Arabic grammar can be a bit tricky, yeah. If you have any questions, don’t bother looking at those old books … We’ll be more than glad to answer them.

I remember that I struggled with the correct forms of “ayyun” when I studied some Arabic a while ago. Thanks Mounia, your grammar explanations are very clear and helpful for me and have nothing to do with the incomprehensible and boring grammar stuff in my old study books. I really like it that you use the Arabic grammar terms.

We need to do a bit of grammar to answer both of your questions. Ready?

To understand better, let’s take a look at the whole question in the dialog:
“min ‘ayyi baladin huwa?” (من أي بلد هو؟) It literally means, “from which country he?”

“min من” (from) is a particle that we call in Arabic grammar “Harf jarr” (حرف جر), which means that it forces the word following it to take a “kasra” (the sound “i” at the end).

“‘ayyi أيٌِ” is originally from the word “‘ayy أيٌ” (which). And because it follows “min”, it has to take a “kasra” at the end and become “‘ayyi.” In grammatical terms, “‘ayyi” is in a case of being “majruur” (مجرور).

“‘ayy” can have three cases:
1. Genitive, “majruur” (مجرور): ‘ayyi
2. Nominative, “marfuuc” (مرفوع): ‘ayyu
3. Accusative, “manSuub” (منصوب): ‘ayya
What determines the “Haraka” at the end (a, i, or u) is the particle preceding it.

Now, likewise, “baladin بلدِِ” is originally from “balad بلد” (country). And since it is associated with the word before it (’ayyi), it has to take the same ending. The reason why it’s “baladin” (with two “kasra”) and not “baladi” (with one “kasra”) is because it’s an indefinite noun.

In grammatical terms, a noun that is associated with the word before it and follows its ending is called “muDaaf ‘ilayh” ( مضاف إليه).

Last, and just to clarify things further for you John, “‘ayna” means “where” and is different than “‘ayy” or “‘ayyi” (which).