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sentence
Types of sentences
Subject and predicate
Negation
Types of sentences
In traditional Arabic grammar, there are two basic types of
sentence, based on what the sentence's first word is.
1
sentence consisting only of a noun and adjective. It
literally translates as "The boy Egyptian"; the "is" is
understood.
2
My cousin is a teacher. - The subject is a noun phrase (a
genitive construction), and the predicate is a noun.
Negation
Now, how do we negate these sentences? Negating a sentence
with a verb is simple; you just negate the verb. (To learn how
to negate a verb in Egyptian Arabic, go here.) Negating a
sentence without a verb, however, requires a different — but
still quite simple — approach. In standard Arabic, you simply
insert ( ﻟﻴﺲlaysa), conjugated to match the noun. Here are the
conjugations of ﻟﻴﺲ:
3
you (fem.) are not (lasti) ﺖ
ِ ﻟﺴ
he is not (laysa) ﻟﻴﺲ
she is not (laysat) ﻟﻴﺴﺖ
we are not (lasna) ﻟﺴﻨﺎ
you are not (lastuma) ﻟﺴﺘﻤﺎ
Dual
they (masc.) are not (laysaa) ﻟﻴﺴﺎ
they (fem.) are not (laysataa) ﻟﻴﺴﺘﺎ
we are not (lasna) ﻟﺴﻨﺎ
you (masc.) are not (lastum) ﻟﺴﺘﻢ
Plural you (fem.) are not (lastunna) ﻟﺴﺘﻦ
they (masc.) are not (laysuu) ﻟﻴﺴﻮﺍ
they (fem.) are not (lasna) ﻟﺴﻦ
4
( ﻟﺪﻳﻬﺎ ﺧﺒﺮﺓ ﻓﻲ ﻫﺬﺍ ﺍﻟﻤﺠﺎﻝladayha ( ﻟﻴﺲ ﻟﺪﻳﻬﺎ ﺧﺒﺮﺓ ﻓﻲ ﻫﺬﺍ ﺍﻟﻤﺠﺎﻝlaysa
xibra fi haada l-majaal) ladayha xibra fi haada l-majaal)
She has experience in this She doesn't have experience in
field. this field.