ما زال usually means “still” or “continues to,” even though it visibly contains negative ما: ما زال المدير مشغولا “The director is still busy.” In this conventional construction, negating cessation produces a positive continuative inference: an earlier state has not ended and therefore remains true.
This reversal is genuinely difficult for English speakers. Do not translate the pieces one by one. Learn ما زال and present لا يزال as continuative constructions, then choose an adjectival, nominal, prepositional, or verbal predicate according to what continues.
Unlike the past habit taught in كان + imperfect, ما زال + imperfect explicitly says that the activity continues up to the relevant time.
A negative form with positive continuative meaning
The continuative sister is defective hollow Form I زَالَ — يَزَالُ, root ز-ي-ل. It has no productive continuative maṣdar in ordinary contemporary use. Do not replace its imperfect with يَزُولُ: the separate full lexical paradigm زَالَ — يَزُولُ — زَوَالًا, root ز-و-ل, means “go away, disappear, or cease.” In the continuative construction, a negative particle is normally retained:
| Form | Typical value | Register |
|---|---|---|
| مَا زَالَ / مَا زَالَتْ | still is; has continued to | neutral formal MSA |
| لَا يَزَالُ / لَا تَزَالُ | still is; continues to | neutral formal MSA |
| لَمْ يَزَلْ / لَمْ تَزَلْ | has remained; still is | formal, often elevated |
ما زال المدير مشغولا، وسيتصل بك بعد الاجتماع.
mā zāla l-mudīru mashghūlan, wa-sayattaṣilu bika baʿda l-ijtimāʿ.
The director is still busy and will call you after the meeting.
لا تزال المكتبة مفتوحة حتى الثامنة مساء.
lā tazālu l-maktabatu maftūḥatan ḥattā th-thāminati masāʾ.
The library remains open until eight in the evening.
The second sentence may concern the current schedule or its continuation into the near future. لا يزال itself is an imperfect construction; context supplies the exact time reference.
لم يزل أثر الحريق ظاهرا على الجدار بعد سنوات.
lam yazal ʾatharu l-ḥarīqi ẓāhiran ʿalā l-jidāri baʿda sanawāt.
The trace of the fire was still visible on the wall years later. (Formal.)
After jussive لم, hollow يزال shortens to يزلْ. That stem change is morphological, not a change in the continuative meaning.
Overt predicates follow the kāna case frame
As a sister of كان, continuative ما زال takes a nominative subject and an accusative overt predicate. In fully vocalized analysis, المديرُ is the subject and مشغولًا is its predicate.
ما زالت ليلى مديرة المشروع رغم انتقالها إلى قسم آخر.
mā zālat laylā mudīrata l-mashrūʿi raghma ntiqālihā ʾilā qismin ʾākhar.
Layla is still the project director despite moving to another department.
ما زال القرار ساريا حتى نهاية الشهر.
mā zāla l-qarāru sāriyan ḥattā nihāyati sh-shahr.
The decision remains in force until the end of the month.
English does not expose a case contrast in the decision is still valid. Arabic formal inflection does: nominative القرارُ, accusative ساريًا. Ordinary unvocalized writing conceals those endings, so syntax must guide the reading.
Prepositional and verbal predicates
A prepositional phrase can be the predicate. Its noun takes the case required by the preposition, not an external accusative ending.
ما زال الفريق في المكتب لإنهاء التقرير.
mā zāla l-farīqu fī l-maktabi li-ʾinhāʾi t-taqrīr.
The team is still at the office to finish the report.
An imperfect clause can likewise fill the predicate position. The imperfect describes the activity that continues.
ما زال الفريق يعمل على التقرير منذ الصباح.
mā zāla l-farīqu yaʿmalu ʿalā t-taqrīri mundhu ṣ-ṣabāḥ.
The team has been working on the report since this morning.
لا تزال الشركة تبحث عن مقر أكبر في وسط المدينة.
lā tazālu sh-sharikatu tabḥathu ʿan maqarrin ʾakbara fī wasaṭi l-madīna(h).
The company is still looking for a larger office in the city center.
ما زال does not govern the mood of that embedded imperfect. Ungoverned يعملُ and تبحثُ remain indicative. A separate particle can create its own mood environment.
ما زال الأطباء يحاولون أن يجدوا علاجا أنسب للمريض.
mā zāla l-ʾaṭibbāʾu yuḥāwilūna ʾan yajidū ʿilājan ʾansaba lil-marīḍ.
The doctors are still trying to find a more suitable treatment for the patient.
Outer يحاولونَ is indicative. Inside its complement, أن governs subjunctive يجدوا, deleting the mood nūn.
Agreement and word order
With a fronted subject, ما زال shows full person, gender, and number agreement.
الباحثتان ما زالتا تراجعان الجداول قبل نشر الدراسة.
al-bāḥithatāni mā zālatā turājiʿāni l-jadāwila qabla nashri d-dirāsa(h).
The two female researchers are still reviewing the tables before publishing the study.
In neutral verb-first order, the continuative verb is normally singular before an overt human plural. The embedded imperfect then has plural agreement because the plural noun precedes it.
ما زال الباحثون يراجعون البيانات الواردة من المختبرات.
mā zāla l-bāḥithūna yurājiʿūna l-bayānāti l-wāridata mina l-mukhtabarāt.
The researchers are still reviewing the data received from the laboratories. (Verb first.)
Nonhuman plurals normally take feminine-singular agreement.
ما زالت النتائج غير واضحة بعد إعادة التحليل.
mā zālati n-natāʾiju ghayra wāḍiḥatin baʿda ʾiʿādati t-taḥlīl.
The results are still unclear after the analysis was repeated.
Here the adjectival complement is inside an iḍāfa with accusative غيرَ; واضحةٍ is genitive as its complement. This is why memorizing “the last visible adjective is accusative” fails. Identify the predicate's internal structure.
Related continuative sisters and “no longer”
Formal Arabic also uses ما برح, ما فتئ, and ما انفك with continuative meaning. ما برح is (formal/literary), while ما فتئ and ما انفك are especially (literary/elevated). They are valid contemporary forms, but ما زال / لا يزال is the neutral default for general formal prose.
ما برح السكان يطالبون بإصلاح الطريق منذ سنوات.
mā bariḥa s-sukkānu yuṭālibūna bi-ʾiṣlāḥi ṭ-ṭarīqi mundhu sanawāt.
The residents have continued to demand that the road be repaired for years. (Formal/literary.)
“No longer” is not ما زال. It normally uses لم يعد in formal MSA:
لم يعد المكتب مفتوحا أيام السبت.
lam yaʿudi l-maktabu maftūḥan ʾayyāma s-sabt.
The office is no longer open on Saturdays.
Common Mistakes
Translating ما زال as a negative statement
❌ ما زال سامر يعمل هنا.
Incorrect interpretation: ‘Samer does not work here.’ The construction actually asserts continuation.
✅ ما زال سامر يعمل هنا بعد انتقال بقية الفريق.
mā zāla sāmirun yaʿmalu hunā baʿda ntiqāli baqiyyati l-farīq.
Samer still works here after the rest of the team moved.
Reversing subject and predicate case
❌ ما زال المدير مشغول.
mā zāla l-mudīra mashghūlun
Incorrect formal reading — the subject is nominative al-mudīru and the overt predicate is accusative mashghūlan.
✅ ما زال المدير مشغولا حتى نهاية الاجتماع.
mā zāla l-mudīru mashghūlan ḥattā nihāyati l-ijtimāʿ.
The director is still busy until the end of the meeting.
Losing feminine-dual agreement
❌ المهندستان ما زال يختبران الجهاز.
Incorrect after a fronted feminine dual — use ما زالتا and تختبران.
✅ المهندستان ما زالتا تختبران الجهاز في المختبر.
al-muhandisatāni mā zālatā takhtabirāni l-jihāza fī l-mukhtabar.
The two female engineers are still testing the device in the laboratory.
Giving a verb-first form full plural agreement
❌ ما زالوا الخبراء يناقشون الاقتراح.
Incorrect as neutral verb-first order — use singular ما زال before the overt human plural subject.
✅ ما زال الخبراء يناقشون الاقتراح في القاعة.
mā zāla l-khubarāʾu yunāqishūna l-iqtirāḥa fī l-qāʿa(h).
The experts are still discussing the proposal in the hall.
Keeping the hollow long vowel after jussive لم
❌ لم يزول الخطر قائما.
Incorrect continuative form — this mixes in lexical يزول ‘go away’; after لم, continuative يزال becomes jussive يزلْ.
✅ لم يزل الخطر قائما رغم الإجراءات الجديدة.
lam yazali l-khaṭaru qāʾiman raghma l-ʾijrāʾāti l-jadīda(h).
The danger remained despite the new measures. (Formal.)
Key Takeaways
- ما زال / لا يزال has positive continuative meaning: a state or activity still holds.
- Its overt subject is nominative and its overt noun or adjective predicate is accusative.
- A prepositional phrase or indicative imperfect clause can serve as the predicate.
- Agreement follows subject position; nonhuman plurals normally trigger feminine-singular agreement.
- ما برح, ما فتئ, and ما انفك are more elevated alternatives, while لم يعد means “no longer.”
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