Lesson 88 – الدَّرْسُ الثَّامِنُ والثَّمانون
The Style of Request - أُسلوبُ الطَّلَبِ
The Form of the Negated Imperative (Prohibition)– أُسْلُوبُ النَّهْي وَطَريقَتُهُ
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- The negated imperative is to ask the spoken to (المُخاطَب) to stop doing something. It is formed by conjugating the Arabic verb in the present with the spoken to and putting the verb after the prohibitive article (lā) لا النَّاهِيَة.
- Consider the following examples:
Verb | English | Arabic |
Do not be ashamed of poverty | ||
Do not let yourself (do not yield) to the sickness | ||
Despair not of the mercy of Allah | ||
And do not hope for death |
- The negated imperative in the above mentioned examples is addressed to the singular masculine of the spoken to المخاطَب المُفْرَد المُذَكَّر.
- It can also be addressed to the feminine, dual, and plural of the second person (the spoken to), as in the following examples:
- For the singular feminine:
Verb | English | Arabic |
Do not upset your husband, Fatima | ||
And do not ask him what he cannot do | ||
And do not talk to him while he is angry | ||
And do not get out of the house without his permission |
- For the dual:
Verb | English | Arabic |
Do not speak, but quietly | ||
Do not be angry, and do not disagree |
- For the masculine plural:
Verb | English | Arabic |
Oh players, do not be distracted by your (personal) problems | ||
Agree, and do not disagree, (so) you will win the match | ||
Be (unified as) one hand!, and do be not divided | ||
And help each other, and be not niggardly among yourselves |
- For the feminine plural:
Verb | English | Arabic |
Oh female players, do not be distracted by your (personal) problems | ||
Agree, and do not disagree, (so) you will win the match | ||
Be (unified as) one hand!, and do be not divided | ||
And help each other, and be not niggardly among yourselves |
- In all the above mentioned examples we notice that (lā) of the negated imperative لا النَّاهية can only precede the present verb, and it put it in the jussive case, and in the prohibitive meaning.