المال لا يكفي
“المال لا يكفي” (аль-мааль ля йакфий) — the money is not enough in Arabic. Phrase, level A2. Exactly the reverse: laa before the verb — and the money is short. You have already negated verbs with this particle — here it is at work again. In a live sentence: “المال لا يكفي للمصاريف” — The money is not enough for the expenses. Written with the characters ا, ل, م, ا, ل, ل, ا, ي, ك, ف, ي.
In short
| Written in Arabic | المال لا يكفي |
| Read in Latin letters | аль-мааль ля йакфий |
| Translation | the money is not enough |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | A2 |
Why it looks that way
Exactly the reverse: laa before the verb — and the money is short. You have already negated verbs with this particle — here it is at work again
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.
- المال لا يكفي للمصاريفаль-мааль ля йакфий ли-ль-масаариифThe money is not enough for the expenses
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 money is not enough” in Arabic?
«المال لا يكفي», read “аль-мааль ля йакфий”. In a live sentence: “المال لا يكفي للمصاريف” — The money is not enough for the expenses. Phrase, level A2; written with the characters ا, ل, م, ا, ل, ل, ا, ي, ك, ف, ي.
How is “المال لا يكفي” written in Latin letters?
аль-мааль ля йакфий. 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?
Exactly the reverse: laa before the verb — and the money is short. You have already negated verbs with this particle — here it is at work again. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.