have Alif maqsoura ى (the shortened Alif) in the end, which is actually Yaa ي because the root letters of these words are: ر م ى ، م ش ي. The letter Yaa ي is weak and changed into Alif maqsoura ى.
In the verbs مشى ، يمشي you see that Yaa ي has not changed. So in many cases, you will meet Yaa ي transformed into Alif maqsoura ى.

Other roles of the letter Yaa ي

The letter Yaa ي in Arabic could be added to the end of a noun as an attached pronoun “my”, for example:

Arabic	English	Pronunciation
بيتي	My house	Bayti
يومي	My day	Yawmi
سيارتي	My car	Sayyarati

• The word بيت means “house”. However, بيتي means “my house”.
• The word يوم means “day”. However, بيتي means “my day”.
• The word سيارة means “car”. However, بيتي means “my car”.

The letter Yaa ي is one of the easy Arabic letters which are not difficult to pronounce, as its sound exists in many other languages. And its isolated and terminal shapes are not similar to any other Arabic letter.
The shape of the Initial and middle Yaa يـ ، ـيـ might be confusing as it is close to the Initial شىي middle Taa  تـ ، ـتـ, Noun  نـ ، ـنـ , Baa  بـ ، ـبـ  and Thaa  ثـ ، ـثـ . You need to pay attention to the dots of these five letters.