# في يوم من الأيام



## ctownsend

I've run across a couple expressions in my reading that i'm a bit confused by.

في يوم من الأيام
literally: in a day from days
figuratively: one day??

[...] 
Am I even close here? Thanks!!


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## rayloom

Quite close.

في يوم من الأيام
Just another way to say "one day" in Arabic.

[...]


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## Tracer

*في يوم من الأيام*

You can say: One day, (something happened). But to me, this is a more literary expression and I’ve usually translated it (depending on context) as : 
A Long Time Ago,….....

[...]


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## ctownsend

Ahhh!

The context is about a guy that wants to get married (sooner rather than later) but doesn't have a significant other.

Today just didn't make any sense in the context, but "sooner rather than later" works nicely.

Thanks for the responses.


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## clevermizo

Tracer said:


> *في يوم من الأيام*
> 
> You can say: One day, (something happened). But to me, this is a more literary expression and I’ve usually translated it (depending on context) as :
> A Long Time Ago,….....



It depends on context to be sure, but I wouldn't say it's a more literary expression; it's a common collocation even in colloquial Arabic. I would just translate it "someday." For example, سأتكلم العربية بطلاقة يوما من الأيام. I think it sounds literary to us perhaps because the literal "day from amongst the days" sounds very Biblical! (which ultimately is a literal translation from a Semitic language anyway .)


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## Tracer

clevermizo said:


> It depends on context to be sure, but I wouldn't say it's a more literary expression; it's a common collocation even in colloquial Arabic. I would just translate it "someday." For example, سأتكلم العربية بطلاقة يوما من الأيام.


 

Thanks for the tip regarding the use of *يوما من الأيام* in the colloquial. 

The expression on the original post begins with *في  *so I assumed the expression was the beginning of a story.  If that's the case, then I'd still translate it as "One day,....".

Further, I've seen the phrase *في يوم من الأيام* begin a story countless times in "classical" or "literary" works (such as the stories of Juha  and similar "light" works) and the best translation that worked for me was "A Long Time Ago".


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## clevermizo

Tracer said:


> Thanks for the tip regarding the use of *يوما من الأيام* in the colloquial.
> 
> The expression on the original post begins with *في  *so I assumed the expression was the beginning of a story.  If that's the case, then I'd still translate it as "One day,....".
> 
> Further, I've seen the phrase *في يوم من الأيام* begin a story countless times in "classical" or "literary" works (such as the stories of Juha  and similar "light" works) and the best translation that worked for me was "A Long Time Ago".



I see what you mean now regarding في. I've never thought much of it other than a variant on using the منصوب form instead (the adverbial or the participial: either يومًا من الأيام or في يوم من الأيام). 

For me the "A long time ago (etc.)" story opener is the كان يا ما كان with occasionally في قديم الزمان. In جحا stories, if I see something like يوم من الأيام to me that's not "A Long Time Ago" but rather just "One day, Juha went to _etc etc_" or "One time, while Juha was...." etc.

That to me makes more sense with him as an archetypal "timeless" character (not necessarily a character whose story occurred a "long time ago" but perhaps still relevant even in modern storytelling).


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## Tracer

clevermizo said:


> I see what you mean now regarding في. I've never thought much of it other than a variant on using the منصوب form instead (the adverbial or the participial: either يومًا من الأيام or في يوم من الأيام).
> 
> For me the "A long time ago (etc.)" story opener is the كان يا ما كان with occasionally في قديم الزمان. In جحا stories, if I see something like يوم من الأيام to me that's not "A Long Time Ago" but rather just "One day, Juha went to _etc etc_" or "One time, while Juha was...." etc.
> 
> That to me makes more sense with him as an archetypal "timeless" character (not necessarily a character whose story occurred a "long time ago" but perhaps still relevant even in modern storytelling).


 
Yes, you're right about the Juha stories.  I don't know why I used "him" as an example, because I don't think any of his stories begin with  *في يوم من الأيام* 

The expression appears more in stories that might appear in Alf Leila wa Leila and similar genres of literature, and in that type of writing, I think, it can be translated as "A Long Time Ago", although I've seen your examples  *في قديم الزمان*  and  *كان يا ما كان   *with equal frequency.


For me, *في يوم من الأيام*  could be translated interchangeably as "One day" or "A long time ago" (depending on the context!) 

or better, perhaps, "One day, a long time ago, blah blah blah .......".  Use them both!


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## Abu Rashid

To me this phrase always screamed out the rough meaning of "One upon a time".


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## Tracer

Abu Rashid said:


> To me this phrase always screamed out the rough meaning of "One upon a time".


 

Yes, that's the best choice, I would say.  "Once upon a time" captures the exact nuance of  *في يوم من الأيام  *much better than "A long time ago".


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## fof

I've also been taught that the expression means "once upon a time".


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## إسكندراني

It's not 'a long time ago' because it could be in the future


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## clevermizo

It sounds like, as usual, the best translation depends on context.


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## إسكندراني

clevermizo said:


> It sounds like, as usual, the best translation depends on context.


Maybe we should set an autoreply to respond to all questions with 'depends on the context' and call it a day


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## clevermizo

إسكندراني said:


> Maybe we should set an autoreply to respond to all questions with 'depends on the context' and call it a day



Hah! Excellent suggestion.  In the meanwhile, it appears in the context of someone getting married that they would like it to happen "*one day*" or "*someday*" in the future and that would be the best translation here.


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## Abu Rashid

I guess if it's past tense, then "Once upon a  time"

If it's future tense, then "One of these days" or "One day".


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## ctownsend

Abu Rashid said:


> I guess if it's past tense, then "Once upon a time"
> 
> If it's future tense, then "One of these days" or "One day".


 
Great point. The story in question is in the imperfect tense and "one day" makes more sense in the context.


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## salutatout

ctownsend said:


> I've run across a couple expressions in my reading that i'm a bit confused by.
> 
> في يوم من الأيام
> literally: in a day from days
> figuratively: one day??
> 
> [...]
> Am I even close here? Thanks!!


 
ذاتَ يومٍ
أو
ذاتَ يومٍ من الأيام


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## Mazhara

Tracer said:


> Yes, that's the best choice, I would say. "Once upon a time" captures the exact nuance of *في يوم من الأيام *much better than "A long time ago".


 
This seems supported by the fact that  يوم is used both for the "Day time"-Sunrise to Sunset but also signifies the whole day comprising day and night-day of approx 24 hours.

Please enlighten how to distinguish both.

I have noticed in the Grand Qur'aan that يوم when used for day time only, it is masculine, while for whole day it is feminine. An example

*سَخَّرَهَا عَلَيْهِمْ سَبْعَ لَيَالٍ وَثَمَانِيَةَ أَيَّامٍ *


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## إسكندراني

This is not always the case:
قَالَ رَبِّ ٱجْعَل لِّىٓ ءَايَةً ۖ قَالَ *ءَايَتُكَ أَلَّا تُكَلِّمَ ٱلنَّاسَ ثَلَـٰثَةَ أَيَّامٍ إِلَّا رَمْزًا* ۗ وَٱذْكُر رَّبَّكَ كَثِيرًا وَسَبِّحْ بِٱلْعَشِىِّ وَٱلْإِبْكَـٰرِ


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## Mazhara

إسكندراني said:


> This is not always the case:
> قَالَ رَبِّ ٱجْعَل لِّىٓ ءَايَةً ۖ قَالَ *ءَايَتُكَ أَلَّا تُكَلِّمَ ٱلنَّاسَ ثَلَـٰثَةَ أَيَّامٍ إِلَّا رَمْزًا* ۗ وَٱذْكُر رَّبَّكَ كَثِيرًا وَسَبِّحْ بِٱلْعَشِىِّ وَٱلْإِبْكَـٰرِ


 
The nights have been mentioned separately

*قَالَ رَبِّ اجْعَل لِّي آيَةً قَالَ آيَتُكَ أَلاَّ تُكَلِّمَ النَّاسَ ثَلاَثَ لَيَالٍ سَوِيًّا*


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## clevermizo

Mazhara said:


> This seems supported by the fact that  يوم is used both for the "Day time"-Sunrise to Sunset but also signifies the whole day comprising day and night-day of approx 24 hours.
> 
> Please enlighten how to distinguish both.



Context. (I think إسكندراني is right about our needing an automatic reply  .)



> I have noticed in the Grand Qur'aan that يوم when used for day time only, it is masculine, while for whole day it is feminine. An example
> 
> *سَخَّرَهَا عَلَيْهِمْ سَبْعَ لَيَالٍ وَثَمَانِيَةَ أَيَّامٍ *


The word يوم is still masculine in your verse, so I don't understand what you mean about it being feminine. (Don't forget that feminine numbers are used with masculine noun plurals. Similarly ليلة is feminine, and so we have سبع ليالٍ and not سبعة ليالٍ.)


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## Abu Rashid

Mazhara said:
			
		

> This seems supported by the fact that  يوم is used both for the "Day  time"-Sunrise to Sunset but also signifies the whole day comprising day  and night-day of approx 24 hours.



I think the word نهار is used to mean just the daylight portion of يوم


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## Mazhara

> The word يوم is still masculine in your verse, so I don't understand what you mean about it being feminine. (Don't forget that feminine numbers are used with masculine noun plurals. Similarly ليلة is feminine, and so we have سبع ليالٍ and not سبعة ليالٍ.)


 
The point for clarification was that when يوم refers to day-time it is masculine, and when يوم refers to whole-day, comprising day and night, it is feminine.

فِي أَيَّامٍ نَّحِسَاتٍ 
 فِي يَوْمِ نَحْسٍ


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## rayloom

يوم is a non-human.
Non-human plurals would take as an adjective a feminine (commonly singular, can be plural).

بيت is masculine, non-human.
بيوت is the plural.
كبير means big, and this is the masculine form. If we want to use it as an adjective:
بيت كبير singular
بيوت كبيرة plural

أيام طويلة

جبال عالية

جبال شاهقات
أيام نحسات


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## إسكندراني

Mazhara said:


> The nights have been mentioned separately
> 
> *قَالَ رَبِّ اجْعَل لِّي آيَةً قَالَ آيَتُكَ أَلاَّ تُكَلِّمَ النَّاسَ ثَلاَثَ لَيَالٍ سَوِيًّا*


Both يوم and ليلة mean 'whole day' in modern Arabic anyway.
As for the قرآن, it says that الله created the heavens and the earth in ستّة أيّام, not ستّة ليالي


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## Abu Rashid

Mazhara said:
			
		

> The point for clarification was that when يوم refers to day-time it is  masculine, and when يوم refers to whole-day, comprising day and night,  it is feminine.



The difference between your two examples is that one is singular, and the other is plural, not that they refer to whole or partial portions of the day. singular is treated grammatically as masculine, plural as feminine.


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## Mazhara

Rayloom, إسكندراني , Abu Rashid,

Many many thanks.


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