When you need to put a firm stop to office rumors, standard negation might not be enough. To add strong emphasis to a formal denial, Arabic pairs the negative verb ليس with the preposition بـ.
The Emphatic بـ
To make a denial emphatic (meaning "is not at all..."), attach the prefix بـ directly to the predicate (the news or descriptor) of a nominal sentence negated by ليس.
Grammatically, this بـ is considered "redundant" because it doesn't translate to its usual meanings like "in" or "with"—it is there purely for emphasis. However, it still acts like a preposition. This means it forces the predicate attached to it into the genitive case (مجرور), ending in a kasra or kasratayn.
| emphatic marker (adds emphasis, no English equivalent) | بbi |
Notice how the verb changes to ليست for feminine subjects like استقالة (resignation) or إقالة (dismissal). The predicate attached to بـ continues to agree in gender with the subject, while staying locked in the genitive case.
Seeing the endings
This course writes Arabic the way books and newspapers print it, without the short-vowel marks, so the ending this lesson is about is usually something you hear in the audio but cannot see in the drills. Here are some of them with every vowel written out:
| as written | fully vocalized | meaning |
|---|
| الاستقالة ليست بملفقة. | الِاسْتِقَالَةُ لَيْسَتْ بِمُلَفَّقَةٍ. | The resignation is not fabricated. |
| الاندماج الإجباري ليس بوارد أبدا. | الِانْدِمَاجُ الإِجْبَارِيُّ لَيْسَ بِوَارِدٍ أَبَدًا. | The mandatory merger is not plausible at all. |
| لا تضحكي، السبب ليس بسخيف. | لَا تَضْحَكِي، السَّبَبُ لَيْسَ بِسَخِيفٍ. | Do not laugh, the reason is not ridiculous. |
The predicate after بـ is genitive, with a kasra you only hear: بِمُلَفَّقَةٍ, بِوَارِدٍ, بِسَخِيفٍ. Without بـ, ليس would make it accusative, and on an indefinite masculine word you would usually see the alif: لَيْسَ وَارِدًا. That is why the drills write ليس بوارد with no alif.
