Baṛī ye

The baṛī ye (بڑی یے), also romanized as bari ye, is a letter in the Urdu alphabet. It represents several sounds depending on its context within a word. Its most common function is to represent the vowel sound similar to the 'e' in "bed" or "met," transcribed in IPA as /ɛ/. It can also function as a diphthong ending, similar to the 'ay' in "day" or "say," transcribed in IPA as /eː/. Furthermore, when it appears at the end of certain masculine plural nouns, it signifies pluralization. The presence of baṛī ye is crucial for correctly pronouncing and understanding Urdu words and grammatical structures. It is distinct from the choṭī ye (چھوٹی یے) which represents the sounds /iː/ (as in "see") and /j/ (as in "yes"). The visual form of baṛī ye is similar to the Arabic letter yā’ (ي) but is distinguished by its pronunciation and usage within the Urdu language.