وَيْلَwoe

Example sentences

• قالَت يا وَيلتا أألِدُ وأنا عَجوزُ

  She said, 'Woe is me, will I give birth while I am an old woman?'

  وَيْلَتَا — woe is me. An exclamation of grief built from 'woe' with a fixed ending that stands in for 'to me', so the single word means 'woe is me'. Arabic packs the lamenter into this set form, where English needs a separate 'to me', and it functions as a quoted outcry.

  From: God's Promise of New Life →

• قَالَ وَيْلَكُمْ أَلَسْتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ أَنَّهُ مِنْ غِفَارٍ وَأَنَّ طَرِيقَ تِجَارِكُمْ إِلَى الشَّأْمِ فَأَنْقَذَهُ مِنْهُمْ،

  He said, "Woe to you! Do you not know that he is from Ghifar and that your merchants travel to Syria, so he rescued him from them?"

  وَيْلَكُمْ — woe to you. An exclamation of rebuke fused with an attached -kum 'you (plural)' as its target. The noun itself takes a clipped object-style ending typical of these set 'woe to...' cries, aiming the reproach squarely at the listeners.

  From: A Stranger Finds the Prophet →