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بَلَى yes in Arabic

بَلَى is how you say “yes” in Arabic.

Root ب ل ي b-l-y. particle (affirmative reply). balā.

Arabic

English

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Meaning of yes in Arabic

  1. yes, yea, ay — affirms a negative question or statement Reverses the negation rather than simply agreeing with it; it is the contrary of لا ("no").
  2. yes — used to confirm or draw out an acknowledgment Common in reply to a rhetorical or reproachful negative question, as in Qur'anic dialogue.

Example sentence

قال بلى، قعدت أنت وصفوان في الحجر

He said: Yes, you and Safwan sat in the stone enclosure.

بَلَى yes

bala = 'yes (indeed)', used to answer a negative question affirmatively.

From Early Converts to Islam

The English is machine-translated.

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How it is used

بَلَى only answers a negative — it flips the negation to an affirmative, unlike a plain "yes." Grammarians treat it as a particle, not a noun, and some hold its final letter is really an added ى after بَلْ. It appears in the Qur'an, e.g. 7:172 ("Am I not your Lord?" — "Yea") and 75:3-4 ("Doth man think We will not gather his bones? Yea"). Despite sharing its root letters with بَلِيَ ("to wear out"), the word itself is not a form of that verb.

Words from the same root

More example sentences

فان لها في مضمر القلب والحشا سريرة حب يوم تبلى السرائر

Indeed, within the heart and chest, there is a secret of love on the day secrets are revealed.

تُبْلَى are revealed

This is the passive form of the verb: the secrets are what get tested or laid bare, with no doer named. Arabic marks the passive by reshaping the internal vowels rather than adding 'are'; the weak final letter hides the ending but the role-flip is the point.

From Preparing for Judgment Day

فإن قيل فقد قال تعالى ﴿أَيَحْسَبُ الإِنْسَانُ أَلَّنْ نَجْمَعَ عِظَامَهُ بَلَى قَادِرِينَ عَلَى أَنْ نُسَوِّيَ بَنَانَهُ﴾

Then if it is said, Allah, the Exalted, stated: 'Does man think that We will not assemble his bones? Yes, We are able to proportion his fingertips.'

بَلَى Yes

This is a special answer-word used to contradict a preceding negative question, affirming the very thing that was doubted. English 'yes' can be ambiguous after a negative, but this word specifically means 'no, the opposite is true', overturning the denial.

From Ten Proofs of Resurrection

قلت يا رسول الله لأن أعافى فأشكر أحب إلي من أن أبتلى فأصبر،

I said, O Messenger of God, being well and grateful is more beloved to me than being tested and patient.

أُبْتَلَى be tested

This verb is passive: the person is acted upon, put to the test by something outside them, rather than doing the testing. Arabic signals the passive by reshaping the inner vowels, and the verb also carries the subjunctive ending demanded by the particle 'an' before it.

From Health as a Blessing

أبلاهم الله بالغلبة فافتح عينك ، وأحضر ذهنك ، وأرعني سمعك ،

May God test them with defeat; so open your eyes, bring your mind, and lend me your ear,

أَبْلَاهُمُ may He test them

This is a past-tense verb used as a prayer, 'may He afflict them', with the attached -hum 'them' as its object. The past shape carries an optative 'may God...' force here, and the -hum points to the students; the verb stands singular ahead of its stated subject, God.

From True Devotion

قَالُوا بَلَى

They said, "Yes."

بَلَى yes

A special 'yes' particle used specifically to affirm after a negative question, contradicting the 'no' the question hinted at. Unlike a plain 'yes', its job is to reverse a preceding negation, so it answers 'is it not...?' with 'yes, it is'. That contrastive role is its whole grammatical function.

From A Mother's Forgiveness

قَالَتْ بَلَى،

She said, 'Yes.'

بَلَى yes

A special 'yes' that does more than agree: it is the word used to contradict a preceding negative question, asserting the positive against the 'not'. Its grammatical job is reversal of a negative, which plain 'yes' in English does not capture.

From Prayer During Illness

قَالَتْ بَلَى،

She said yes.

بَلَى yes

A special 'yes' that specifically reverses a negative question: after 'do you not love...?', it affirms 'yes, I do'. Where English uses a plain 'yes', Arabic has this dedicated word for answering a negative with a positive.

From Wives of the Prophet

قُلتُ بَلَى،

I said, 'Yes.'

بَلَى Yes

A special affirming word used to answer a negatively-framed question, asserting 'yes, it is so' against the 'is it not...'. Where a plain 'yes' might leave the negative standing, this word specifically overturns it. It stands outside the clause, taking no ending.

From A Night with the Prophet

قَالَ بَلَى

He said, "Yes indeed."

بَلَى yes indeed

A special affirmative particle reserved for answering a negative question. Where a plain 'yes' might leave it ambiguous, this word emphatically overturns the negation, asserting 'yes, it is so / on the contrary I do'. It exists precisely to flip a 'do you not...?' into a firm positive.

From Stories of Prophetic Judgments

ثم نبه بقوله ﴿يَوْمَ تُبْلَى السَّرَائِرُ﴾

Then He warns [with] His saying, 'On the Day when secrets will be put to trial.'

تُبْلَى will be put to trial

A passive present verb: the inner vowels mark the secrets as the ones tested, the receivers of the act, with no tester named; so 'are put to the test'. Arabic builds the passive by reshaping the vowels, not by adding a helper word.

From Creation Points to Resurrection

Common questions

How do you say "yes" in Arabic?
بَلَى (balā) — but specifically as the reply to a negative question or statement, affirming the opposite of what was denied.
What is the difference between بَلَى and لا?
They are direct opposites: لا means "no," while بَلَى is the particle used to contradict a negative and say "yes" instead.

Related words

Definitions summarised from Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon (E. W. Lane, 1863–1893).