ما
Algerian ArabicEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Arabic مَاء (māʔ, “water”).
NounEdit
ما (mā)
Andalusian ArabicEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Arabic مَاء (māʔ, “water”).
NounEdit
ما (mā)
ArabicEdit
EtymologyEdit
Cognate with Hebrew מָה (ma) and Ugaritic 𐎎𐎅 (mh).
PronunciationEdit
PronounEdit
مَا • (mā) m
- (interrogative) what?
- Synonyms: أَيّ شَيْءٍ (ʔayy šayʔin), أَيْشٍ (ʔayšin), مَاذَا (māḏā)
- (indefinite) some, a certain
-
- إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَا يَسْتَحْيِي أَنْ يَضْرِبَ مَثَلًا مَا بَعُوضَةً فَمَا فَوْقَهَا
- ʔinna l-laha lā yastaḥyī ʔan yaḍriba maṯalan mā baʕūḍatan famā fawqahā
- Indeed, God is not timid to present an example: that of a mosquito or what is smaller than it.
-
- (relative) that which, what
- اِقْرَأْ مَا كَتَبْتُ. ― iqraʔ mā katabtu. ― Read what I wrote.
- مَا تَفْعَلُ تُجَازَى عَلَيْهِ ― mā tafʕalu tujāzā ʕalayhi ― Whatever you do, you are paid back for it.
- سَتُبْدِي لَكَ الْأَيَّامُ مَا كُنْتَ جَاهِلًا
- satubdī laka l-ʔayyāmu mā kunta jāhilan
- (please add an English translation of this quote)
- وَلَعَلَّ مَا تَخْشَاهُ لَيْسَ بِكَائِن
وَلَعَلَّ مَا تَرْجُوهُ سَوْفَ يَكُون
وَلَعَلَّ مَا هَوَّنْتَ لَيْسَ بِهَيِّن
وَلَعَلَّ مَا شَدَّدْتَ سَوْفَ يَهُون- wa-laʕalla mā taḵšāhu laysa bikāʔin
wa-laʕalla mā tarjūhu sawfa yakūn
wa-laʕalla mā hawwanta laysa bihayyin
wa-laʕalla mā šaddadta sawfa yahūn - And maybe what you’re afraid of isn't existent
And maybe what you desire is going to be
And maybe what you deem easy isn’t convenient
And maybe what you find difficult will be of ease - (literally, “what you fear it / what you desire it / what you find easy / what you find difficult”)
- wa-laʕalla mā taḵšāhu laysa bikāʔin
- (+ past or jussive) whichever; whatever
- Synonyms: أَيَّمَا (ʔayyamā), مَهْمَا (mahmā)
- مَا تَفْعَلْ تُجَازَ عَلَيْهِ
- mā tafʕal tujāza ʕalayhi
- Whatever you do, you will be paid back for it.
Derived termsEdit
ParticleEdit
مَا • (mā)
- not; never
- Synonym: (archaic) إِنْ (ʔin)
- a. 1374, Ibn al-Khatib, Zaman Al-Wasl:
- وَطَرٌ مَا فِيهِ مِنْ عَيْبٍ سِوَى – أَنَّهُ مَرَّ كَلَمْحِ ٱلْبَصَرِ
- waṭarun mā fīhi min ʕaybin siwā – ʔannahu marra kalamḥi l-baṣari
- The wish that is without a mistake except that it passed like a glance of the eye.
- مَا كَتَبَ. ― mā kataba. ― He never wrote.
- مَا هُوَ بِمَيِّتٍ. ― mā huwa bimayyitin. ― He is not dead.
- مَا شَيْءٌ أَحَبَّ إِلِيَّ مِنْهُ. ― mā šayʔun ʔaḥabba ʔiliyya minhu. ― There is no thing that is more lovely, to me, than that!
- مَا أَحَدٌ مِثْلُهُ. ― mā ʔaḥadun miṯluhu. ― There is none like him.
- مَا مِنْ إِنْسَانٍ فِي الْبَيْتِ. ― mā min ʔinsānin fī l-bayti. ― There is nobody in that house.
- مَا أَرَى شَيْئًا. ― mā ʔarā šayʔan. ― I cannot see a thing!
- مَا يَفْعَلُ ذٰلِكَ إِلَّا شُجَاعٌ. ― mā yafʕalu ḏālika ʔillā šujāʕun. ― No one would do that but the bold.
ConjunctionEdit
مَا • (mā)
- as long as
-
- فَمَا ٱسْتَقَامُوا لَكُمْ فَٱسْتَقِيمُوا لَهُمْ
- fa-mā staqāmū lakum fa-staqīmū lahum
- So as long as they are straight with you, be straight with them.
-
- A subordinating conjunction following particles or genitival nouns in conditional statements, known as مَا الزَّائِدَة (mā z-zāʔida), 'superfluous mā'
- loosely translates to that; introduces a verbal complement to a preposition, standing in place of the definite verbal noun
- Synonym: أَنْ (ʔan)
- 2017, أَتَظُنُّ أَنَّكَ عِنْدَمَا أَحْرَقْتَنِي[1], 0:35 from the start:
- أَتَظُنُّ أَنَّكَ بَعْدَ مَا أَحْرَقْتَنِي وَرَقَصْتَ كَٱلشَيْطَانِ فَوْقَ رُفَاتِي
- ʔataẓunnu ʔannaka baʕda mā ʔaḥraqtanī wa-raqaṣta ka-š-šayṭāni fawqa rufātī
- Do you think that, after you set me alight, and you danced like Satan over my ashes,
- (literally, “do you think that, you, after [that] you burned me and danced like Satan over my ashes, [...]”)
Derived termsEdit
- (as long as): مَا دَامَ (mā dāma)
- بَعْدَمَا (baʕdamā)
- عِنْدَمَا (ʕindamā)
- حِينَمَا (ḥīnamā)
- كَمَا (kamā)
AdverbEdit
مَا • (mā)
- whenever
- (Can we add an example for this sense?)
- as far as, to the extent that, to the degree that
- (Can we add an example for this sense?)
- (with an elative in the accusative) (oh) how...!
- مَا أَجْمَلَ ٱلْحَيَاةَ!
- mā ʔajmala l-ḥayāta!
- How beautiful life is!
- مَا أَلَذَّ ٱلطَّعَامَ!
- mā ʔalaḏḏa ṭ-ṭaʕāma!
- How delicious the food is!
- مَا أَعْظَمَكَ!
- mā ʔaʕẓamaka!
- How great you are!
Usage notesEdit
- (not): If the negated sentence has a subject complement, the subject complement may occur in the nominative (like the subject), the accusative (as it would in a sentence negated instead with لَيْسَ (laysa)), or (with بِ (bi)) the genitive (as it would in a sentence negated instead with لَيْسَ (laysa)).
- (oh how): The above accusative construction is called تَعَجُّب (taʕajjub, “wonderment; exclamation”) in Arabic. This pattern originated from مَا (mā) meaning “what, something” and the accusative comparative being homophonic to a transitive verb meaning “to make...”. So the example sentence “مَا أَجْمَلَ ٱلْحَيَاةَ” “How beautiful life is!” has the origins in the meaning “Something / What made the life so beautiful?”
- There is another rarer pattern for exclamations, which uses the imperative form of the verb: أَجْمِلْ بِهَا مِنْ حَيَاةٍ! ― ʔajmil bihā min ḥayātin!
Egyptian ArabicEdit
EtymologyEdit
ParticleEdit
ما • (ma)
- that
- بعد ما السباق ابتدى / بعد السباق ما ابتدى
- baʕdi ma s-sibāʾ ibtadā / baʕdi s-sibāʾ ma ibtadā
- After the race began.
- لحد ما ― li-ḥadd ma ― until
ParticleEdit
ما or م • (ma- or ma-)
- particle expressing emphasis
- ماتقعد ― ma-tuʾʕ ud ― Come on, sit down!
- ماه هو قال كده ― ma-hu huwwa ʾāl kida ― But that's really what he said.
- used with suffix ـش to express negation
- ماتقعدش ― ma-tuʾʕud-š ― Don't sit down!
- مفيش ― ma-fīš ― There's no
PronounEdit
ما • (ma)
See alsoEdit
HassaniyaEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Arabic مَاء (māʔ, “water”).
NounEdit
ما (mā)
Moroccan ArabicEdit
Etymology 1Edit
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
ما • (mā) m (plural ميايه (myāyih) or مياه (myāh)) (usually uncountable)
Etymology 2Edit
PronunciationEdit
ParticleEdit
ما • (ma)
Etymology 3Edit
From Arabic مَا (mā, “what”).
PronunciationEdit
PronounEdit
ما • (mā)
- (relative) that which, what
MozarabicEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Latin mea (“my”). Compare French ma.
DeterminerEdit
ما (mā) (feminine, masculine مو)
ReferencesEdit
PersianEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle Persian 𐭫𐭭𐭤 (LNE /amāh/, “we, us”), from Old Persian 𐎠𐎶𐎠𐎧𐎶 (amāxam), genitive plural form of the first person plural pronoun.
PronunciationEdit
- (Classical Persian) IPA(key): /mɑː/
- (Dari Persian) IPA(key): /mɑː/
- (Iranian Persian) IPA(key): /mɒː/
Audio (Iranian Persian) (file)
PronounEdit
Dari | ما |
---|---|
Iranian Persian | |
Tajik | мо (mo) |
ما • (mâ)
See alsoEdit
InterjectionEdit
ما • (mâ)
- sound of a cow, moo
South Levantine ArabicEdit
PronunciationEdit
Etymology 1Edit
ParticleEdit
ما • (mā or ma)
Usage notesEdit
- Usually this ما (mā) is stressed. However, it can optionally be used together with ـش (-š), in which case the stress shifts to the end of the verbal phrase.
- ما كتب ― mā katab ― he didn't write
Audio (Ramallah) (file) - ما كتبش ― ma katabš ― he didn't write
Audio (Ramallah) (file) - ما تنسى ― mā tinsa ― don't forget
Audio (Ramallah) (file) - ما تنساش ― ma tinsāš ― don't forget
Audio (Ramallah) (file) - ما بحكي إنكليزي ― mā biḥki ʔinglīzi ― he doesn't speak English
Audio (Ramallah) (file) - ما بحكيش إنكليزي ― ma biḥkīš ʔinglīzi ― he doesn't speak English
Audio (Ramallah) (file)
See alsoEdit
- مش (miš)
Etymology 2Edit
From Arabic مَا (mā, “what”).
ParticleEdit
ما • (ma)
- used to link a preposition to a verbal phrase
- used to turn a question word into a relative determiner; -ever
- used before an elative adjective to indicate surprise or other strong feelings in an exclamation
- used before a verbal phrase to contradict a statement or subvert an expectation; does, did
Usage notesEdit
- In all these senses the ما (ma) is unstressed. In the fourth sense, the contradicting phrase should be uttered with rising intonation to distinguish this sense of ما (ma) from the sense of negation. When a subject pronoun is used in the fourth sense, ما (ma) precedes it; this yields the invariable form ماهو (mahū) used before nominal phrases with the same meaning.
UshojoEdit
EtymologyEdit
PronounEdit
ما (mā)