Grammar term · Nahw · syntax
حَرْف نَفْي
harf nafy
Negation particle
Nahw · syntaxParticle typecore term2,509+ in the Qur'an
Also written: Nafy · Laysa · La of negation · Not in Arabic · Negation · Arabic negation
In one line
A negation particle — the “not” words: لَا، مَا، لَمْ، لَنْ.
Classical definition
حَرْفُ النَّفْيِ مَا يَدُلُّ عَلَى انْتِفَاءِ الحُكْمِ، كَلَا وَلَمْ وَلَنْ وَمَا وَلَيْسَ.
“The negation particle indicates the denial of the statement — like la, lam, lan, ma and laysa.”
(بتصرف من ابن هشام)
Key words in the Arabic
انْتِفَاء الْحُكْمِthe denial of the ruling/statement
Understand it
Arabic assigns each negator a time and a grammar: لَمْ denies the past and clips the verb (jazm); لَنْ denies the future and bends it (nasb); لَا denies the present habitually and touches nothing; مَا denies bluntly, verb or noun alike. Choosing the negator IS choosing the tense — لَمْ يَفْعَلْ (he didn't), لَنْ يَفْعَلَ (he never will), لَا يَفْعَلُ (he doesn't).
How to spot it
Recognition test
A “not”-word before verb or noun; identify which one, and you know both the tense and the case-effect.
In the Qur'an
لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ
Al-Ikhlas 112:3 — “He neither begets nor is born”
The chopper لَمْ forces each mudari' into jazm and throws its meaning into the negated past — two words carry an entire theology.
Related terms
حَرْف جَرّ · harf jarr
حَرْف عَطْف · harf 'atf
حَرْف زَائِد · harf za'id
حَرْف تَوْكِيد · harf tawkid
لَيْسَ · laysa
▶ Watch the lessons
From the free course The Language of Quran — Easier than English (Book 1) (LoQ1), taught by Ustad Muhammad Arjan Ali.
Common questions
How is a nominal sentence negated?
With لَيْسَ (a verb — it agrees in gender), or the particles مَا and لَا: the subject stays in raf' and the khabar goes to nasb — لَيْسَ زَيْدٌ عَالِمًا. With an indefinite subject, لَا is the usual choice: لَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ.