In this post, I explain how to negate verbal sentences, and provide some exercises to practice it.
To negate the present tense, we use the particle (لا) immediately before the verb. Remember, nothing should separate (لا) from the verb. Consider the following examples:
الولد يحمل حقيبة.
“The boy carries a bag.”
الولد لا يحمل حقيبة.
“The boy does not carry a bag.”
To negate the past tense, we can use either (ما) or (لم). We sue (ما) before the past tense verb, and we use (لم) before the present tense derived from the same past tense verb. Consider the following examples:
الولد حمل حقيبة.
“The boy carried a bag.”
الولد ما حمل حقيبة.
“The boy did not carry a bag.”
الولد لم يحمل حقيبة.
“The boy did not carry a bag.”
To negate the future tense, we use (لن) before the present tense derived from the same future tense verb. Consider the following examples:
الولد سيحمل حقيبة.
“The boy will carry a bag.”
الولد لن يحمل حقيبة.
“The boy will not carry a bag.”
3 Comments
Ms. Aziza, I really love your blog! I’m taking Arabic right now and your blog helps me understand what I didn’t get in class. I just wanted to point out one little typo, it’s not really anything–in the third paragraph from the bottom (before the two last sentences), it says “We sue (ما) before the past tense verb”. Did you mean we use (ما)…? I was just a little confused. Again, thanks and keep up the good work!
Thank you very much Halime.
مرحبا يا عزيزة
Concerning the negation of the future tense one might also mention this form with the لا particle:
الولد سوف لا يحمل حقيبة. – “The boy will not carry a bag.”
The “advantage” of this form is that the لا particle requires the Indicative (مرفوع) of the present tense while the لن particle requires the subjunctive (منصوب) of the present tense.
Concerning the negation of the past tense one might mention that the لم particle requires the jussive (مجزوم) of the present tense.
مع السلامة
يوسف