Skip to content
Learn Levantine Arabic
Log inSign up

advanced · grammar

يَا… يَا

Either, or, neither

Offering alternatives with يا…يا, ولا, أو and بدال

Levantine has more than one word for "or", and which one you reach for says something about how formal you are being.

"يَا… يَا" frames two choices and puts one either side. "وَلا" is the everyday "or", the one you use in a question. "أَو" means the same but belongs to writing and the news. "وَلّا" is the "nor" that follows a negative.

Keywords

  • functional
  • functional
  • functional
  • functional
  • functional

Phrases

1 more section in this lesson

A membership opens the rest of this lesson and everything else — every lesson across all four levels, the whole dictionary, the vocab packs and the conjugator.

Membership options

Comments (0)

No comments yet — be the first to ask something.

Log in to join the conversation.

Up next

  • ما إلي عَلاقة

    Not my business/ Linking your ideas

    Ways to say its not my business

    advanced / grammar

  • أكيد

    Certain/ How sure are you?

    Saying you're sure, and checking that someone else is

    advanced / grammar

  • يِمكِن

    Might, possibly/ How sure are you?

    The middle of the scale - يمكن, ممكن and شكّ

    advanced / grammar

  • مُستَحِيل

    No chance/ How sure are you?

    The bottom of the scale - مستحيل, أبدا and مش معقول

    advanced / grammar