liema

Likely developed as a native replacement for أَيّ (ʔayy), which Maltese either lost or never had. The form liema is not attested in Arabic dictionaries.

Several etymological explanations have been proposed:

• Bonelli, Aquilina: a contraction of li +‎ ma, short for li ma bħalu (“the one with no equal”), originally meaning “unequalled, matchless”.
• Charles Louis Dessoulavy, Giuseppe Barbera: from Arabic اللِّي مَا (al-lī mā).
• Erin Serracino Inglott: from Arabic أَمَّا (ʔammā).

Another possible relation is from Arabic أَيُّمَا (ʔayyumā, “which, whichever”) with the definite article, thus from underlying الأَيُّمَا (al-ʔayyumā).

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɪː.ma/
• Rhymes: -ɪːma

liema

1. (interrogative) which, what

• liema is often shortened to liem, especially before personal pronouns (liem hu, liem hi). Rarely though most particularly in Gozo, one can hear some speakers use the forms inhu, inhi, inhuma after liem. It can be noted the shortened form is supposedly liem’ due to the omission of the final a. This can still be seen in some modern texts, however is usually not preferred over liem for further simplicity.