آيَةًa sign

Example sentences

• لَقَدْ كَانَ لِسَبَإٍ فِي مَسَاكِنِهِمْ آيَةً

  Indeed, there was a sign for Sheba in their dwellings.

  آيَة — a sign. An indefinite noun naming the thing that existed, the long-delayed subject of the 'there was' verb that opened the sentence. Left indefinite, it introduces 'a sign' as something newly asserted. Arabic can hold the subject this far back, so the opening verb has been waiting for it all along.

  From: Sheba's Garden and Destruction →

• فَيَنْتَزِعُ الاِثْنَانِ مِنْهُمْ أَوْ الثَّلاَثَةُ آيَةً مِنَ الْقِرَاءَةِ،

  Then two or three of them step forward to take a verse for recitation.

  آيَةً — a verse. An indefinite noun 'a verse', the object of the 'step forward / take' verb, so it carries the object-style ending with the indefinite two-stroke marking (heard as final -an). Being indefinite presents it as some one verse, the portion they take up to recite.

  From: Public Preaching →

• فَإِذَا فَرَغُوا تَلَتْ طَائِفَةٌ أُخْرَى عَلَى عَدَدِهِمْ آيَةً ثَانِيَةً،

  When they finished, another group recited a second verse according to their number.

  آيَةً — a verse. An indefinite noun 'a verse', the object of 'recited', so it takes the object-style ending with the indefinite two-stroke marking. It names what the new group read, and it is the noun the ordinal 'second' that follows will describe.

  From: Public Preaching →