Breakdown of التصوير غير مسموح به في المتحف.
الal
the
فيfî
in / about, regarding
هhu
his / him (object) / it (dummy pronoun after لأن)
بbi
by, with (attached)
متحفmat'haf
museum
تصويرtaswîr
photography
غيرghayr
not, un- (before an adjective); other than
مسموحmasmûhun
allowed, permitted
Questions & Answers about التصوير غير مسموح به في المتحف.
Why do we need the به after مسموح?
In Arabic, the verb for "to allow" or "to permit" is سمح, which requires the preposition بـ to indicate what is being allowed. When you turn this into a passive participle like مسموح (allowed) and use it as a predicate describing the subject (التصوير), you must keep the preposition and attach a pronoun referring back to that subject. Literally, the sentence says "Photography, it is not allowed with it."
Why use غير for negation here instead of ليس?
While you could technically use ليس by saying التصوير ليس مسموحاً به, using غير is a highly common and natural way to negate adjectives and participles in Arabic. It functions much like the English prefixes "un-" or "non-", turning "allowed" into "non-allowed."
How does غير affect the grammatical case of the word مسموح?
What verb pattern does the word التصوير come from?
It is the verbal noun (masdar) of the Form II verb صوّر, which means "to take a picture" or "to film." Form II verbal nouns typically follow this تفعيل pattern, just like تعليم (teaching) from علّم (to teach).
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