Breakdown of ليس هناك أحد في الطابور.
الal
the
هناكhunâka
there
فيfî
in / about, regarding
ليسlaysa
to not be
طابورtâbûr
queue
أحدaḥad
someone / anyone
Questions & Answers about ليس هناك أحد في الطابور.
How do ليس and هناك work together to mean 'there is no'?
The word هناك by itself means 'there is' or 'there are'. To make it negative, we simply put ليس (which means 'is not') right in front of it. Together, ليس هناك is the standard way to say 'there is not' or 'there are not' in Arabic.
The English translation says 'no one', but which word means 'one' or 'anyone'?
The word أحد means 'anyone', 'someone', or 'one'. Because it is used right after the negative phrase ليس هناك, the literal meaning is 'there is not anyone', which translates smoothly to 'there is no one' in English.
Why does the sentence start with ليس هناك instead of putting the person first?
When stating that something exists or does not exist, Arabic usually puts the 'there is' or 'there isn't' phrase at the very beginning of the sentence. After ليس هناك, you then name the thing or person that is not there, which in this case is أحد (anyone).
I noticed الطابور has the ال (the) prefix. Do I pronounce the 'l' sound here?
No, you skip the 'l' sound. The first letter of the core word is ط, which is a 'Sun Letter'. This means the 'l' in the prefix blends into it. You double the ط sound and pronounce the word as 'at-taabuur' instead of 'al-taabuur'.
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