المقبس لا يعمل
“المقبس لا يعمل” (аль-макбис ля яʿмаль) — the socket does not work in Arabic. Phrase, level A1. The socket you know — maqbis; "does not work" is exactly the laa yaʿmal card you learned in the first lessons. In a live sentence: “المقبس لا يعمل في المطبخ” — The socket does not work in the kitchen. Written with the characters ا, ل, م, ق, ب, س, ل, ا, ي, ع, م, ل. A word from the everyday Arabic course, level A1.
In short
| Written in Arabic | المقبس لا يعمل |
| Read in Latin letters | аль-макбис ля яʿмаль |
| Translation | the socket does not work |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | A1 |
Why it looks that way
The socket you know — maqbis; "does not work" is exactly the laa yaʿmal card you learned in the first lessons
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- المقبس لا يعمل في المطبخаль-макбис ля яʿмаль фи аль-матбахThe socket does not work in the kitchen
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “the socket does not work” in Arabic?
«المقبس لا يعمل», read “аль-макбис ля яʿмаль”. In a live sentence: “المقبس لا يعمل في المطبخ” — The socket does not work in the kitchen. Phrase, level A1; written with the characters ا, ل, م, ق, ب, س, ل, ا, ي, ع, م, ل.
How is “المقبس لا يعمل” written in Latin letters?
аль-макбис ля яʿмаль. This is a practical spelling — you need it to read aloud and be understood, not to meet an academic standard.
Why does this word look the way it does?
The socket you know — maqbis; "does not work" is exactly the laa yaʿmal card you learned in the first lessons. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.