In Arabic, forming negation depends on whether a sentence contains a verb or is verbless. In both MSA and Palestinian-Jordanian Arabic, the verb ‘to be’ is omitted in the present tense.
Unlike MSA, however, negation in Palestinian-Jordanian Arabic does not depend on the verb tense. In this lesson, we will examine the various scenarios.
Table of Contents
- Negation of a Verbless Sentence
- Negation of a Verbal Sentence
- Negation Using The Suffix ـِــش (-ish)
- Summary
- Level IV – Intermediate II (B2)
Negation of a Verbless Sentence
In Arabic, the verb ‘to be’ is typically omitted in the present tense. A verbless sentence always begins with a noun.
To negate a verbless sentence, we use the particle مِـــش (mish) before the predicate of the sentence, if the predicate is an adjective, adverbial phrase, prepositional phrase, pronoun, or any other non-verbal complement. The predicate of a sentence is what tells us information about the subject.
| .الِــكْــتَــاب مِـــش كْــبِــيْــر li-ktāb mish (i) kbīr The book (is) not large. | .اِلْاَوْلَاد مِـــش فِــي الْــمَــدْرَسِـــة il-awlād mish fi -l-madraseh The boys (are) not at school. |
| .اِلْـمِــفْــتـاح مِـــش فُـــوق اِلـطَّــاوْلِــة il-miftāḥ mish fowq iṭ-ṭāwleh The key (is) not on the table. | .هَــاذَا الِــكْــتَــاب مِــش تَــبَــعِــيْ hādha li-ktāb mish taba‘i This book (is) not mine. |
| .هَـــاذَا مِـــش هُـــوِّ hādha mish huwwe This (is) not him/it. | .بِـــدِّي مِــنْ هَـــاذ، مِـــش هَـــذَاك biddi min hādh mish hadhāk I want from this, not that. |
If the predicate is a verb, we do not use مِـــش (mish). Instead, we use the particle مَـــا (mā) as we will discuss in the next section.
Negation of a Verbal Sentence
To negate a verbal sentence, we often use the particle مَـــا (mā) before the verb regardless of the verbal tense or mood.
To negate the past tense using the negative particle مَـــا (mā), we simply place it before the verb. For example:
| .مَــا كَــتَــبْــت رِسَــالِــة لَــصَــاحْــبِــيْ mā katabt risāleh la-ṣāḥbi I didn’t write a letter to my friend. | .اِلْــبِــسَــس مَــا شِــرْبَــت اِلْــمَــيِّــة il-bisas mā shirbat il-mayyeh The cats didn’t drink the water. |
| .اِلْاَوْلَاد مَــا بِــنَــامُــوْ بَـــدْرِيْ il-awlād mā bināmu badri The boys don’t sleep early. | .إِحْــنَــا مَــا مْــنِــشْــرَب عَــصِــيْــر ’iḥna mā mnishrab ‘aṣīr We don’t drink juice. |
| .مَــا رَح أَسَـــافِـــر بُــكْــرَة الـــصُّـــبِـــح mā raḥ asāfir bukrah -ṣ-ṣubiḥ I won’t travel tomorrow morning. | .أَحْــمَــد مَــا حَــيِــفْــتَــح اِلْــبَــاب ’aḥmad mā ḥa-yiftaḥ il-bāb Ahmad won’t open the door. |
| .مَــا بِــدِّيْ حُــمُّــص mā biddi ḥummuṣ I don’t want hummus. | .مَــا بِــدْهُــم يِــلْــعَــبُــوْ mā bid hum yil‘abu They don’t want to play. |
If the preposition … لَـ (la-), عِــنْــد (‘ind), or مَــع (ma‘) is used as a pseudo-verb meaning ‘to have,’ it is often negated using the particle مَـــا (mā).
Here are some examples:
| .اِلْــبِــيــت مَــا إِلُــه بَــاب كْــبِــيْــر il-beyt mā ’iluh bāb (i) kbīr The house doesn’t have a large door. | .مَـــا عِــنْــدِيْ فِــكْــرَة mā ‘indi fikrah I have no idea. |
| .مَــا إِلْــنَــا نِــفِــس نُـــوكِـــل mā ’ilna nifis nowkil We have no desire to eat. | .مَــا مَــعِــيْ قَــلَــم mā ma‘i qalam I don’t have a pen. |
In the future tense, some speakers use مِـــش (mish) instead of مَـــا (mā) before رَح (raḥ) or …حَــ (ḥa-).
| .مَــا رَح أَسَـــافِـــر بُــكْــرَة الــصُّــبِــح mā raḥ asāfir bukrah -ṣ-ṣubiḥ | = | .مِــش رَح أَسَـــافِـــر بُــكْــرَة الــصُّــبِــح mish raḥ asāfir bukrah -ṣ-ṣubiḥ |
| I won’t travel tomorrow morning. | ||
| .مَــا حَــنِــشْــرَب عَــصِــيْــر mā ḥa-nishrab ‘aṣīr | = | .مِــش حَــنِــشْــرَب عَــصِــيْــر mish ḥa-nishrab ‘aṣīr |
| We won’t drink juice. | ||
Negation Using The Suffix ـِــش (-ish)
In many Palestinian-Jordanian dialects, people add the suffix ـِــش (-ish) to the end of the negated verb, pseudo-verb, or prepositional phrase.
If the negated verb, pseudo-verb, or prepositional phrase ends with a vowel or ـُـه (-uh) as an attached personal pronoun, the suffix ـــش (-sh) is added instead.
| .مَــا كَــتَــبْــتِــش رِسَــالِــة لَــصَــاحْــبِــيْ mā katabtish risāleh la-ṣāḥbi I didn’t write a letter to my friend. | .إِحْــنَــا مَــا مْــنِــشْــرَبِـــش عَــصِــيْــر ’iḥna mā mnishrabish ‘aṣīr We don’t drink juice. |
| .اِلْاَوْلَاد مَــا بِــنَــامُــوْش† بَـــدْرِيْ il-awlād mā bināmūsh badri The boys don’t sleep early. | .أَحْــمَــد مَــا حَــيِــفْــتَــحِـــش اِلْــبَــاب ’aḥmad mā ḥa-yiftaḥish il-bāb Ahmad won’t open the door |
| .مَــا بِــدِّيْــش†حُــمُّــص mā biddīsh ḥummuṣ I don’t want hummus. | .مَــا مَــعُــهْــش* قَــلَــم mā ma‘uhsh qalam He doesn’t have a pen. |
† After adding the suffix ـــش (sh), the final long vowel in بِــنَــامُــوْ (bināmu) and بِــدِّيْ (biddi) is no longer pronounced as short because the word now ends with a consonant.
* Most people pronounce it مَــعُــوْش (ma‘ūsh).
In the future tense, the suffix ـِــش (ish) or ـــش (sh) is often not used with verbs after رَح (raḥ), but can be used with verbs following …حَــ (ḥa-).
It is also common, especially with present verbs and pseudo verbs, to drop the negative particle مَـــا (mā) and only maintain the suffix ـِــش (ish) or ـــش (sh) to indicate negation. For example:
| .إِحْــنَــا مْــنِــشْــرَبِـــش عَــصِــيْــر ’iḥna mnishrabish ‘aṣīr We don’t drink juice. | .بِــدِّيْــش حُــمُّــص biddīsh ḥummuṣ I don’t want hummus. |
Summary
Here is a summary of the different valid ways to negate a verbal sentence in Palestinian-Jordanian Arabic with examples using the verb كَـــتَـــب (katab) ‘he wrote.’ The grayed-out parts are optional.
| Past Tense ‘He didn’t write’ | ||
| مَـــا (mā) + Past Verb + ـِــش (ish) | مَـا كَــتَــب mā katab | مَـا كَــتَــبِـــش mā katabish |
| Present Tense, Pseudo-Verbs, or Prepositional Verbs ‘He doesn’t write’ | ||
| مَـــا (mā) + Present Verb + ـِــش (ish) | مَـا بُــكْــتُــب mā buktub | مَـا بُــكْــتُــبِــش mā buktubish |
| Present Verb + ـِــش (ish) | بُــكْـــتُــبِــش buktubish | |
| Future Tense ‘He won’t write’ | ||
| مَــا (mā) + …حَـــ (ḥa-) + Present Subjunctive Verb + ـِـش (ish) | مَـا حَــيُـكْــتُــب mā ḥa-yuktub | مَـا حَــيُـكْــتُـبِــش mā ḥa-yuktubish |
| مِـش (mish) + …حَـ (ḥa-) + Present Subjunctive Verb | مِـــش حَــيُــكْــتُــب mish ḥa-yuktub | |
| مَــا (mā) + رَح (raḥ) + Present Subjunctive Verb | مَـا رَح يُــكْــــتُــــب mā raḥ yuktub | |
We have learned in Level II, Lesson 7, that the preposition فِــــيْ (fī) is used to convey the meaning of ‘there is’ or ‘there are.’ To negate that, we use مَــا فِــــيْ (mā fī) or فِــــش (fish). For example:
| .فِــــش حَــدَا بِــالْــبِــيــت fish ḥada bi-l-beyt There isn’t anyone at home. |
| .مَــا فِــــيْ نَــــاس كْــثِــيْـــر بِــالْــحَــدِيْـــقَـــة mā fī nās (i) kthīr bi-l-ḥadīqah There aren’t many people at the park. |
Other lessons in Level IV: