Learn Arabic › A2 › إِمّا
إِمّا
either ... or /ˈʔim.maː/
particleA2#1320 most common
Also: whether ... or, or, if
Example sentences
أُريدُ إِمّا الشّايَ وَإِمّا القَهْوَةَ.
I want either tea or coffee.
سَنَذْهَبُ إِمّا اليَوْمَ وَإِمّا غَدًا.
We will go either today or tomorrow.
يُمْكِنُكَ أَنْ تَدْفَعَ إِمّا نَقْدًا وَإِمّا بِالبِطاقَةِ.
You can pay either in cash or by card.
عَلَيْكَ أَنْ تَخْتارَ إِمّا أَنْ تَبْقى هُنا وَإِمّا أَنْ تَرْحَلَ الآنَ.
You have to choose either to stay here or to leave now.
إِمّا أَنْ نُواجِهَ المُشْكِلَةَ بِجِدِّيَّةٍ وَإِمّا أَنْ نَتَحَمَّلَ عَواقِبَها لاحِقًا.
Either we face the problem seriously, or we bear its consequences later.
لَمْ يَتْرُكْ لَهُمُ القَرارُ خِيارًا: فَإِمّا الخُضوعُ لِلشُّروطِ وَإِمّا القَطيعَةُ التّامَّةُ.
The decision left them no choice: either submission to the terms, or a complete break.
Word family
Etymology
إِمّا is a disjunctive particle meaning 'either ... or.' Classical grammarians read it as the conditional إِنْ ('if') joined to the particle ما, with the nūn assimilating into the following mīm to give the doubled consonant. It normally appears in pairs that mark two alternatives. The same إِن element sits inside several other Arabic conditional and emphatic particles.
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