Learn Arabic › B1 › أَيُّما
أَيُّما
exceedingly; what a... /ˈʔaj.ju.maː/
adverbB1#1431 most common
Also: whichever, whatever, to the utmost, any ... whatsoever
Example sentences
هو بطلٌ أيُّما بطل.
He is a hero, a real hero.
فرِحَ الطفلُ أيُّما فرَح.
The child was extremely happy.
أُعجِبتُ بالرواية أيُّما إعجاب.
I admired the novel greatly.
اهتمَّ الناسُ بالخبر أيُّما اهتمام.
People took the greatest interest in the news.
أيُّما طالبٍ يجتهدْ ينلْ ما يريد.
Any student who works hard will get what he wants.
أيُّما امرأةٍ نكحت بغير إذن وليِّها فنكاحُها باطل.
Any woman who marries without her guardian's permission, her marriage is void.
Word family
Etymology
أَيُّما joins the old interrogative and relative word أَيّ, meaning "which" or "any," with the particle ما. The ما adds force or generalizes, so "which" becomes "whichever" or an emphatic "what a." The construction is well attested in Classical Arabic, including the Quran and the hadith. أَيّ goes back to a common Semitic word for "which," while ما is the widespread Semitic particle for "what."
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