Negating Past Tense Verbs (نفي الفعل الماضي)

In Arabic, you can negate past tense verbs using the particles ما or لا.

The particle ما

The simplest and most common way to negate past tense verbs is by using the particle ما

ما قَتَلَ القِطُّ الطَّائِرَ The cat did not kill the bird

ما كَسَرَ خالدٌ الهاتفَ Khalid did not break the phone

The particle لا

To negate a past tense verb using the particle لا, one of three conditions must be met:

1. Negation
2. Repetition
3. Supplication (du'a)

Negation (النفي)

The particle لا can be used if there is already a negation in the sentence.

The existing negation can be explicit (as in the example below) or implied.

مَا كَتَبْتُ الدرسَ ولا حَفِظتُهُ I did not write the lesson nor did I memorize it

Repetition (التكرير)

The particle لا can be used if it is repeated.

لا أَكَـلْتُ التفاحةَ ولا شَرِبْتُ العَصِيرَ I did not eat the apple and I did not drink the juice

Supplication (الدعاء)

If the particle لا is used in a supplication.

لا سَلَّطَ اللهُ عَلَــيْــنَا ظَالِـمًا May Allah not give power over us to the oppressor