Breakdown of نحن لا نمشي على العشب.
على'ala
on / of (evidence of) / to (lie to someone) / for (difficult for someone)
نحنnahnu
we
مشىmashâ
to walk / to go, to move along (of a vehicle)
لاlâ
not (with present verb)
عشب'ushb
grass
Questions & Answers about نحن لا نمشي على العشب.
Why do we use لا here instead of ليس to say "not"?
You use لا to negate present tense verbs, like نمشي (we walk). The word ليس is used to negate nominal sentences (sentences that don't have an action verb). Whenever you want to say "I don't [action]" or "we don't [action]", لا is the word you need!
How does the verb نمشي show that we are the ones walking?
In the Arabic present tense, verbs always start with a specific letter to show who is doing the action. For "we" (نحن), that letter is always نـ.
Since the verb already means "we walk," do I have to include نحن (we) at the beginning?
No, you can completely drop نحن! Saying لا نمشي على العشب is perfectly correct and very natural. Including نحن just adds a little bit of emphasis, as if to say, "We don't walk on the grass."
How do the words على العشب link together when spoken aloud?
To make speech flow, the long "aa" sound at the end of على (on) is shortened, and you skip the first "a" sound in العشب (the grass). Instead of saying "alaa al-ushb" with a pause, you blend them together to sound like "alal-ushb".
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