No and there is not: maa ʿandii, laa yuujad, laisa
There are three ways to say "no" here, and each stands in its own place. "I do not have" — maa ʿandii: the negation attaches to the owner, as the "ʿandii" itself does. maa ʿandii shaahin — I have no charger. For example: “ما عندي شاحن اليوم” — I have no charger today. A rule from the Arabic course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
There are three ways to say "no" here, and each stands in its own place. "I do not have" — maa ʿandii: the negation attaches to the owner, as the "ʿandii" itself does. maa ʿandii shaahin — I have no charger.
"None at all, there is not" — laa yuujad: an impersonal "does not exist", with no subject. laa yuujad waa-y faai — there is no wi-fi, and the phrase looks for no one to blame.
"Is not" — laisa: the verb that negates the description itself. ash-shaasha laisa kabiira — the screen is not big. Unlike the English "not", laisa is a real verb: it changes by person, but most often you hear its "he" shape.
The plain laa before a verb you have known from the first days: laa afham — I do not understand. Sort them so: laa — I do not do, maa ʿandii — I do not have, laisa — it is not. Three "no"s for three different subjects.
Table
| sense | negation | reading | statement |
|---|---|---|---|
| I have none | ما عندي شاحن | maa ʿandii shaahin | have — عندي |
| there is not | لا يوجد واي فاي | laa yuujad waa-y faai | there is — يوجد |
| is not | ليست كبيرة | laisat kabiira | is — ليست/يس |
| may not | لا يمكن | laa yumkin | may — يمكن |
By example
- ما عندي شاحن اليومма ʿанди шаахин аль-йаумI have no charger today
- لا يوجد واي فاي هناля йууджад ваай фаай хунаThere is no wi-fi here
- المكتب ليس بعيداаль-мактаб лайса баʿиданThe branch is not far
How the rule settles in your head
A rule is not memorized from an explanation. It is memorized from an attempt to use it and a mistake — that is why the app delivers it mixed in with words, not as a separate lesson: it resurfaces exactly where you forgot it.
Frequently asked
No and there is not: how does it work in Arabic?
There are three ways to say "no" here, and each stands in its own place. "I do not have" — maa ʿandii: the negation attaches to the owner, as the "ʿandii" itself does. maa ʿandii shaahin — I have no charger.
What does it look like in a Arabic example sentence?
“ما عندي شاحن اليوم” (ма ʿанди шаахин аль-йаум) — I have no charger today. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.