# No student went to class



## KLAR08

!السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

.اليوم أريد أن أسأل عن الكلمة "لا" قبل أسم بالفصحى
هل هي تعني
مثل بالأنجليزية؟"no"

مثلا:

*No* student went to class.

ترجمتي:

.*لا* طالب ذهب إلى الدرس

كله بالفصحى و ليس باللهجات
Please, if you write in Arabic, don't use too many complicated words as I am barely starting to study MSA and I know no dialect at all!
شكراً جزيلاً


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## elroy

No student went to class. = لم يذهب (أي) طالب إلى الصف

لا فائدة في فعل ذلك = There is no point in doing that.
لا أحدًا يعرف ذلك = Nobody knows that. [There is not one person who knows that.]
لا أمل في أن يتحسّن الوضع = There is no hope that the situation will improve.


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## KLAR08

Thank you for your answer!

So how would you express the usage of "لا" when it comes before nouns if there is any explanation at all?


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## Finland

elroy said:


> لا أحدًا يعرف ذلك = Nobody knows that. [There is not one person who knows that.]



Why is this لا أحدًا and not لا أحد? I have seen this with tanwiin al-fat7 before but have always thought it was a mistake. I suppose I was sleeping when they covered that in my Arabic grammar class :-D


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## elroy

KLAR08 said:


> So how would you express the usage of "لا" when it comes before nouns if there is any explanation at all?


 There are two main uses that I can think of:

1.) "There is no" (see my examples).  I think this is called لا النافية للجنس.  Consider also the famous expression لا حياة لمن تنادي.

2.) "X, not Y".  For example:
هو مصري لا يمني
أحب التفاح لا البرتقال
أريد الذهاب غدًا لا اليوم

I don't know what this one is called.  @Matat probably knows.


Finland said:


> Why is this لا أحدًا and not لا أحد? I have seen this with tanwiin al-fat7 before but have always thought it was a mistake.


 Oops, I think you're right.


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## Matat

elroy said:


> I don't know what this one is called. @Matat probably knows.


لا العاطفة


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## KLAR08

Then, with the first usage of "لا", could I say "There is no student at school today"?

لا طالب في المدرسة اليوم

Thank you for your support.


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## Matat

I don't think لا طالب ذهب إلى الدرس is incorrect, but it's not common to use a past tense verb as the predicate with لا النافية للجنس. 


KLAR08 said:


> could I say "There is no student at school today"?
> 
> لا طالب في المدرسة اليوم


Yes.


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## elroy

You _could_, but it's a bit of a literary register so it would probably sound out of place in ordinary prose.  The following alternatives are more neutral and more common:

لا يوجد أي طالب في المدرسة اليوم
ليس من طالب في المدرسة اليوم
ليس هناك أي طالب في المدرسة اليوم


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## KLAR08

Oh ok, it's correct, but it's a higher register. I just wanted to understand the usage of "لا" when it's followed by nouns. Thank you that was very useful!




elroy said:


> ليس من طالب في المدرسة اليوم


Then, can I also use "...ليس من" to say "there is no..."? For instance:
ليس من كلب في هذا الشارع

I know this thread is not about this question, but can you tell me if I am right? I have the impression that using this structure ("ليس من طالب") with a plural noun would require the article "ال", am I wrong? It's just my impression, but I may well be wrong because of the little time I have been learning MSA for and the fact that I am a foreign speaker.

e.g. ليس من *الطلاب* في المدرسة اليوم

I look forward to reading your comments!


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## elroy

KLAR08 said:


> ليس من كلب في هذا الشارع


 This is correct.


KLAR08 said:


> ليس من *الطلاب* في المدرسة اليوم


 This needs to be indefinite too: ليس من طلاب في المدرسة اليوم.


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## KLAR08

شكراً جزيلاً عزيزي. الآن أفهمه أفضل


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## KLAR08

I have another doubt with respect to the same topic of this thread;

Are the following sentences correct?

" لا أفضل صديق منك" 
"ليس من أفضل صديق منك"
"لا يوجد أفضل ضديق منك"


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## elroy

لا صديق أفضل منك
ليس من صديق أفضل منك
لا يوجد صديق أفضل منك


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## KLAR08

شكراً جزيلاً


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## Sadda7

Another way of saying this:


KLAR08 said:


> ليس من كلب في هذا الشارع


ليسَ في هذا الشارعِ كلبٌ.


KLAR08 said:


> ليس من *الطلاب* في المدرسة اليوم


ليس في المدرسةِ طالبٌ اليومَ.


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