Negation in Arabic

Sign reading لَا لِلتَّدْخِين lā lit-tadḵīn "no smoking".

Negation in Arabic (Arabic: ٱلنَّفْي, romanized: al-nafy 'the negative') is the array of approaches used in Arabic grammar to express grammatical negation. These strategies correspond to words in English like no and not.

Modern Standard Arabic

Negation in the present tense

Negating present-tense verbs

لا lā "not"; a male speaker from Tiznit, Morocco.

Present-tense verbs are negated by adding لا lā "not" before the verb:[1]

sentence type example
affirmative sentence أُحِبُّ الجَزَرَ

’uḥibbu l-jazara

"I like carrots"

negative sentence لا أُحِبُّ الجَزَرَ

lā ’uḥibbu l-jazara

"I do not like carrots"

Negation of sentences with no verb

If a sentence would, in the affirmative, have no verb (this can only happen in the present tense), then the negative verb لَيْسَ laysa "is not" is used. laysa is inflected like a past-tense verb, but is used to negate present-tense sentences. As with كانَ kāna "was", the complement of laysa must be in the accusative case. Before consonantal endings, the diphthong -ay- is reduced to a short -a-.[2]

Here is an example sentence saying that something is not big in all possible persons and numbers:

person singular dual plural
1st m لَسْتُ كَبِيرًا lastu kabīran

"I am not big"

لَسْنَا كَبِيرَيْنِ lasnā kabīrayni

"we are not big"

لَسْنَا كُبَرَاءَ lasnā kubarāʾa

"we are not big"

1st f لَسْتُ كَبِيرَةً lastu kabīratan

"I am not big"

لَسْنَا كَبِيرَتَيْنِ lasnā kabīratayni

"we are not big"

لَسْنَا كَبِيرَاتٍ lasnā kabīrātin

"we are not big"

2nd m لَسْتَ كَبِيرًا lasta kabīran

"you (m) are not big"

لَسْتُمَا كَبِيرَيْنِ lastumā kabīrayni

"you two (m) are not big"

لَسْتُمْ كُبَرَاءَ lastum kubarā’a

"you (m) are not big"

2nd f لَسْتِ كَبِيرَةً lasti kabīratan

"you (f) are not big"

لَسْتُمَا كَبِيرَتَيْنِ lastumā kabīratayni

"you two (f) are not big"

لَسْتُنَّ كَبِيرَاتٍ lastunna kabīrātin

"you (f) are not big"

3rd m لَيْسَ كَبِيرًا laysa kabīran

"he is not big"

لَيْسَا كَبِيرَيْنِ laysā kabīrayni

"the two of them (m) are not big"

لَيْسُوا كُبَرَاءَ laysū kubarā’a

"they (m) are not big"

3rd f لَيْسَت كَبِيرَةً laysat kabīratan

"she is not big"

لَيْسَتَا كَبِيرَتَيْنِ laysatā kabīratayni

"the two of them (f) are not big"

لَسْنَ كَبِيرَاتٍ lasna kabīrātin

"they (f) are not big"

Negation of past-tense verbs

In Modern Standard Arabic, the main way to negate past-tense verbs is to add the negative particle لَمْ lam "not" before the verb, and to put the verb in the jussive mood.[3] In more colloquial usage, it is possible to give the verb in the present indicative mood (which is largely identical in form to the jussive).[4]

sentence type example
affirmative sentence أَحْبَبْتُ الجَزَرَ

’aḥbabtu l-jazara

"I liked carrots"

negative sentence لَم أُحْبِبِ الجَزَرَ

lam ʾuḥbibi l-jazara

"I did not like carrots"

negative sentence لَم أُحِبِّ الجَزَرَ

lam ’uḥibbi l-jazara

"I did not like carrots"

It is also possible to use the negative particle ما mā before the verb, giving the verb in the past tense.[5][6]

sentence type example
affirmative sentence أَحْبَبْتُ الجَزَرَ

’aḥbabtu l-jazara

"I liked carrots"

negative sentence مَا أَحْبَبْتُ الجَزَرَ

mā ’aḥbabtu l-jazara

"I did not like carrots"

Negation of verbs in the future tense

Negating a proposition in the future is done by placing the negative particle لَنْ lan before the verb in the subjunctive mood.[7]

sentence type example
affirmative sentence سَوْفَ أذْهَب إلى الدَّرْس غَداً

sawfa ’aḍhabu ’ilā d-darsi ġadan

"I will go to the class tomorrow"

negative sentence لَنْ أذْهَب إلى الدَّرْس غَدا

lan ’aḍhaba ’ilā d-darsi ġadan

"I will not go to the class tomorrow"

Negation of imperative verbs

The imperative (known as الأَمْر "the order," from أَمَرَ "he ordered") is negated by putting لا lā "not" before the verb, putting the verb in the jussive, rather than the imperative, mood.[8] (This negative imperative is known as النَّهْي "the discouragement," from نَهى "he discouraged.") For example, in the masculine singular: اِظْلِمْ (iẓlim, "oppress!"), لا تَظْلِمْ (lā taẓlim, "do not oppress!").

Saying "no"

"No", as an answer to a question, is expressed by the negative particle لا lā.[9]

Varieties of Arabic

Modern Standard Arabic لَيْسَ laysa "is not" is replaced in colloquial usage with a variety of other forms, which in origin are contractions of phrases such as ما مِنْ شَيْ mā min shay "nothing" (literally: "none from/of a thing"):

Variety "she is not here" (Arabic script) "she is not here" (transliteration)
MSA لَيْسَت هُنَا laysat hunā
Egyptian هِيَ مِش هِنا heyya meš hena
Moroccan هِيَ ماشي هُنا hiya māši hna
Algerian هِيَ ماراهيش هُنا hiya mārāhīš hna
Iraq هِيَ مو هِنا hiyya mū hnā

North African, Egyptian, and some Levantine Arabic varieties negate verbs using a circumfix—a combination of the prefix ma- and the suffix -ʃ. This, for example, is the negative paradigm of the verb كَتَبَ kataba "he wrote" in Algerian Arabic:

Person Past Present Future Present continuous
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
1st (m) ma ktebt-š ma ktebna-š ma nekteb-š ma nekketbu-š ma Rayeḥ-š nekteb ma Rayḥin-š nekketbu ma Rani-š nekteb ma Rana-š nekketbu
1st (f) ma ktebt-š ma ktebna-š ma nekteb-š ma nekketbu-š ma Rayḥa-š nekteb ma Rayḥin-š nekketbu ma Rani-š nekteb ma Rana-š nekketbu
2nd (m) ma ketbt-š ma ktebtu-š ma tekteb-š ma tekketbu-š ma Rayeḥ-š tekteb ma Rayḥin-š tekketbu ma Rak-š tekteb ma Rakum-š tekketbu
2nd (f) ma ktebti-š ma ktebtu-š ma tekketbi-š ma tekketbu-š ma Rayḥa-š tekketbi ma Rayḥin-š tekketbu ma Raki-š tekketbi ma Rakum-š tekketbu
3rd (m) ma kteb-š ma ketbu-š ma yekteb-š ma yekketbu-š ma Rayeḥ-š yekteb ma Rayḥin-š yekketbu ma Rah-š yekteb ma Rahum-š yekketbu
3rd (f) ma ketbet-š ma ketbu-š ma tekteb-š ma yekketbu-š ma Rayḥa-š tekteb ma Rayḥin-š yekketbu ma Raha-š tekteb ma Rahum-š yekketbu

In these varieties, to negate present participles and verbs conjugated in the future, mūš, or its conjugated form, is frequently used (in front of the verb).[10][11] For example, Tunisian Arabic موش mūsh is conjugated as follows:[12][13]

Pronoun Auxiliary Verb
ānā آنا mānīš مانيش
intī إنتي mākiš ماكش
hūwa هوة māhūš ماهوش
hīya هية māhīš ماهيش
aḥnā أحنا mānāš مناش
intūmā انتوما mākumš مكمش
hūmā هومة māhumš مهمش

See also

References

  1. ^ Karin C. Ryding, A Reference Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), p. 644 [§37.2.1.2].
  2. ^ Karin C. Ryding, A Reference Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), pp. 641-43 [§37.1].
  3. ^ Karin C. Ryding, A Reference Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), p. 647 [§37.2.2.1].
  4. ^ Jane Wightwick and Mahmoud Gaafar, Easy Arabic Grammar (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005), p. 119 ISBN 0071462104.
  5. ^ Karin C. Ryding, A Reference Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), p. 647 [§37.2.2.2].
  6. ^ Jane Wightwick and Mahmoud Gaafar, Easy Arabic Grammar (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005), p. 119 ISBN 0071462104.
  7. ^ Karin C. Ryding, A Reference Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), p. 648 [§37.2.2.3].
  8. ^ Karin C. Ryding, A Reference Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), p. 645 [§37.2.1.5].
  9. ^ Karin C. Ryding, A Reference Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), p. 644 [§37.2.1.1].
  10. ^ Gibson, M. (2009). Tunis Arabic. Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics, 4, 563–71.
  11. ^ Wilmsen, D. (2014). Arabic Indefinites, Interrogatives, and Negators: A Linguistic History of Western Dialects. Oxford University Press.
  12. ^ Ben Abdelkader, R., & Naouar, A. (1979). Peace Corps/Tunisia Course in Tunisian Arabic.
  13. ^ Chekili, F. (1982). The morphology of the Arabic dialect of Tunis (Doctoral dissertation, University of London).