أيها

أَيُّ‎ (ʔayyu) +‎ هَا‎ (hā)

أَيُّهَا • (ʔayyuhā) (feminine أَيَّتُهَا‎ (ʔayyatuhā))

1. vocative particle preceding a noun used in direct address; only rarely omitted in such contexts; occasionally translated as O or hey
   • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 8:45:

     ‏يَا أَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا لَقِيتُمْ فِئَةً فَاثْبُتُوا وَاذْكُرُوا ٱللّٰهَ كَثِيرًا لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ‎

     yā ʔayyuhā llaḏīna ʔāmanū ʔiḏā laqītum fiʔatan fa-ṯbutū wa-ḏkurū llāha kaṯīran laʕallakum tufliḥūna

     O you who have attained to faith, when you meet a host in battle, be firm, and remember God often; so that you might attain to a happy state!

   • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 12:70:

     ‏فَلَمَّا جَهَّزَهُم بِجَهَازِهِمْ جَعَلَ ٱلسِّقَايَةَ فِي رَحْلِ أَخِيهِ ثُمَّ أَذَّنَ مُؤَذِّنٌ أَيَّتُهَا ٱلْعِيرُ إِنَّكُمْ لَسَارِقُونَ‎

     fa-lammā jahhazahum bijahāzihim jaʕala s-siqāyata fī raḥli ʔaḵīhi ṯumma ʔaḏḏana muʔaḏḏinun ʔayyatuhā l-ʕīru ʔinnakum la-sāriqūna

     And when he had provided them with their provisions, he placed the drinking-cup in his brother's camel-pack. And a herald called out: "O you people of the caravan! Verily, you are thieves!

• The subsequent noun stands in the nominative of the determinate state and must have the article ال‎ (al-) attached to it.
• أَيُّهَا‎ (ʔayyuhā) is often used in conjunction with a preceding يَا‎ (yā) (this usage is the norm in the Quran, see first usage example above).
• أَيُّهَا‎ (ʔayyuhā) is far less common than يَا‎ (yā) and reserved for elevated registers. Whereas يَا‎ (yā) is often left untranslated in English, أَيُّهَا‎ (ʔayyuhā) is used in similar situations to English O.
• Unlike يَا‎ (yā), أَيُّهَا‎ (ʔayyuhā) inflects for gender. When addressing a female, a group of females, or else anything that is referred to by a grammatically feminine word (see second usage example above), the form أَيَّتُهَا‎ (ʔayyatuhā) is used.

1. ‏يَا أَيُّهَا ٱلرَّجُلُ / ٱلرَّجُلَانِ / ٱلرِّجَالُ‎

   yā ʔayyuhā r-rajulu / r-rajulāni / r-rijālu

   Oh you man / two men / men!

   ‏يَا أَيَّتُهَا ٱلْمَرْأَةُ / ٱلْمَرْأَتَانِ / ٱلنِّسَاءُ‎

   yā ʔayyatuhā l-marʔatu / l-marʔatāni / n-nisāʔu

   Oh you woman / two women / women!

• يَا‎ (yā)

أَيِّهَا • (ʔayyihā) f

1. which one of them.

• Fischer, Wolfdietrich (2006) Grammatik des Klassischen Arabisch (in German), 4^th edition, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, →ISBN, § 157