Fusha to Shami 37 – here is, there is, etcetera

This is a belated FuSHa to Shami post on something that I somehow managed to completely avoid covering the first time round – what Cowell calls ‘presentational particles’. There are a few of these dialectally, but we’re only going to cover the main two here: ليك leek and هي/هاي hayy/haay.

هي hayy

This is the more universal of the two particles, used in all Levantine dialects. Its basic meaning is ‘here is’ or ‘there is’. Although for some speakers it’s homophonous with the feminine form of هاد (‘this [one]’, feminine), and might be etymologically related, it does not change for gender and can be used with anything:

هي المفتاح
hayy ilmiftaa7
Here’s the key

هي احمد اجى
hayy 2a7mad 2ija
Here’s Ahmad now [= here’s Ahmad’s got here]

In some cases it can overlap to a certain extent in usage with ‘this’, just like ‘here is’ in English:

هي المحطة – وهادا الباب الرئيسي
hayy ilma7aTTa – w haada ilbaab irra2iisi
Here’s the station – and this is the main gate

It is often combined with personal (object) pronouns:

هيو احمد
hayyo 2a7mad
Here’s Ahmad

هيها زينب
hayyha zaynab
Here’s Zaynab

These are the simple uses. But هي also has an idiomatic use which is hard to pin down exactly. We’ve already seen a use with a verb above:

هيني جاي
hayyni jaay
I’m on my way, I’ll be right back [= here’s me coming – slightly different from انا جاي, the normal way of saying ‘I’ll be back’]

وينك هلق؟ هيني بالتاكسي
weenak halla2? hayyni bittaksi
Where are you now? – I’m in a taxi

احمد هيو مدموج برب اللعبة ما عاد عم يطلع لبرة
2a7mad hayyo madmuuj brabb illa3be maa 3aad yam yiTla3 labarra
Ahmad’s engrossed in that bloody game [= here’s ahmad engrossed in the lord of the game] and no longer going outside

ليك leek

ليك is Syrian and Lebanese, and is not used in Southern Levantine. Unlike hayy, which can be used for things that are both nearby and far away, ليك (which is probably originally from ‘for you’) is usually only used for things which are further away – i.e. not when just handing something over, in which case hayy would typically be used.

ليكو اجى
leeko 2ija
Here he is [= there he is come]

ليك القطار
leek ilqiTaar
There’s the train

Unlike hayy, ليك (when used on its own) can be modified for gender – ليكي leeki for feminine singular. But this ending cannot co-occur with the object pronouns. When object pronouns are added the only possibility is ليك, which is then gender neutral:

ليكني بالتكسي
leekni bittaksi
I’m in the taxi

ليكو مدموج برب اللعبة
leeko madmuuj brabb illa3be
Look at him, he’s engrossed in the game

Leek/leeki also has another independent usage hayy doesn’t, meaning something like ‘look’ – i.e. introducing a new assertion (probably easier just to give an example than try and pin it down through description):

ليكي انا ما عندي وقت اتناقش معك
leeki, 2ana maa 3indi wa2@t it2naa2ash ma3ik
Look, I don’t have time to discuss this with you

ليك, في شغلة لازم تفهمها
leek, fii sheghle laazem tifhamha
Listen, there’s something you need to understand