How to use ay in a sentence
33 example sentences · interjection, adverb
Ay means ah! alas! Expressing anger, alarm, frustration, pain, etc. Example: “Ay, chihuahua! The computer crashed and I'm going to have to start all over again.”
Examples of ay by meaning
interjectionExpressing earnestness, surprise, wonder, etc.
- “Ay, I’m glad he’s going to be mairrit,” he said a few minutes later as he sat in the manse kitchen.1917 December 29, “Mary Maxwell; or, The Shadow on the Manse”, in The People’s Journal, Dundee, →OCLC, page 6, column 3
- AY BY GUM.1930 January 4, Northern Weekly Gazette, Stockton-on-Tees, Durham, →OCLC, page 21, column 3
- Ay, lass, you’ve ruined your chances now.2011, Cynthia B. Huntington, “Full Circle”, in Through Her Eyes: An Infidel’s Perspective […], [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 88
interjectionNew Zealand spelling of eh (question tag).
- For example, New Zealanders tended to say "ay" at the end of sentences, but in the Asian community people used different tags to check whether people were still listening.2013 November 13, “Surprising changes in the way Aucklanders speak”, in Stuff
More sentences with ay
- Ay, chihuahua! The computer crashed and I'm going to have to start all over again.From the entry ay, chihuahua
- Ay, chihuahua! I didn't hear you coming.From the entry ay, chihuahua
- Ay ay ay, Curaçao conceded seven goals.From the entry ay ay ay
- Ay shordy you tryna run wozzles?From the entry wozzles
- They are also written in a mixture of ayʔaǰuθɛm and English.2024 December 5, Brendan Jure, “New graphic novel a love letter to Homalco First Nation culture and language”, in Nanaimo Bulletin. From the entry ayʔaǰuθɛm
- The novel includes a glossary of ayʔaǰuθɛm words, aided by their English translation and pronunciation guide.2024 December 5, Brendan Jure, “New graphic novel a love letter to Homalco First Nation culture and language”, in Nanaimo Bulletin. From the entry ayʔaǰuθɛm
- Basta bilisan mo na riyan." PAKIRAMDAM ni Jhunnica ay inaalat siya nang araw na iyon.2022 May 18, Sonia Francesca, Stallion Series 2: Eneru Villlasis, Precious Pages Corporation, →ISBN. From the entry coaster
- “Ay, ay, Ruary!” He cried the high-pitched Banffshire greeting across the water.1940, Maurice Walsh, chapter V, in The Hill Is Mine, London; Edinburgh: W[illiam] & R[obert] Chambers, Ltd., published 1954, →OCLC, page 101. From the entry ay, ay
- "Ay vant to get married," blushed Pete, who is by way of being a Scandinavian.1922, Various, Best Short Stories. From the entry vant
- Ay, an' ah've tekt notice on 'im when she's ganned out o' room.1908, Edward C. Booth, The Cliff End, page 267. From the entry ganned
- He takes all, the free-givers, ay, and the rogues close-fisted, the fast-handed gold-hiders.1903, Lady Anne Blunt, Wukfrid Scawen Blunt, The Seven Golden Odes of Pagan Arabia, page 14. From the entry fast-handed
- Many of the individual sounds in ʔayʔaǰuθəm just don’t exist in English – thus, the need for other letters.2022 August, Pieta Wolley, “Cozy up to ʔayʔaǰuθəm: it’s here to stay”, in qathet Living. From the entry ʔayʔaǰuθəm
- "Ah leave him, ay!" goes one of the girls.2001, Kevin Sampson, Outlaws, page 244. From the entry tight
- He did it to me first, ay?' 'First?1995, Simon Petrie, Pointy-Enders, page 172. From the entry dak
- Thir isnae an embarrassment in the world that cannae be erased by a bit ay blether and a few bevvies.1994 [1993], Irvine Welsh, “Bang to Rites”, in Trainspotting, London: Minerva, →ISBN, page 220. From the entry blether
- It'll be a piece ay pish likesay . . . he sais, as he's escorted away by a po–faced labdick.1993, Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting, Times Film School, page 68. From the entry po-faced
- Ay, the wedding is next month already.1989, Eleanor Wong, Jackson on a Jaunt, or, Mistaken Identities, page 8, lines 15–16. From the entry somemore
- If we wish to form an agentive participle, we must first antipassivize the verb (the antipassive suffix being -ŋay).1985, Avery Andrews, “The major functions of the noun phrase”, in Timothy Shopen, editor, Language Typology and Syntactic Description…. From the entry antipassivize
- Remarkable bird, the Norwegian Blue, idn'it, ay?1969 December 7 (first broadcast), John Cleese, Graham Chapman, “Full Frontal Nudity [the Dead Parrot sketch]”, in Monty Python’s Flying…. From the entry plumage
- I ſay, our congregation is not ſo ſcattered, noꝛ ſo ſecreat and vnknowẽ to the woꝛlde, as D.1965, Alexander Nowell, A Reprovfe […] , London, page 39. From the entry secreat
- 's a pretty little doggy! — ay! — yes! — he is, yes! — Wag thy strunt, then!1961, D.H. Lawrence, “Adolf”, in Edward David McDonald, editor, Phoenix: The Posthumous Papers of D.H. Lawrence, page 16. From the entry strunt
- Ay, I will serve you your orts and offals.1922, James Joyce, Ulysses. From the entry ort
- Tla’amin language coordinator Randy Timothy recently discussed ʔayʔaǰuθəm (Tla’amin) language and ongoing initiatives to keep the language alive within the Tla’amin Nation community.2023 July 17, Tanya Hill, “Tla’amin language revitalization imperative to community”, in Powell River Peak. From the entry ʔayʔaǰuθəm
- “Ay, ay, man!” hailed back Ruary.1940, Maurice Walsh, chapter V, in The Hill Is Mine, London; Edinburgh: W[illiam] & R[obert] Chambers, Ltd., published 1954, →OCLC, page 101. From the entry ay, ay
- It was small enough, and roughly built; ay, a mill for dwarfs, for trollfolk, but strong and useful for a man’s work.1921 February, Knut Hamsun, translated by W[illiam] W. Worster, Growth of the Soil, volume 1, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, translation…. From the entry trollfolk
- Ay, even the droll humour and solidity of Khalid, are shaken, aroused, by the ghoulish greed, the fell inhumanity of these sharpers.1910 January 12, Ameen Rihani, “Via Dolorosa”, in The Book of Khalid, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, published October 1911…. From the entry ghoulish
- "Ay, an' lost me th' ship, 'cause I'd never dassed take her wi' only twenty barrel o' bait, 'f I'd knowed th' new law.1907, Lawrence Mott, To the credit of the sea, page 72. From the entry dass
- Ayşe Erkoç learned long ago that the secret of doing anything illicit in Istanbul is to do it in full public gaze in the clear light of day.2010 July 29, Ian McDonald, The Dervish House, →ISBN, →OL. From the entry illicit
- Ay, well, what I say - " Flusky frowned, endeavouring to put into words just what he did say, when he collogued with his own thoughts.1937, Helen Simpson, Under Capricorn. From the entry collogue
Meaning of ay
- interjection Ah! alas! Expressing anger, alarm, frustration, pain, etc.
- interjection Expressing earnestness, surprise, wonder, etc.
- interjection Used in ay, ay.
Questions about ay in a sentence
- How do you use ay in a sentence?
- Ay is used as an interjection and adverb. For example: “Ay, chihuahua! The computer crashed and I'm going to have to start all over again.”
- What is a short sentence with ay?
- “AY BY GUM.”
- What does ay mean?
- Ay means ah! alas! Expressing anger, alarm, frustration, pain, etc.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: ay (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “How to use ay in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/ay. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
