يَدَيْhands

Example sentences

• قدم التقادم بَين يَدي الْمُلْتَقى فَاسْتَبْشَرَ بِالرِّضَا عِنْد الْقدوم

  Present the gifts before the meeting, and rejoice with acceptance upon arrival.

  يَدَيْ — two hands. A dual 'two hands' (the '-ay' ending), first term of an 'of' pairing — 'the two hands of the meeting' — genitive after 'between'. The dual is intrinsic to the idiom 'between the two hands of', meaning 'before'; it owns the noun that follows.

  From: Night Prayer and Nearness to God →

• فَلَبِثْتُ وَالْقَدَحُ عَلَى يْدَيَّ

  So I remained, and the cup was upon my two hands.

  يْدَيَّ — my two hands. A noun in the dual, Arabic's 'exactly two' form, with an attached 'my' pronoun, held in the genitive by the preposition before it. The dual marks the pair of hands and the suffix marks them as the speaker's, so one word carries count and ownership.

  From: Trapped and Delivered →

• فَنَفَحَ فِيهِ يَمِينَهُ وَشِمَالَهُ وَبَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ وَوَرَاءَهُ،

  Then he breathed into it with his right hand, his left hand, between his hands, and behind it.

  يَدَيْهِ — his two hands. A dual noun, 'his two hands', the special 'exactly two' form Arabic folds into the word's ending instead of saying 'two' separately, with a 'his' ending added. After the preceding 'between' it sits in the genitive, naming the space in front of him.

  From: Paradise for the Sincere →

• وَتَحْتَ مَوْضِعُ سُجُودِ السَّاجِدِينَ بَيْنَ يَدَيْ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ

  And beneath is the place of prostration of those who prostrate, before the Lord of the Worlds.

  يَدَيِ — the two hands. This is the dual, 'two hands', Arabic's 'exactly two' form, owned by 'between' and so in the 'of' (genitive) ending, which shows on a dual as a special two-letter ending. The phrase 'between the two hands of' is the set idiom for 'in the presence of'.

  From: The Four Inner Guards →