A, some, the person, people, thing, things; at a given time or place.
The following phrase types are introduced by hay: 1) A phrase, the head of which is a place noun, either a city, town or village babluy 1a, marked by a particle ad, or a housing cluster, hīgib, occurring without a particle.
Hay ad Bagyu an tungnin di umayanta.
The place to which we are going is Baguio which is cold.
Hay Hīgib di panayāwandah mā'et.
The place that they will dance tomorrow is (the housing cluster) Hīgib.
2) A phrase, the head of which is either a time noun or time verb:
Hay handi immalianda.
The time perhaps, that they came was the day before yesterday.
Hay nowod di immanamūtan din immuy nanganup.
Early evening was the time those who went to hunt came home.
3) A substantive phrase.
Hay aton di linalā'i ya umuydah wangwang an manālop.
As for what the men will do, they will go to the river to catch fish.
The verbal head of a substantive phrase is commonly inflected for place or time.
Hay nunhituwan da Ubban di numbāatanmi.
The place far away to which we went the place where Ubban and others live.
4) A number phrase.
Iyālim di hinamal ya hay duwah bāhuh danum.
Bring the cooked rice and two glasses of water.
A phrase introduced by this determiner is distributed as follows: 1) As a sentence introducer.
Hay nalpuwan di innanga ya paya' di uway an nungngādan hi nānga.
As for where a rain cape comes from it is (from) leaves of rattan named nānga.
2) As a sentence comment.
Hay ānoh di miyammah ledaw ya ha'ūlub.
What is used to make rain hats and headbands is small-culmed bamboo.
3) With a coordinating conjunction, ya, preceding, as a conjunctive phrase.
Hay lūbung ya hay ma'an di ngināa'.
What I will buy is clothing and food.
For a description of concord among ligatures and determiners, including hay 1, see ah.
This determiner introducing a phrase with a place or time noun, time verb, number, or a substantive phrase with a verb as headword, does not have an equivalent determiner in the English translation, as illustrated above. If the headword of a substantive phrase is a count noun, hay is usually translated `a, some', or `the.'
Hay ung'ungngay natīla'.
The one lost is a child.
Hay uwah an inyamman Aligūyun di ilā'u'.
What I will sell is the knife which Aligūyun made.
See sections 7.3.1.1, 7.3.5, 7.3.6 and 7.25.1.