1Did you not do such a thing?—أَلَمْ تَفْعَلْ كَذَا
It is a particle, the opposite of لَا, and not a noun. It is a word of reply, affirming what has been said in the statement it answers; with very few exceptions it relates only to a negation, which it cancels.
The final letter is a radical; or, according to some, the word is originally بَلْ [after which an affirmation is to be understood], and the final letter is added. Some of these say that this letter marks the feminine gender, because it is often pronounced with imāla.
Yes, I did—بَلَى
Is not Zeyd standing?—أَلَيْسَ زَيْدٌ بِقَائِمٍ
Yes, he is—بَلَى
Does man think that we will not collect his bones? Yes—أَيَحْسَبُ الإِنْسَانُ أَنْ لَنْ نَجْمَعَ عِظَامَهُ بَلَى
Am I not your Lord? They said, Yes—أَلَسْتُ بِرَبِّكُمْ قَالُوا بَلَى
Zeyd did not stand, or has not stood—مَا قَامَ زَيْدٌ
Yes, he did, or he has—بَلَى
Yes, my signs have come to you—بَلَى قَدْ جَآءَتْكَ آيَاتِى
It is a reply to a question containing a negative, and affirms what is said to you in that question; the question may be a question in the proper sense.
Or the question may be meant to convey reproof, as in the Qur'ān 75:3 and 4.
That is: we will collect them.
Or it may be meant to make a person confess, or acknowledge, a thing, as in the Qur'ān 7:171.
It is also a reply to a simple negation.
This occurs in the Qur'ān 39:60, where what comes before it is not literally a negation but has the force of one.
The preceding saying, لَوْ أَنَّ ٱللّٰهَ هَدَانِى [If God had directed me aright, or: would that God had directed me aright], is like the saying مَا هُدِيتُ [I was not directed aright].
Will you not stand?—أَلَا تَقُومُ
Yes—بَلَى
It also occurs in the books of traditions in a few instances as a reply to a question that has no negative in it; but such instances are rare, and are not to be followed in rendering revelation.
Az says that here the reply means بَلْ أَقُومُ [Nay, I will stand], the alif [written ى] being added to make the pause good; for if he said بَلْ, the other man would expect something more to be said after it.
It is said that the pronunciation called imāla is allowable in the case of بَلَى, and if so, its final radical letter is ى.
Some of the grammarians say that this pronunciation of بلى is allowable because the word, being complete and independent in meaning so that it needs nothing after it, resembles independent nouns, in which this pronunciation is allowable.
on this sense Er-Rāghib is not cited here.
Show Lane's original text
is a particle; (S, Msb, Mughnee;) contr. of لَا : (S:) not a noun: (Sb, S:) it is a replicative; (S, Mughnee;) an affirmative of what is said [in that to which it is a reply]; (S, Msb;) [with very few exceptions] relating only to a negation, which it annuls: (Msb, Mughnee:) the final letter is a radical: or, accord. to some, the word is originally بَلْ , [after which an affirmation is to be understood,] and the final letter is augmentative: and some of these say that this letter is a denotative of the fem. gender, because it is [often] pronounced with imáleh. (Mughnee.) It is a reply to an interrogation in which is a negative, (T, M, Msb, Mughnee, K,) and affirms what is said to thee [in that interrogation]; (M, K;) whether it be an interrogation in the proper sense, (Mughnee,) as when you say to another, أَلَمْ تَفْعَلْ كَذَا [Didst thou not such a thing?], and he replies, بَلَى [meaning Yes, or yea, or ay, I did], (T,) or as when one says, أَلَيْسَ زَيْدٌ بِقَائِمٍ [Is not Zeyd standing?], and you reply, بَلَى [Yes, he is]; or be meant to convey reproof, (Mughnee,) as in the Kur [lxxv. 3 and 4], أَيَحْسَبُ الإِنْسَانُ أَنْ لَنْ نَجْمَعَ عِظَامَهُ بَلَى [Doth man think that we will not collect his bones? Yes], (Msb, Mughnee,) i. e., we will collect them; (Msb;) or be meant to make a person confess, or acknowledge, a thing, (Mughnee,) as in the Kur [vii. 171], أَلَسْتُ بِرَبِّكُمْ قَالُوا بَلَى [Am I not your Lord? They said, Yea]. (M, Mughnee.) It is also a reply to a simple negation, (Msb, Mughnee,) as when I say, مَا قَامَ زَيْدٌ [Zeyd did not stand, or has not stood], and you reply, بَلَى as an affirmative [meaning Yes, he did, or he has]. (Msb.) It occurs in the Kur [xxxix. 60], where it is said, بَلَى قَدْ جَآءَتْكَ آيَاتِى [Yea, my signs have come to thee], preceded by that which is not literally a negation, but which has the force of a negation; for the preceding saying, لَوْ أَنَّ ٱللّٰهَ هَدَانِى [If God had directed me aright, or would that God &c.], is like the saying, مَا هُدِيتُ [I was not directed aright]. (M.) It also occurs in the books of traditions, in some instances, as a reply to an interrogation without a negative; but these instances are rare, and not to be followed in rendering revelation. (Mughnee.) Az says that when a man says to another, أَلَا تَقُومُ [Wilt thou not stand?], and the latter replies, بَلَى , he means بَلْ أَقُومُ [Nay, I will stand], adding the alif [written ى ] to make the pause good; for if he said, بَلْ , the other would expect something more to be said after it. (TA.) It is said that the pronunciation termed imáleh is allowable in the case of بَلَى ; and if so, its final radical letter is ى : and some of the grammarians say that this pronunciation of بلى is because, by reason of its completeness and independence of meaning, so that it requires nothing after it, it resembles independent nouns, in the cases of which this pronunciation is allowable. (M.)