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### Negating States and Descriptions with ليس

In Arabic, nominal sentences (sentences describing a state or condition without a main action verb) are negated using the verb ليس, which translates to "to not be".

Although ليس is used to negate present states, it takes past-tense conjugation endings. It must always match the subject of your sentence in gender and number.

| Pronoun | Conjugation | Pronoun | Conjugation |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| أنا | لست | هو | ليس |
| أنت | لست | هي | ليست |
| أنتم | لستم | هم | ليسوا |

When describing a state, the adjective or noun following ليس changes to the accusative case. For most masculine words, this means adding an ا (or ـا) to the end. For regular masculine plurals, the ending changes from ون to ين.

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### Negating Possession

To say you do not have something, use ليس followed by a possession word like عند (with / at) and its attached pronoun.

When negating possession, the thing you do not have is actually the grammatical subject of the sentence. Therefore, you must match ليس to the gender of the possessed object, not the person who owns it. Place ليس right before the possession word (like عندي or عندنا).

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Negating states and possession (ليس)

adjective

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

interrogative

noun

numeral

particle

prefix

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

The definite article and locatives (الـ)

Basic noun gender (ة)

Sun and moon letters

Singular subject pronouns (أنا، أنت، هو، هي)

Indefinite nouns and nominal sentences (ـٌ)

Demonstrative pronouns for 'this' (هذا / هذه)

Separate prepositions (في، من، إلى، على)

Attributive adjectives

Predicative adjectives

Yes/No questions (هل، أ)

Basic questions (من، ما، أين)

Singular possessive pronouns (ـي، ـك، ـه، ـها)

Plural subject pronouns (نحن، أنتم، هم)

Plural possessive pronouns (ـنا، ـكم، ـهم)

Noun possession

Attached prepositions (بـ، لـ، كـ)

Pronouns with prepositions

Having and possessing (عند، لـ، مع)

Regular plural nouns (ـون، ـين، ـات)

Broken plurals

Dual nouns (ـان / ـين)

Plural and distant demonstratives (هؤلاء، ذلك، تلك)

Non-human plural agreement

Present tense singular verbs

Verbal sentences (VSO)

Present tense plural verbs

Topicalized sentences (SVO)

The indefinite accusative case (ـاً)

Verb object pronouns (-ني، -ك، -ه)

Present tense negation (لا)

Question words with verbs (متى، كيف...)

Adverbs of time and place

The future tense (سـ / سوف)

Intentions and desires (أن)

Past tense singular suffixes

Past tense plural suffixes

Negating past events (ما)

Singular commands

Numbers 1 to 10

Number agreement for 1 and 2 (واحد، اثنان)

Asking how many (كم)

Numbers 3 to 10 (ثلاثة إلى عشرة)

Ordinal numbers 1 to 10 (الأول، الثاني)

Basic conjunctions (فـ، أو، لكن)

Ordering at a café (واحد، اثنان)

Food and drink with conjunctions (و، ف، أو، لكن)

There is and there are (هناك / ليس هناك)

Direct address (يا)

Giving reasons (لأنّ)

Relative pronouns (الذي / التي)

Quantifiers (كل / بعض)

The past tense of 'to be' (كان)

Past possession

Numbers 11 to 19 and tens to 80

Telling time (الساعة)

This book vs this is a book (هذا الكتاب، هذا كتاب)

Greetings (مرحبا، السلام عليكم)

How are you? and goodbye (كيف حالك، مع السلامة)

Nationalities (مصري، مصرية)

Roots and patterns (كتب، كتاب، مكتب)

Politeness (من فضلك، آسف)

Complex possession chains

Colors and traits (أفعل / فعلاء)

Plural colors and traits (فُعْل)

Comparative adjectives (أفعل من)

Superlative adjectives (أفعل)

Adverbs of manner (ـاً)

The nominative case (ـُ)

The genitive case (ـِ)

The accusative case (ـَ)

Dual noun cases (ـان / ـين)

Masculine plurals and 'the best of' (أفضل النجارين)

Emphasizing sentences (إنّ)

Connecting clauses (أنّ)

Reporting speech (قال إنّ)

Expressing contrast (لكنّ)

Comparison and probability (كأنّ, لعلّ)

Distant plural pointing (أولئك)

Plural relative pronouns (الذين, اللواتي)

Past habits (كان + present)

Ongoing actions (ما زال)

Masculine plurals online (مبرمجون، مؤثرون)

Perfective past (قد)

Probability (قد)

The subjunctive mood (أن)

Expressing purpose (لـ)

Question	Answer
to not be	ليسlaysa
ready	جاهزjâhiz
I am not ready now.	أنا لست جاهزا الآن.ana lastu jâhizan al-ân
Are you (pl) ready?	هل أنتم جاهزون؟hal antum jâhizûn?
sure	متأكدmuta'akkid
Are you (m) sure?	هل أنت متأكد؟hal anta muta'akkid?
I am not sure.	لست متأكدا.lastu muta'akkidan
angry	غاضبghâdib
They are not angry.	هم ليسوا غاضبين.hum laysû ghâdibîn.
I am not angry, I am tired.	لست غاضبا، أنا متعب.lastu ghâdiban, anâ mut'ab
reason	سببsabab
clear	واضحwâdih
The reason is not clear.	السبب ليس واضحا.as-sababu laysa wâdiḥan
idea	فكرةfikra
The new idea is not clear.	الفكرة الجديدة ليست واضحة.al-fikratu al-jadîdatu laysat wâdihatan
I do not have a new idea.	ليست عندي فكرة جديدة.laysat 'indî fikratun jadîdatun
solution / solving (the act of)	حلhall
Do you have a solution?	هل عندك حل؟hal 'indaka hall?
We do not have a solution.	ليس عندنا حل.laysa 'indanâ hallun
easy	سهلsahl
The solution is not easy.	الحل ليس سهلا.al-hallu laysa sahlan.
mistake	خطأkhata'
This is not a mistake.	هذا ليس خطأ.hâdhâ laysa khata'an.
The mistake is not big.	الخطأ ليس كبيرا.al-khata'u laysa kabiran
I do not have time.	ليس عندي وقت.laysa 'indî waqtun
exam	امتحانimtihân
Is the exam easy?	هل الامتحان سهل؟hali limtihânu sahl?
difficult	صعبsa'b
The exam is not difficult.	الامتحان ليس صعبا.al-imtihânu laysa sa'ban.
He does not have a difficult exam tomorrow.	ليس عنده امتحان صعب غدا.laysa 'indahu imtihânun sa'bun ghadan
I do not have a reason.	ليس عندي سبب.laysa 'indi sabab
isn't …? (negative question)	أليسalaysa
Isn't this correct?	أليس هذا صحيحا؟alaysa hâdhâ sahîhan?
Isn't the manager busy?	أليس المدير مشغولا؟alaysa al-mudîru mashghûlan?
Isn't the bag ready?	أليست الحقيبة جاهزة؟alaysati alhaqībatu jâhizah?
yes (answering a negative question)	بلىbalâ
Isn't this correct? Yes, it is.	أليس هذا صحيحا؟ بلى، هذا صحيح.alaysa hâdhâ saheehan? balâ, hâdhâ saheeh.
Aren't you ready? Yes, I am ready.	ألست جاهزا؟ بلى، أنا جاهز.alasta jâhizan? balâ, anâ jâhizun.

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