や

や U+3084, や HIRAGANA LETTER YA ← ゃ [U+3083] Hiragana ゅ → [U+3085]

Japanese

Stroke order

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ja̠]

• Audio:

  (file)

Etymology 1

Derived in the Heian period from writing the man'yōgana kanji 也 in the cursive sōsho style.

Syllable

や • (ya) 

1. The hiragana syllable や (ya). Its equivalent in katakana is ヤ (ya). It is the thirty-sixth syllable in the gojūon order; its position is や行あ段 (ya-gyō a-dan, “row ya, section a”).

See also

• (Hiragana) 平仮名; あぁ, いぃ, うぅゔ, えぇ, おぉ, かゕが, きぎ, くぐ, けゖげ, こご, さざ, しじ, すず, せぜ, そぞ, ただ, ちぢ, つっづ, てで, とど, な, に, ぬ, ね, の, はばぱ, ひびぴ, ふぶぷ, へべぺ, ほぼぽ, ま, み, む, め, も, やゃ, 𛀆, ゆゅ, 𛀁, よょ, ら, り, る, れ, ろ, わゎ, ゐ, 𛄟 (𛄟), ゑ, を, ん, ー, ゝ, ゞ, ゟ

Etymology 2

Particle

や • (ya) 

2. (parallel-marking) used to express a nonexhaustive list: and, or

   お年寄(としよ)りや体(からだ)の不自(ふじ)由(ゆう)な方(かた)は登(とう)録(ろく)しませんか。

   O-toshiyori ya karada no fujiyū na kata wa tōroku shimasen ka.

   Don’t seniors and the physically handicapped [and maybe others] register?

   最(さい)近(きん)は犬(いぬ)や猫(ねこ)を飼(か)っている人(ひと)は多(おお)い。

   Saikin wa inu ya neko o katte iru hito wa ōi.

   These days, many people have dogs and cats [and maybe other animals].

3. (conjunctive) (immediately) upon

   猫(ねこ)が私(わたし)を見(み)るや逃(に)げた。

   Neko ga watashi o miru ya nigeta.

   The cat ran away upon seeing me.

4. (final)
   1. used to emphasise an imperative or hortative

      行(い)こうや！ ― Ikō ya! ― Let's go!

      はよせーや！ ― Hayo sē ya! ― (Kansai) Hurry up!

   2. used to show indifference

      まあ、いいや。 ― Mā, ii ya. ― Eh, whatever.

      • 1987, 村上春樹 [Murakami Haruki], chapter 2, in ノルウェイの森 [Noruwei no Mori, Norwegian Wood]:

        それに僕(ぼく)も結局(けっきょく)は住(す)むところなんてどこだっていいやと思(おも)っていたのだ。

        Sore ni boku mo kekkyoku wa sumu tokoro nante doko datte ii ya to omotte ita no da.

        And at the end of the day I didn't really care where I lived.

5. (interjectory)
   1. placed after a name to call someone
   2. used to emphasise certain adverbs

      ましてや ― mashite ya ― much less; to say nothing of

      さぞや ― sazo ya ― certainly; surely

Usage notes

• Nonexhaustive list marker (etymology 2 sense 1):
  • Implies that the list is not limited to the items named. Contrast with と (to), used to imply that the list is limited to the stated nouns.
  • Not used in legal documents or academic papers due to the lack of comprehensiveness or exhaustiveness.
  • May appear:
    • After every item of the list: AやBやCやDや.
    • Between every item of the list (but not after the last one): AやBやCやD.
    • Between the first two items, and nothing (or a pause) between the others (in text perhaps a comma): AやB、C、D.

Derived terms

(conjunctive):

• や否(いな)や (ya ina ya)

Etymology 3

Phonetic change of じゃ (ja) in the late Edo period.

Verb

や • (ya) 

1. (Fukuoka, Hokuriku, Kansai, Shikoku) to be

   Synonyms: (standard) だ (da), (dialect) じゃ (ja)

   人(ひと)や。 ― Hito ya. ― It is a person.

   どやった？ ― Do yatta? ― How was it?

   大丈夫(だいじょうぶ)やないで。 ― Daijōbu yanai de. ― No, it's not okay.

   まあ、ぼちぼちやなあ。

   Mā, bochibochi ya nā.

   Well, things are slow. [a stereotypical Ōsaka expression]

   • 2002 August, 14:38 from the start, in Azumanga Daioh, episode 20, spoken by Ayumu "Osaka" Kasuga (Yuki Matsuoka):

     アメリカや！

     Amerika ya!

     It's America!

   • 2016, Makoto Shinkai, director, 君の名は。 [your name.], spoken by Mitsuha Miyamizu (Mone Kamishiraishi), Toho:

     もうこんな町(まち)嫌(いや)や！こんな人(じん)生(せい)嫌(いや)や！

     Mō konna machi iya ya! Konna jinsei iya ya!

     I'm sick of this town! I'm sick of living like this!

   • 2020, Osaka Prefectural Police searching yakuza residence‎^[1], spoken by Osaka Prefectural Police detective:

     大(おお)阪(さか)や！はよ開(あ)けんかいゴラァ！

     Ōsaka ya ! Hayo aken kai gorā !

     This is [the] Osaka [Prefectural Police]! Hurry up and open the door!

Usage notes

• This word is phonologically enclitic, like particles, since it is basically a contraction of a particle, で (de), and a verb, ある (aru). It is classified as a 助(じょ)動(どう)詞(し) (jodōshi, “auxiliary verb”) in traditional Japanese grammar.

Conjugation

Conjugation of "や" (See Appendix:Japanese verbs)

Katsuyōkei ("stem forms")
Mizenkei ("imperfective")	や	ya
Ren’yōkei ("continuative")	で	de
Shūshikei ("terminal")	や	ya
Rentaikei ("attributive")	である	de aru
Kateikei ("hypothetical")	なら であれ	nara de are
Meireikei ("imperative")	-	-
Key constructions
Passive	-	-
Causative	-	-
Potential	-	-
Volitional	やろう¹	yarō¹
Negative	やない	ya nai
Negative continuative	やのうて² やなくて²	ya nōte² ya nakute²
Formal	です, だす³, どす³	desu, dasu³, dosu³
Perfective	やった	yatta
Conjunctive	で やって	de yatte
Hypothetical conditional	ならば であれば やったら	naraba de areba yattara

¹ usually shortened to やろ (yaro). ² often instead expressed with とちごうて (tochigōte). ³ だす (dasu) is used in traditional Ōsaka dialect and どす (dosu) is used in traditional Kyōto dialect.

Derived terms

• せやな (seyana)
• やん (yan)
• やんか (yanka)
• やんけ (yanke)

Etymology 4

Alternative spelling
嫌

Alternative forms

• やー (yā)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ja̠]

• Audio:

  (file)

• (Tokyo) や [yáꜜ] (Atamadaka – [1])

Adjective

や • (ya) -na (adnominal やな (ya na), adverbial やに (ya ni))

1. (informal) alternative form of いや (iya)

   学(がっ)校(こう)はやだ。 ― Gakkō wa ya da. ― I don't wanna go to school.

Inflection

Inflection of や

Stem forms
Imperfective (未然形)	やだろ	ya daro
Continuative (連用形)	やで	ya de
Terminal (終止形)	やだ	ya da
Attributive (連体形)	やな	ya na
Hypothetical (仮定形)	やなら	ya nara
Imperative (命令形)	やであれ	ya de are
Key constructions
Informal negative	やではない やじゃない	ya de wa nai ya ja nai
Informal past	やだった	ya datta
Informal negative past	やではなかった やじゃなかった	ya de wa nakatta ya ja nakatta
Formal	やです	ya desu
Formal negative	やではありません やじゃありません	ya de wa arimasen ya ja arimasen
Formal past	やでした	ya deshita
Formal negative past	やではありませんでした やじゃありませんでした	ya de wa arimasen deshita ya ja arimasen deshita
Conjunctive	やで	ya de
Conditional	やなら（ば）	ya nara (ba)
Provisional	やだったら	ya dattara
Volitional	やだろう	ya darō
Adverbial	やに	ya ni
Degree	やさ	yasa

See also

• やだ (yada)

Etymology 5

See also Okinawan や (ya) below.

Particle

や • (ya) 

1. (Kyūshū) alternative form of は (wa, topic marker)

See also

• ば (ba, object marker)

Etymology 6

For pronunciation and definitions of や – see the following entries.

【矢】2 [noun] (archery, weaponry) an arrow [noun] a wedge used to break hard objects such as wood or stone [noun] a 家紋 (kamon, “family crest”) with various designs of arrows [proper noun] a place name Alternative spelling 箭

【屋】3 [noun] house [suffix] shop, establishment [suffix] someone who sells or does that thing; -ist [suffix] someone with that characteristic Alternative spelling 家

【八】1 [noun] eight

【輻】H [noun] spoke (of a wheel)

【谷】2 [noun] a valley

(This term, や (ya), is the hiragana spelling of the above terms.) For a list of all kanji read as や, see Category:Japanese kanji read as や.

(The following entry does not have a page created for it yet: 家.)

Okinawan

Etymology

From Proto-Ryukyuan *wa, from Proto-Japonic *pa. Cognate with Japanese は (wa).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ja/

Particle

や (ya) 

1. topic marker

   今日(ちゅー)や良(い)い天気(てぃんち)でーびる。

   Chū-ya ii tinchi dēbiru.

   It is a fine day.

   (literally, “today + as for + good + weather + is”)

Usage notes

Used after words ending in long vowels.

References

• “や” in JLect - Japonic Languages and Dialects Database Dictionary, 2019.
• 1902, E. R. Edwards, nouts ɔn kəɹiən ən ˈluwˈtʃuwən, in lə mɛːtrə fɔnetik, p.114