# Pronunciation of يا الله



## jmt356

Is يا لله pronounced as yā Allah or as yāllah?

Please note: I am not referring to the colloquial “yalla” meaning “hurry,” but rather, a plea addressed to God (i.e., “oh God”).


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## momai

yā Allah is what you want.
yāllah would be the famous Arabic word for hurry up.I think people recently started to write it this way يلا to avoid the confusion between those two words _in writing._


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## fdb

If you are asking about pronunciation, يا الله is /yɒɬɬɒ:h/, with the stress on the second syllable. The colloquial word for “hurry up” is pronounced similarly, but with the stress on the first syllable and without /-h/. Etymologically both are the same.


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## cherine

I have to disagree, fdb. The two words/expressions are pronounced differently: يا الله is pronounced with a glottal stop/hamza between the يا and الله and the final haa2 is pronounced, while yalla (hurry up/let's go) is pronounce like one word, no glottal stops, and no final haa2.


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## jmt356

cherine said:


> I have to disagree, fdb. The two words/expressions are pronounced differently: يا الله is pronounced with a glottal stop/hamza between the يا and الله and the final haa2 is pronounced, while yalla (hurry up/let's go) is pronounce like one word, no glottal stops, and no final haa2.



I thought the word الله did not use همزة قطع. This is why إلّا الله is pronounced ilāllah rather than ilā allah. Why then would there be a glottal stop between يا and الله ?


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## fdb

cherine said:


> I have to disagree, fdb. The two words/expressions are pronounced differently: يا الله is pronounced with a glottal stop/hamza between the يا and الله and the final haa2 is pronounced, while yalla (hurry up/let's go) is pronounce like one word, no glottal stops, and no final haa2.



You are right about the -h (I have corrected this). But in العربية الفصحى the alif of الله is همزة الوصل.

We might add that in classical Arabic one does not normally say يا الله; one says والله or اللهم.


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## cherine

The hamza of الله is a hamzat waSl. True. But I never heard يا الله pronounce yallah, always ya 2Allah. Maybe because it sounds better, maybe to differentiate between it and "yalla". I don't know.


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## analeeh

I suspect it's just because hamzat wasl and hamzat qat' have stopped being so distinct in modern Arabic - the distinction has basically disappeared in colloquials and this has carried over into the way most people pronounce and even write MSA (thus إسم, إقتصاد etc). It's maintained in a lot of things people are used to hearing as set expressions (_bi-smi 'llah, laa 7awla wa-laa quwwata illaa bi-llaah, _etc) and in Qur'an/poetic recitation, but not necessarily elsewhere.

I can't hear an /h/ in يا الله (which is not to say there isn't one) but what I can hear is a long a rather than a short one and stress on the final syllable. So يالله or يلا or however we want to write it is _yaLLa _and يا الله as Cherine says is _yaa aLLaa_, in Syrian dialects and from what I've heard in Egyptian too. I don't know if all dialects actually have a velarised l in both of them - I have a feeling that some dialects might not?


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## Hemza

cherine said:


> I have to disagree, fdb. The two words/expressions are pronounced differently: يا الله is pronounced with a glottal stop/hamza between the يا and الله and the final haa2 is pronounced, while yalla (hurry up/let's go) is pronounce like one word, no glottal stops, and no final haa2.



Hello,

There are some dialects (Maghrebi to be exact  ) in which the "h" is pronounced in the world "hurry up", we do say "yalla*h*".


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## Matat

Although it is written with همزة الوصل, you would pronounce it as if it is همزة القطع in this particular case. This website answers your question: http://www.arabic-teacher.com/ArabicSkills/html/READING/imlaa/wasl wa kati.htm

It says:
وهمزة الوصل في لفظ الجلالة "الله" تصبح همزة القطع حيث تلفظ ولا ترسم الهمزة فوق الألف إذا سبقته "ياء" النداء، فتقول : يا الله.
"Hamzatul-Wasl when pronouncing "Allah" is pronounced as if it is Hamzatul-Qata' when the vocative particle يا precedes it, though the hamza is not written over the alif"

So you would pronounce it ya Allah, as if it was همزة القطع, even though you would still write it يا الله. ​


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## fdb

Matat said:


> وهمزة الوصل في لفظ الجلالة "الله" تصبح همزة القطع حيث تلفظ ولا ترسم الهمزة فوق الألف إذا سبقته "ياء" النداء، فتقول : يا الله.​



Can you give us any references from Qur’an, or ancient poetry, of from grammarians or lexicographers of the classical period to support this claim?


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## Matat

fdb said:


> Can you give us any references from Qur’an, or ancient poetry, of from grammarians or lexicographers of the classical period to support this claim?




Sibawayh wrote:

واعلم أنه لا يجوز لك أن تنادي اسمًا فيه الألفُ واللام البتة؛ إلا أنهم قد قالوا: *يا ألله اغفِر لنا*، وذلك من قبل أنه اسمٌ يلزمه الألفُ واللام لا يفارقانِه،

Ibn Malik wrote a poem:


وباضطرار خص جمع (يا) و(أل)......        إلا   مع   الله   ومحكي    الجمل
والأكثر      اللهم      بالتعويض......         وشذ   (يا   اللهم)   في   قريض

From Ibn Malik's poem, it says that يا cannot be followed by anything with a definite article, except with الله. You would use the particle أيها or يا أيها if you have a definite article proceeding it. The website I linked below says that this is the reason why Classical Arabs pronounced the همزة القطع , as having a همزة الوصل follow the يا particle didn't sound natural, so they pronounced it with the hamza. 


Source: http://www.alukah.net/fatawa_counsels/0/14424/#ixzz3VXJWiLEs


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## fdb

Yes, Sibawayh and Ibn Malik are saying that you cannot say yaa before a word beginning with an article, except in the case of 'allaah. They are not saying that 'alaah is pronounced with همزة القطع.


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## Matat

fdb said:


> Yes, Sibawayh and Ibn Malik are saying that you cannot say yaa before a word beginning with an article, except in the case of 'allaah. They are not saying that 'alaah is pronounced with همزة القطع.



Notice the bold part of Sibawayh that I quote above. It is written with a hamza on the alif  *يا ألله اغفِر لنا *, indicating that this is the way it is to be pronounced. I don't know much about its history, but as for it being a general rule, the two links I provided above both talk about how it is pronounced يا ألله. The second link says that pronouncing it as a wasl is also acceptable. Here is another link that says the same thing: http://www.reefnet.gov.sy/education/kafaf/Adawat/Ya.htm . It says:


لا ينادَى لفظُ الجلالة إلاّ بها، فيقال: [يا أللّهُ]. (بإثبات الهمزة)

So it definitely seems to be a the conventional and grammatically correct way to say it.


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## fdb

I trust that you realise that the hamza in ألله was added by the modern editor and does not go back to Sibawayh. Old Arabic manuscripts are generally unpointed.


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## cherine

I believe this hamza is only added to indicate/signal the pronunciation, but we'd still write الله without it.


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## Arabic_Police_999

jmt356 said:


> Is يا لله pronounced as yā Allah or as yāllah?
> 
> Please note: I am not referring to the colloquial “yalla” meaning “hurry,” but rather, a plea addressed to God (i.e., “oh God”).



since your in Arabian peninsula, I'm sure about middle and some part of the east of saudi Arabia

we have *yāllah *or sometimes just*yā* *all**āh 
*it is said when doing something physical with some difficulty 
mostly I hear it like when my grandmother try to stand up
or for me, when I'm trying to lift or push something heavy


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## Hemza

I think it's the case for all Arabic speaking countries .


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## jmt356

fdb said:


> If you are asking about pronunciation, يا الله is /yɒɬɬɒ:h/, with the stress on the second syllable.


 
fdb: Using the American Library Association of the Library of Congress Transliteration, would yɒɬɬɒ:h be written yāllāh ?


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## fdb

I think they would transliterate it as yā ʼllāh. But the first ā is of course shortened. (I personally do not ever use this system, as it is an unscientific combination of transliteration and transcription. But it is used in many libraries).


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## jmt356

fdb said:


> I think they would transliterate it as yā ʼllāh. But the first ā is of course shortened. (I personally do not ever use this system, as it is an unscientific combination of transliteration and transcription. But it is used in many libraries).



Wouldn't yā ʼllāh be written as one word (yāllāh) if the first ا in الله is pronounced with همزة الوصل?


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## Ihsiin

Hi everyone, I was thinking about this the other day and I have a related question: what is the earliest attestation of the form يا الله? I think the Qur’an only has اللهم - Sībawayh was mentioned above for يا الله, are there any earlier attentions? Thanks


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## lukebeadgcf

You can find a reference to the fact that this hamza is pronounced in تاج العروس:






And Lane says (by "disjunctive hamza" is meant همزة قطع):


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## lukebeadgcf

Ihsiin said:


> Hi everyone, I was thinking about this the other day and I have a related question: what is the earliest attestation of the form يا الله? I think the Qur’an only has اللهم - Sībawayh was mentioned above for يا الله, are there any earlier attentions? Thanks



Sorry I just responded to the original question and didn't notice this. I'm not sure and would also be interested to know!


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## Matat

Ihsiin said:


> Hi everyone, I was thinking about this the other day and I have a related question: what is the earliest attestation of the form يا الله? I think the Qur’an only has اللهم - Sībawayh was mentioned above for يا الله, are there any earlier attentions? Thanks


I don't think it's in the Quran either, but it's certainly found in the Hadiths such as this one:


> حدثنا عبد الله بن عمرو أبو معمر حدثنا عبد الوارث حدثنا الحسين المعلم عن عبد الله بن بريدة عن حنظلة بن علي أن محجن بن الأدرع حدثه قال دخل رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم المسجد فإذا هو برجل قد قضى صلاته وهو يتشهد وهو يقول اللهم إني أسألك *يا ألله* الأحد الصمد الذي لم يلد ولم يولد ولم يكن له كفوا أحد أن تغفر لي ذنوبي إنك أنت الغفور الرحيم قال فقال قد غفر له قد غفر له ثلاثا


I'm not sure we have anything earlier than Hadiths which attest to it.


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