﴿ قَالَتْ يَٰوَيْلَتَىٰٓ ءَأَلِدُ وَأَنَا۠ عَجُوزٌۭ وَهَٰذَا بَعْلِى شَيْخًا ۖ إِنَّ هَٰذَا لَشَىْءٌ عَجِيبٌۭ ﴾

“Said she: "Oh, woe is me! Shall I bear a child, now that I am an old woman and this husband of mine is an old man? Verily, that would be a strange thing indeed!"”

She said ‘Woe to me! yā waylatā is an expression used in reaction to a serious matter; the alif suffixed in waylatā substitutes for the yā’ of the genitive annexation waylatī ‘my woe’. Shall I bear a child when I am an old woman 99 years old and this my husband is an old man? 100 or 120 years old shaykhan is in the accusative because it is a circumstantial qualifier operated by the demonstrative import of dhā ‘this’. Truly this is a strange thing’ that a child should be born to such an aged couple.