אַי H0335
Interrogative particle: where? which? how? -- asking about location, selection, or manner
A compact Hebrew interrogative that most often demands a location -- 'Where is Abel your brother?' (Gen 4:9), 'Where are you?' (Gen 3:9). Its suffixed forms (ayyekah, ayyo, ayyam) lend it a probing, almost accusatory quality in divine speech. Occasionally it shifts from spatial to selective inquiry -- 'Which way shall we go?' (2 Kgs 3:8) -- and in one remarkable instance in Jeremiah 5:7, it asks 'How shall I pardon you?' where manner replaces location entirely. The Syriac cognate survives in compound forms like 'aykan' (how?), confirming the particle's ancient flexibility. Spanish distinguishes 'donde' from 'cual' and 'como'; German telescopes all three into context-dependent uses of 'wo.'
Senses
1. where? (interrogative of place) — The dominant locative sense: asking 'where?' about a person or place. Genesis 3:9 ('Where are you?') and 4:9 ('Where is Abel?') set the tone -- divine confrontations, not neutral questions. The suffixed 'ayyo' in 2 Kings 19:13 anticipates its noun. Spanish 'donde' and French 'ou' map cleanly onto this spatial interrogative. 33×
AR["أينَ","أَينَ","أَيْنَ","أَيْنَ-","مِن","مِنْ","مِنْ-أَيْنَ","وَ-أَينَ","وَ-أَيْنَ"]·ben["এবং-কোথায়","ও-কোথায়","কোথা","কোথায়","কোথায়-","কোন-"]·DE["[אי]","und-wo","von-wo","wo","wo-"]·EN["and-where","from-where","where","where-"]·FR["[ואי]","de-où","et-où?","où","où-","où?"]·heb["אי","אי-","איה","איו","ו-אי","ו-איה","מ-אי","מאין"]·HI["और-कहाँ","कहाँ","कहां","किधर-"]·ID["Di mana","Di mana-","Di-mana","Di-mana-","Di-manakah","Mana","dan-di-mana","dari-mana","di mana-","di-mana","di-mana-","di-manakah"]·IT["[ואי]","da-dove","dove","dove-","e-dove"]·jav["Ing-pundi-","Pundi","Saking-pundi","Wonten-ing-pundi","lan-ing-pundi-","lan-pundi","pundi","pundi-","saking-pundi","wonten-ing-pundi","wonten-pundi"]·KO["그리고-어디-","그리고-어디에","어디","어디-","어디에","어디에-있느냐","어디에서"]·PT["E-onde","Onde","Onde-","Onde-está","de-onde","e-onde","onde","onde-"]·RU["И-где-","где","где-","и-где","откуда"]·ES["de-dónde","dónde","y-dónde","¿Dónde","¿Dónde-","¿Qué-","¿cuál-es","¿dónde","¿dónde-"]·SW["huyu","i-wapi","iko-wapi","kutoka-wapi","na-wapi","wapi","yuko-wapi"]·TR["Nere-","nere-","nerede","nerede-","nereden","nereye-","ve-nerede","ve-nerede-"]·urd["اور-کہاں","کدھر-","کہاں","کہاں ہے","کہاں-","کہاں-سے","کہاں-ہیں","کہاں-ہے"]
Gen 3:9, Gen 4:9, Gen 16:8, Deut 32:37, Judg 13:6, 1 Sam 9:18, 1 Sam 25:11, 1 Sam 26:16, 1 Sam 30:13, 2 Sam 1:3, 2 Sam 1:13, 1 Kgs 13:12 (+21 more)
2. which? what? (interrogative of selection) — A selective-identificational use: 'which?' or 'what?' among alternatives. In 2 Kings 3:8 the question is 'By which way shall we go up?'; Ecclesiastes 2:3 asks 'which is good'; Ecclesiastes 11:6 probes 'which will prosper.' Spanish 'cual' and German 'welcher' mark the shift from spatial to selective inquiry, choosing from a set rather than pointing to a location. 4×
AR["أَيُّ-","أِي","مِن أَيِّ-","هُوَ-"]·ben["কোন","কোন-","কোনটা-","কোনটি"]·DE["von-wo","welcher","wo"]·EN["from-where","what-","which"]·FR["de-où","lequel","où?"]·heb["אי","אי-"]·HI["कहाँ-","किस","कौन-सा","कौन-सी"]·ID["Mana","dari-mana","di-mana","mana"]·IT["che","da-dove","dove"]·jav["Pundi","pundi","pundi-","saking-pundi-"]·KO["어느","어느-","어느-것이","어디-"]·PT["de-que","por-qual","qual"]·RU["из-","каким-","какое","что-это-"]·ES["cuál","de-qué","¿Por-cuál","¿cuál"]·SW["kutoka","ni-","ni-ipi","ni-nini"]·TR["hangi","hangi-"]·urd["کس","کون-سا","کونسی","کہاں"]
3. how? (interrogative of manner) — A single attestation in Jeremiah 5:7 where the particle asks about manner rather than place: 'How shall I pardon you for this?' French 'ou' still renders it spatially, but the Hebrew context unmistakably demands 'how.' This rare extension aligns with the Syriac compound 'aykan' (how?) and shows the particle's latent capacity to query mode or means. 1×
AR["كَيْفَ"]·ben["কীভাবে"]·DE["[אי]"]·EN["how"]·FR["où"]·heb["אי"]·HI["कैसे"]·ID["Bagaimana"]·IT["dove"]·jav["Kadospundi"]·KO["어떻게"]·PT["Como"]·RU["как"]·ES["¿Cómo"]·SW["jinsi-gani"]·TR["neden-"]·urd["کیوں-"]
Related Senses
H5921a 1. upon, on, over (spatial) (5443×)H0413 1. directional: to, toward (5366×)H1121a 1. son, male offspring, descendant (4914×)H3808 1. simple negation (not) (4839×)H4428 1. king, human ruler (2518×)G1722 1. locative: in, within (2442×)H0776 1. land, country, territory (2323×)H1004b 1. house, dwelling, building (2015×)H6440 1. before, in front of (spatial) (1870×)G3756 1. not (negation particle) (1635×)H3027 1. physical hand (body part) (1596×)H1697 1. word, speech, utterance (1235×)H4480a 1. source or separation (1198×)H5892b 1. city, town (1093×)G1519 1. direction: into, to, toward (1061×)H3427 1. Qal: to dwell, inhabit (937×)G1537 1. from, out of (source/origin) (886×)H8034 1. Name (designation / identifier) (856×)H8033 1. There (locative adverb) (835×)G3361 1. subjective negation (not) (834×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
[אַי] (أَىٌّ, አይ in Syr. in cpds. as ܐܰܝܟܰܢ how? WSG 120–2; cf. As. aiu, who? what?). †1. interrog.adv. where? a. so with sf. אַיֶּ֫כָּה [a verbal form, v. Sta§ 355 b. 3] Gn 3:9; אַיּוֹ Ex 2:20, poet. where is he? = he is nowhere Jb 14:10; 20:7 (Je 37:19 rd. Qr אַיֵּה); אַיָּם Na 3:17 (in indirect qu.) and the place thereof is not known, אַיָּם where they are. Idiomatically, with the sf.…