Levantine Arabic/Negation

Yes and no Default meaning Reply to a negative question أيوه 'aywaإيه 'ē (N) / آه 'ā (S)نعم naʕam (formal) yes no (agreement) لأ la' no yes (contradiction) مبلا mbala - Negation of verbs Verbs are negated with the particle ما (ma) preceding the verb and the optional suffix ـش‎ (-š). Examples Commonly used in Notes mā + verb ما كتب ma katab (“he didn't write”)ما بعرف ma baʕref (“I don't know”) the whole Levant - the particle ma is stressed ma + verb + -š ما كتبش ma katab-šما بعرفش ma baʕref-š Jordan, Palestine - ma is unstressed, the stress of the verb is shifting- same form as in Egyptian Arabic verb + -š بعرفش baʕref-š Palestine - ma is unstressed, the stress of the verb is shifting- only used with non-past forms (present, subjunctive) Imperative In order to negate the imperative, the subjunctive form is used. Verb form Example Positive Imperative نسى nsā (North)إنسى 'insa (South) Negated Subjunctive ما تنسى ma tinsaما تنساش ma tinsā-š / تنساش tinsā-šلا تنسى la tinsa (formal) Pseudo verbs Pseudo verbs like بدّ (bidd-, “want”) and عند (ʕind-, “to have”) are negated with the partile ما (ma) as well, but usally without the suffix ـش‎ (-š). Example ما بدّي يّاه ma biddi yyā (“I don't want it”) Negation of nouns, adjectives etc. Nouns, adjectives, adverbs and partiples are negated with the preceding particle مش (miš, in the South sometimes pronounced “muš”) or مو (mu, only in Syria). As modal verbs like لازم (lāzem, “must”) and ممكن (mumken, “may”) are technically adverbs, they are negated the same way as well. While particles preceding verbs like عم (ʕam, progressive marker) and رح (raḥ, future marker) are usually negated like verbs (see above), they can be negated with مش (miš/muš) as well.