Lesson 31 – الدَّرْسُ الحادِي والثَّلاثُونَ
Verb in the Affirmative and the Negative Form – الفِعْلُ المُثْبَتُ وَالْفِعْلُ المَنْفِيُّ
· In previous lessons we discussed the types of verbs in Arabic (based on structure), that is the past, present and imperative. We also discussed the verb tenses (based on time): the past, present and future.
· In this lesson we will discuss another topic related to the verb: making verbs negative. We shall learn how to form the negative for the past, present and future tenses In-Shā’-Allâh (God-willing).
· This lesson explains how to make the present verb negative and the particles used to do this. We shall learn the particles used to make various tenses, either past, present or future negative. Note below, there is also an example of how the use of a particle (لَمْ ) can change the present tense verb to a past tense meaning.
See the following examples relating to the present / future tense:
| Verb tense | Type of verb | Particle | Sentence |
| Future | Present | Lan | أخِي لَنْ يُسَافِرَ مَعَنا غَدًا My brother will not travel with us tomorrow |
| Future | Present | La | فَهُوَ لا يُحِبُّ السَّفَرَ دَائِمًا As he does not like traveling on a permanent basis |
| Past | Present | Lam | وهوَ لَمْ يُسَافِرْ إلى أي بَلَدٍ مِنْ قَبْلُ And he has not traveled to any country yet |
· We shall also study the particles used in making the past verb negative.
| Verb tense | Type of verb | Particle | Sentence |
| Past | Past | Mā | ما اِسْتَيْقَظَ أَبِي مُبَكِّرًا؛ لِأَنَّهُ ما نَامَ مُبَكِّرًا My father did not wake up early because he had not slept early. |
| Past | Past | Mā | I did not do my homework yesterday |
· We shall also study another particle used in the negative: ‘laysa ليس’ (not to be) which is used to make the nominal sentence negative.
| Particle | Sentence |
| لَيْسَ البَحْرُ أكْبَرَ مِنَ المُحِيطِ The sea is not bigger than the ocean | |
| ولَيْسَتِ البُحَيْرَةُ أَكْبَرَ مِنَ البَحْرِ And the lake is not bigger than the sea |
