Lesson 61 – الدَّرْسُ الواحِدُ والسِّتُّونَ
/lā/ of generic negation - لا النَّافِيَة لِلْجِنْسِ
/lā/ of generic negation – لا النَّافية لِلْجِنْسِ
- We are still in lesson sixty one of our free Arabic language course. This Arabic course with images and audios will help you learn Arabic.
- In Arabic there is more than one type of /lā/ as a negating particle. We studied till now two types of it. One of them was in lesson 31 where we learnt the particle /lā/ which is used for negating the present verb, and is called the negating /lā/ (لا النَّافية). The second /lā/ is that we studied in lesson 36, and is called /lā/ of the negated imperative (لا النَّاهية), and is used also with the present verb, to give the meaning of prohibition.
- Before we start learning the third type of /lā/ let’s review the two previous types:
| Example | Declension | The verb after /lā/ | Meaning of /lā/ | Type of /lā/ | |
| English | Arabic | ||||
| I do not like the guava juice | لا أُحِبُّ عَصِيرَ الجَوَافَةِ /lā uħibbu ξaŝīra al ĵawāfati/ | Present verb conjugated with all persons | /lā/ here has no effect on the verb, so it remains in nominative case (signed originally with /đammah/ | Negation | Negating /lā/ |
| Muhammad does not wake up early | لا يَسْتَيْقِظُ مُحَمَّدٌ مُبَكِّرًا /lā yastayqiđhu muħammadun mubakkiran/ | ||||
| Mona does not prefer coffee | /munā lā tufađđilu al qahwata/ | ||||
| Please, don’t write on the desk | أرجوك، لا تكْتُبْ عَلى المَكْتَبِ /arĵūka, lā taktub ξala al maktabi/ | Present verb conjugated with second person (the spoken to) | This /lā/ makes the verb in jussive case (signed originally with the sukūn) | Prohibition | /lā/ of negated imperative (interdicting /lā/) |
| Ibrahim, don’t leave your studies | يَا إِبْرَاهِيمُ لا تُهْمِلْ دُرُوسَكَ /yā ibrâhimu, lā tuhmil durūsaka/ | ||||
| Boy, don’t chide you parents | يَا غُلامُ لا تَنْهَرْ وَالِدَيْكَ /yā ghulāmu, lā tanhar wālidayka/ | ||||
- After this quick revision, we will study in this lesson the third type of /lā/ which is called /lā/ of generic negation (لا النَّافية للْجِنْسِ), In-Shā’-Allâh (God willing).
- /lā/ of generic negation, like all types of /lā/, is a negating particle, but it is different from them in the following:
1- /lā/ of generic negation is only to negate the nominal sentence, while the other two types of /lā/ negate only the verb. See these comparing examples:
| Picture | /lā/ of generic negation | The negating /lā/ of the present verb | ||
| English meaning | Arabic example | English meaning | Arabic example | |
|
| No engineer in the company today | لا مُهَنْدِسَ فِي الشَّرِكَةِ اليَوْمَ /lā muhandisa fī ash sharikati al yawma/ | The engineer does not neglect his work | المُهَنْدِسُ لا يُهْمِلُ فِي عَمَلِهِ /al muhandisu lā yuhmilu fī ξamalihi/ |
|
| No friend betrays (his friend) | /lā ŝadīqa khâ’nun li ŝadīqihi/ | The friend does not betray (his friend) | الصَّدِيقُ لا يَخُونُ صَدِيقَهُ /aŝ ŝadīqu lā yakhūnu ŝadīqahu/ |
2- The second difference between /lā/ of generic negation and the other two, is that /lā/ of generic negation (لا النَّافية للْجِنْسِ) denies the predicate from the whole genus of the subject. E.g. when we say:
| No man is at home |
- This means that there is not absolutely any man at home, so it would be wrong to say: Rather there are two men.
- The other two types of /lā/ negate a certain action which is in the following verb. E.g.:
| مُحَمَّدٌ لا يُحِبُّ الحَلِيبَ Muhammad does not like milk |
- In this meaning, /lā/ of generic negation is also different from /lā/ which negates the oneness which intervene also in the nominal sentence but without any grammatical effect as follows:
| There is no one man at home |
- In this sentence there is /lā/ of oneness negation. You may notice that the subject is in nominative case (without change) while in the sentence of /lā/ of generic negation the subject is signed with /fatħah/ as follows:
| No man is at home |
- In the first sentence (لا رَجُلٌ في البَيْتِ) it is not wrong to say: (Rather there are two men), because /lā/ is not of generic negation, it just denies the predicate from the subject (رَجُلٌ) i.e. one man.
- While in the second sentence (لا رَجُلَ في البَيْتِ) it would be wrong to say (Rather there are two men), because this /lā/ is of generic negation, so it denies the predicate from the whole genus of the subject (لا رَجُلَ), i.e. no man. Let’s review this meaning in the following table:
| /lā/ of oneness negation | /lā/ of generic negation | ||
| English meaning | Arabic example | English meaning | Arabic example |
| There is not one man at home, rather there are two. | لا رَجُلٌ في البَيْتِ بَلْ رَجُلانِ /lā raĵulun fī al bayti bal raĵulāni/ | No man at home |
/lā/ raĵula fī al bayti/ |
| It is not one farmer who wakes up early, rather all of them are successful | لا فَلاحٌ يَسْتَيْقِظُ مُبَكِّرًا بَل كُلُّ الفَلاحِين /lā fallāħa yastayqiđhu mubakkiran bal kullu al fallāħina/ | No farmer wakes up late | لا فَلاحَ يَسْتَيْقِظُ مُتَأَخِّرًا /lā fallāħa yastayqiđhu muta’akhiran/ |
| It is not one hardworking who is successful, rather all of them are successful | لا مُجْتَهِدٌ نَاجِحٌ بَلْ كُلُّ المُجْتَهِدِينَ /lā muĵtahidun nāĵiħun, bal kullu al muĵtahidīna/ | No hardworking person is unsuccessful | /lā muĵtahida fāshilun/ |
| It not one Dinar which is with me, rather I have one thousand Dinars. | لا دِينَارٌ مَعِي بَلْ أَلْفُ دِينارٍ /lā dinārun maξī bal alfu dinārin/ | No money is with me, I have gold instead. | لا نُقُودَ مَعِي بَلْ مَعِيَ ذَهَبٌ /lā nuqūda maξī bal maξī dhahabun |
- You may notice in the above mentioned table that the subject after /lā/ of generic negation is signed with /fatħah/, while it is after /lā/ of oneness negation it is normally in the nominative case, i.e. signed with /đammah/.