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Negative Particles

Negative particles (أدَواتُ النَفْيِ) are placed at the start of the sentence unless they negate a specific word only. There are a number of negative particles; each has its special use.

Examples:

لا no or not:

لا يَمْلَكُ شَيْئًا He does not own a thing.

ما no; negates a nominal sentence:

ما مكانٌ كَبَيْتي There is no place like my home.

لَيْسَ is not; behaves as a verb and is conjugated:

لَيْسَ الْكِتابُ جَديدًاThe book is not new.

لَسْتُ عالِمًا I am not a scientist.

Usage:

ما Used with the past tense, to negate an action in the past:
ما كَتَبَ He did not write.
لَمْ Used with the jussive mood to negate an action in the past:
لَمْ يَكْتُبْ He did not write.
لَنْ Used with the subjunctive mood to negate an action in the future:
لَنْ يَكْتُبَ He will not, or will never, write.
لا Used with the present tense as an absolute or general negation that may refer to any time:
لا يَكْتُبُ He does not write.
لا Used with a noun in the accusative case, without nunation. (Nunation is an 'n' sound added at the end of a word.):
لا شَكَّ no doubt