Negation of a nominal sentence (نفي الجملة الإسمية)

We talked about the structure of a nominal sentence here.

You can negate a nominal sentence with the verb ليس, the particle لا, or ما

لَـيْسَ

The verb ليس negates a nominal sentence and is one of the verbs belonging to the كان وأَخَوَاتها, which we will discuss in future lessons. However, to give a preview, we can say:

A verb of this type comes in a nominal sentence, making the الـمُبْتَدَأ in the الرَّفْعُ, and the الـخَبَر in the النَّصْب

For example:

لَـيْسَ الطَّالِبُ نَشِيــطًا The student is not active

لَـيْسَ الـمَاءُ بَارِدًا The water is not cold

The verb ليس can also be used with the particle ب, for example:

لَـيْسَ الطَّالِبُ بِــنَشِيــطٍ The student is not active

لا

One of the particles that negates a nominal sentence can be لا النَّافِيَة لِلْجِنْسِ

When لا النَّافِيَة لِلْجِنْسِ is used to negate a nominal sentence, it makes the المبتدأ in the النَّصْب and the الخبر in the الرَّفْع

Examples:

لا طَالِــبَ نَشِيــطٌ The student is not active

لا شَـجَرَةَ طويلــةٌ The tree is not tall

ما

When negating a nominal sentence using the particle ما, it is grammatically preferable to use it in a manner analogous to the verb ليس.

However, it is also grammatically permissible to retain the original structure of the sentence without any alterations. For example:

☁️ Using ما like ليس (preferred):

ما الطّالــبُ نَشيــطًا The student is not active

ما الطّالــبُ بِــنَشيــطٍ The student is not active

☁️ Without changing anything (also correct):

ما الطّالبُ نَشيــطٌ The student is not active

لا

Another particle, لا, can negate a nominal sentence, but with a condition: the negation must be repeated.

لا الأرضُ قاحلةٌ ولا جافَّة The earth is neither barren nor dry

لا الـجُمْهُورُ قَلِيلٌ ولا الـمَلْعَبُ مُتَّسِعٌ The crowd is not small, nor is the stadium spacious enough