Learn Arabic › B2 › لَيْتَ
لَيْتَ
would that /ˈlaj.ta/
particleB2#3178 most common
Also: I wish, if only, how I wish
Example sentences
ليتني سعيد.
I wish I were happy.
ليت الجو يكون باردًا اليوم.
I wish the weather were cold today.
ليتني أستطيع أن أطير كالطيور.
I wish I could fly like the birds.
ليت الأيام تعود كما كانت من قبل.
I wish the days would return as they once were.
ليت شعري متى ينتهي هذا الانتظار الطويل.
I wonder when this long wait will end.
ليت الشبابَ يعودُ يومًا فأُخبرَه بما فعل المشيب.
Would that youth would return one day, so I could tell it what old age has done.
Word family
تمنىto wish, to hope for
أمنيةa wish
تمنٍّthe act of wishing
ليت شعريidiom: 'I wonder', literally 'would that I knew'
Etymology
Layta is one of a small set of Arabic particles, grouped by grammarians as inna and her sisters, that introduce a clause and place its subject in the accusative case. Its function is to mark a wish for something unlikely or impossible, distinct from the ordinary wish verb tamanna. Classical grammarians treated it as a fixed particle rather than a word built from a verb root, and its form has stayed stable from Quranic Arabic through today. Because Arabic is a Semitic language, it has no Proto-Indo-European ancestor.
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