الزر لا يعمل
“الزر لا يعمل” (аз-зарр ля яʿмаль) — the button does not work in Arabic. Phrase, level B1. You know laa yaʿmal, "does not work": now it has a subject — zarr, the button. Arabic will not say "cannot be pressed" — it says "does not work": the complaint is shorter and angrier. In a live sentence: “الزر لا يعمل في الجهاز” — The button does not work on the device. Written with the characters ا, ل, ز, ر, ل, ا, ي, ع, م, ل.
In short
| Written in Arabic | الزر لا يعمل |
| Read in Latin letters | аз-зарр ля яʿмаль |
| Translation | the button does not work |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | B1 |
Why it looks that way
You know laa yaʿmal, "does not work": now it has a subject — zarr, the button. Arabic will not say "cannot be pressed" — it says "does not work": the complaint is shorter and angrier
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.
- الزر لا يعمل في الجهازаз-зарр ля яʿмаль фи аль-джихаазThe button does not work on the device
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 button does not work” in Arabic?
«الزر لا يعمل», read “аз-зарр ля яʿмаль”. In a live sentence: “الزر لا يعمل في الجهاز” — The button does not work on the device. Phrase, level B1; written with the characters ا, ل, ز, ر, ل, ا, ي, ع, م, ل.
How is “الزر لا يعمل” written in Latin letters?
аз-зарр 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?
You know laa yaʿmal, "does not work": now it has a subject — zarr, the button. Arabic will not say "cannot be pressed" — it says "does not work": the complaint is shorter and angrier. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.