Breakdown of أنتم لا تستخدمون هذه الطاولة.
هذهhâdhihi
this (f)
طاولةtâwilatun
table
أنتمantum
you all
لاlâ
not (with present verb)
Questions & Answers about أنتم لا تستخدمون هذه الطاولة.
How does لا work to make the sentence negative?
The word لا means 'not' or 'no'. To negate a present tense verb in Arabic, you just place لا directly before it. Notice that adding لا doesn't change the spelling or the ending of the verb تستخدمون at all.
Why does the verb تستخدمون end with ـون?
The ـون ending tells us who is doing the action. Because the subject is أنتم (you, plural masculine or mixed group), the present tense verb must start with تـ and end with ـون.
Why is هذه used here instead of هذا?
هذه is the feminine form of 'this'. It is used here to match the word for table, الطاولة, which is feminine because it ends with the letter taa marbuutah (ة).
Why does الطاولة have the word 'the' (الـ) attached to it?
In Arabic, to say 'this table', the noun must be definite, which is why we add الـ (the). If we dropped the الـ and just wrote هذه طاولة, it would mean 'this is a table' instead of 'this table'.
Is it required to keep the pronoun أنتم at the start of the sentence?