# ما فعل / لم يفعلْ



## linguist786

السلام عليكم

Which one is better:
(I say better and not correct because something tells they are both correct, but used differently..)



> The dog was not big
> 
> لم يكن الكلب كبير
> ما كان الكلب كبير



and lets take a feminine one:



> The Gujarati language was not interesting
> 
> لم تكن مثيرة اللغة الغجراتية
> ما كانت مثيرة اللغة الغجراتية



شكرًا للجميع


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## abusaf

There is a difference even though I probably can't describe it.

However I just wanted to point out that you forgot the case ending of the first sentences

lam yakun al kalbu kabeer*an* (+alif)

and I think mutheera should be the last word of the second pair of sentences.

Sorry, no arabic alphabet here at work:S


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## Josh_

I don't believe there is a difference in meaning.  The only difference is that the lam + jussive verb (لم + فعل مجزوم ) is more formal and better written style.  In fact I believe it is used almost exclusively, except in set phrases (e.g ما زال ).


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## elroy

Josh pretty much nailed it.  I don't have much to add, except that ما sounds poetic or colloquial (surprising, huh? ) when used instead of لم.  

Also, ما is used in hypothetical "if-then" sentences:

.لو لم أكن مريضًا لما اشتريت دواءً

لم would not be possible in such a sentence.

Abusaf, you remarks concerning Linguist's text are both valid.  Technically, the مثيرة sentences are not incorrect, but the word order is unusual and would only be used for special emphasis or dramatic/poetic effect. 

So the short answer to Linguist's question is that لم is better.


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## russkiy_ivan

Hello

I have a question about Arabic grammar.

The plane did not collapse -   لم تتحطم الطائرة or ما تحطّم الطائرة

is it correct ?

Thank you


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## Abu Bishr

Hi Russkiy, and welcome to the forums.

Yes, that is correct except for 2 minor changes. Instead of "collapse" I would say: "crash", and instead of تحطّم in the second sentence I would say: تحطّمتْ with the feminine taa at the end.


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## russkiy_ivan

شكرا 

Can you type the correct fuskha transcription also ?


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## Mahaodeh

ما تحطمت الطائرة
لم تتحطم الطائرة
As abu bishr said, both are correct.


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## WadiH

In Classical Arabic, the former form signifies a more emphatic denial than the latter.  In Modern Standard Arabic, however, the "ma" form is rarely used.


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## Afsar

Hi everyone, 
Could someone please let me understand the difference between these two sentences?
Are they the same sentences meaningly?

ما كان صديقي جبانا
صديقي لم يكن جبانا

Thank you in advance!


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## jack_1313

The meaning is the same. However, using ما to negate the past tense is quite rare in modern Arabic. لم with the مجزوم is more idiomatic.

Also note that Arabic tends to prefer verb-subject-object word order:
لم يكن صديقي جبانا


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## PlanC

The difference is very subtile, although:
ما كان صديقي جبانا could expresses a partial characteristic which is attributed to him at the right time and remarked due certains circomstances. Meanwhile,
لم يكن صديقي جبانا express a determinant quality that designates one trait of his character.
so لم يكن is more expressive than ما كان
And in way to clearly spot the difference, here is another example: we would say  مـا كان ينبغي له أن يتصرف هكـذا rather than:.... لم يكــن


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## rarabara

[ما / لم]
as we know, we can use both of these (in different ways) to ensure negation in sentences.
(ما is used without applying any change on verb (in past tence) but for usage of  لم  particle we have to use the present tense form of verb in sentence to ensure negation in past meaning)

assume please we will construct two sentences (one of them will be constructed wih ما and the other one with لم ,then I am asking whether there would be any difference between the meanings?

thanks


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## Mahaodeh

No agreed upon differences in meaning. Some linguists claim that ما has an emphases with the negation, but not all linguists agree on that. The only difference I can find other than what you mentioned is that لم can only be used with verbs while ما can be followed by a noun.


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## rarabara

Mahaodeh said:


> The only difference I can find other than what you mentioned is that لم can only be used with verbs while ما can be followed by a noun.


mm,do you mean it as a question particle (referring "what" meaning)? 
like this :

ما هاذا؟


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## Mahaodeh

rarabara said:


> mm,do you mean it as a question particle (referring "what" meaning)?


No, that would be a different maa. 

I mean something like: ما هذه كرته meaning: this is not his ball. Or "وَمَا مُحَمَّدٌ إِلَّا رَسُولٌ قَدْ خَلَتْ مِن قَبْلِهِ الرُّسُلُ" (آل عمران أية 144)


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## rarabara

ok. thanks for this contribution.


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## the second

So, the difference between ما فعل and لم يفعل is that the first has no emphasis but the second does?


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## Finland

the second said:


> So, the difference between ما فعل and لم يفعل is that the first has no emphasis but the second does?


I think it would be wrong to say that. The differences are more subtle and often merely stylistic.


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## Ali Smith

According to Wheeler McIntosh Thackston's _An Introduction to Koranic and Classical Arabic_, the Arabic suffix conjugation can be translated into English as either the simple past or the present perfect. Thus,

دَخَلَتِ الْحَدِيْقَةَ
"She entered the garden." or
"She has entered the garden."

However, when you place ما before such a verb, you should translate it using the negative present perfect. Thus,

ما أَكَلْنا
We have not eaten.

ما خَرَجُوْا
They have not gone out/left.

If you want to say "We did not eat." or "They did not go out/leave." you use لَمْ followed by the prefix conjugation:

لَمْ نَأْكُلْ
We did not eat.

لَمْ يَخْرُجُوْا
They did not go out/leave.


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