haya هيا
Tunisian Derja · interjection
“haya” (هيا) is an interjection in Tunisian Derja meaning come on, let's go.
Meanings
- come on, let's go
- go on, hurry up
- okay then (acceptance, resignation)
Usage
Aya or hayya is the interjection of encouragement par excellence: it urges someone to act or leave. Followed by a verb in the first person plural, it forms a proposal: aya nemchiw, "let's go". Alone, it hurries someone: aya, "come on, quick". It also serves to wrap up a conversation or take leave (aya, bslema). Beware of the homograph hiya, the pronoun "she", which is written the same way in Arabic but pronounced differently. In Latin script, aya and haya almost always refer to the interjection.
Example
صباح ال خير , هيّا نحضر لكم ال قهوة
Sbe7 el 5ir , haya n7a4relkom el 9ahwa
“Good morning, come on, let me make you coffee.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “haya” but also “hayya”, “ahya”, “haia” and “hayaa”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Its Arabic spelling is not fixed either: you will find هيا and هاية, all the same word.