When neighborhood gossip gets out of hand, you need strong ways to shut it down. You already know how to use ليس with the emphatic preposition بـ. Now, we will do the exact same thing using the negative particle ما.
Emphatic Negation with Hijazi ما
In formal Arabic, ما can operate exactly like ليس to strongly deny nominal sentences. This specific use is known as "Hijazi ما".
To make the denial emphatic (meaning "is not at all"), place ما at the beginning of the sentence and attach the redundant preposition بـ directly to the predicate.
Because بـ acts as a preposition, it forces the predicate into the genitive case (مجرور), typically ending in a kasra or kasratayn.
| The nosy neighbor is not ignorant of the gossip. | ما الجار المتطفل بجاهل بالنميمة.mâ al-jâru al-mutaṭaffilu bijâhilin bin-namîmati |
| The liar is not nosy. | ما الكاذب بمتطفل.mâ al-kâdhibu bimutataffilin |
Just like with standard nominal sentences, the predicate attached to بـ must agree with the subject in gender. The case remains genitive.
| This malicious gossip is not slander. | ما هذه النميمة الخبيثة بافتراء.mâ hâdhihi an-namiimatu al-khabiithatu biftirâ'in |
| The gossip is not an exaggeration. | ما النميمة بمبالغة.maa an-namiimatu bimubaalaghatin |
When the subject is a pronoun, ما simply precedes the independent pronoun. If the predicate is a regular masculine plural, remember that the genitive case changes its ending to ـين instead of ـون.
| We are not ignorant of this slander. | ما نحن بجاهلين بهذا الافتراء.mâ nahnu bijâhilîna bihâdhâ al-iftirâ'i |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| ما الجار المتطفل بجاهل بالنميمة. | مَا الجَارُ المُتَطَفِّلُ بِجَاهِلٍ بِالنَّمِيمَةِ. | The nosy neighbor is not ignorant of the gossip. |
| ما النميمة بمبالغة. | مَا النَّمِيمَةُ بِمُبَالَغَةٍ. | The gossip is not an exaggeration. |
| ما نحن بجاهلين بهذا الافتراء. | مَا نَحْنُ بِجَاهِلِينَ بِهَذَا الِافْتِرَاءِ. | We are not ignorant of this slander. |
The subject keeps its damma: الجَارُ, النَّمِيمَةُ. The predicate after بـ is genitive, so it ends in a kasra you only hear: بِجَاهِلٍ, بِمُبَالَغَةٍ. A masculine plural shows it in writing: بِجَاهِلِينَ, not جاهلون.
