Breakdown of نحن لا ندخن في المستشفى.
فيfî
in / about, regarding
مستشفىmustashfâ
hospital
نحنnahnu
we
لاlâ
not (with present verb)
دخنdakhkhana
to smoke
Questions & Answers about نحن لا ندخن في المستشفى.
How does لا work here to make it "do not smoke"?
To negate a present tense verb in Arabic, you simply place the word لا directly before it. While English needs helping verbs like "do not", Arabic just uses لا plus the verb. So ندخن (we smoke) becomes لا ندخن (we do not smoke).
Why does the verb ندخن start with the letter ن?
In the present tense, Arabic verbs change their beginning letter to show who is doing the action. The prefix ن (nun) is the marker for "we". It perfectly matches the "we" pronoun نحن.
Could I just say لا ندخن في المستشفى without the word نحن?
Yes, you can! Because the verb ندخن already has the "we" prefix, the word نحن (we) is optional. Including it at the beginning of the sentence just adds a bit of emphasis.
Why does the word for hospital, المستشفى, end with a letter that looks like a ي but has no dots?
That letter is called an "alif maqsurah" (ى). Even though it is shaped like a ي (yaa) without dots, it is pronounced exactly like a regular long "a" sound (alif). You will often see it at the end of Arabic words like المستشفى (al-mustashfaa).
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