Levantine Arabic

Grammar: Negation

Yes and no🠉

Agreement

آه
أَيه
أَيْوَه
نَعَمآه
أيه
أيوه
نعم		'ᾱ
'ē
'aywa
naˁam 		yes
طَيِّبطيبṭαyyebOK; fine
صَحّصحṣαḥḥright; I agree
طَبْعًاطبعاṭαbˁanof course

Disagreement

لَأ
لَالأ
لا		la'
lā 		no
مْبَلَىمبلىmbalayes (answer to a negative question or statement)

Negation of nouns and adjectives🠉

مش + noun/adjective

To negate a noun or adjective, the word مش (miš / muš) is added in front of it.

مش can be pronounced miš or muš, the first one is more common.

Since the verb “to be” is not used in the present tense, it can also mean “to be not”.


مو + noun/adjective

In Syrian Arabic the word مو (mū) is used instead.

Negation of verbs🠉

ما + verb

The most common way to negate verbs in Levantine Arabic is to add the word ما (mā) in front of the verb.


(ما +) verb + ـش

Another way, that is only used in Palestinian and Jordanian Arabic, is to add the suffix ـش (-š) to the verb.

In that case the word ما (ma) is either unstressed or completely omitted.

If the verbs ends in a vowel, the vowel becomes long and stressed.