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 thedeterminate state and must have the articleال(al-) attached to it.
أَيُّهَا(ʔayyuhā) is often used in conjunction with a precedingيَا(yā) (this usage is the norm in theQuran, see first usage example above).
أَيُّهَا(ʔayyuhā) is far less common thanيَا(yā) and reserved for elevated registers. Whereasيَا(yā) is often left untranslated in English,أَيُّهَا(ʔayyuhā) is used in similar situations to EnglishO.
Unlikeيَا(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 formأَيَّتُهَا(ʔayyatuhā) is used.
