Negatives

Hi everyone!

In this post we’re going to talk briefly about a few negative constructions. If you’ve studied fuS7a – and I’ve generally been assuming you have – you’ll know that in written Arabic there are lots of different negative constructions depending on tense. Although there are a few possible negatives in spoken Arabic, the system is generally simpler.

maa

As a general rule, all verbal structures can be negated by simply placing ما maa before the verb. This corresponds to لا, لم and لن in fuS7a:

Positive	Negative
شربت شي shribet shii I drank something	ما شربت شي maa shribet shii I didn’t drink anything
بحب القهوة b7ibb il2ahwe I like coffee	ما بحب القهوة maa b7ibb il2ahwe I don’t like coffee

As in fuS7a, the negative counterpart to an imperative is a negative subjunctive form:

Positive	Negative
كول خبز kool khibez eat some bread	ما تاكل خبز maa taakol khibez don’t eat bread

 

muu

Everything else is negated with the invariable particle muu (which corresponds to fuS7a ليس). This is most obvious in ‘to be’ sentences:

Positive	Negative
طيبة Tayybe it’s tasty	مو طيبة muu Tayybe it’s not tasty
مهندس muhandes he’s an engineer	مو مهندس muu muhandes he’s not an engineer
كاتبين شي kaatbiin shii they’ve written something	مو كاتبين شي muu kaatbiin shii they haven’t written anything

 

wala

The word ولا wala is sometimes placed before the object or another part of a negative verbal sentence. This tends to intensify the meaning:

ما شفت ولا شي
maa shif^et wala shii
I didn’t see anything (at all)

ما رحنا ولا على محل
maa ri7na wala 3ala ma7all
we didn’t go anywhere (at all)

If the word (usually the subject) comes before the verb, the verb isn’t negated:

ولا حدا إجى
wala 7ada 2ija
not a single person came

This word is also used on its own with various nouns: ولا شي wala shii ‘nothing’, ولا حدا wala 7ada ‘no-one’, etc.

laa

Both in imperatives and in independent subjunctives – especially in fixed expressions – you might also hear لا laa instead of maa:

لا تاكل خبز
laa taakol khib^ez
don’t eat bread

الله لا يردك
2aLLa laa yriddak!
may God not bring you back! (I hope I never see you again)

maal-, maan-

These two structures are combined with attached pronouns to produce a negative version of ‘to be’. In structures like the following, they are synonymous with muu:

مانو هون
maano hoon
he’s not here

مالي راجعة!
maali raaj3a!
I’m not coming back!

7ada and maa 7ada

حدا ‪7ada means ‘anyone’ or ‘someone’ in both negative sentences and questions:

ما شفت حدا
maa shif^et 7ada
I didn’t see anyone

Note that when 7ada is the subject and comes before the verb, it combines with maa:

ما حدا إجى
maa 7ada 2ija
nobody came

That’s probably enough for one post!