How To Use ما, مش and مو as negation words in Levantine Arabic

Ahlan!

This post is all about the three popular negation words – مو, مش & ما

It is quite common for beginners to be unsure of which word to use in different scenarios.

Thus, I’m going to address this confusion and hopefully by the end of this post, your doubts will be gone and you can move forward using these words confidently.

So yalla, let’s begin!

This post will be divided into a few different parts:

1. Negating the KISS way (my recommendation)
2. Using ما to negate verbs + a few common exceptions
3. All about مش and مو & using them to negate everything else
4. In Reality… (The flexible nature of Spoken Arabic)
5. Bonus – FOUR additional ways to negate (1 letter & 3 words!)

#1) Negating the KISS way

KISS is a famous design principle acronym for “keep it simple, stupid”.

And since Spoken Arabic is a flexible language in nature, there are really no standard rules which can then make learning quite confusing.

So in this post, I will share my recommendation on how to negate and use the three negation words the KISS way (i.e the simple and straight-forward way).

There are two rules which I generally follow. They are:

Rule #1: Use ما to negate verbs  + some other words (which I will mention below)

Rule #2: Use مش or مو to negate everything else

And of course, in reality, these rules are not always the case due to the flexible nature of Spoken Arabic…

…but life is much easier if you just keep in mind the KISS way of negating and stick to it (like I do!) 🙂

 

#2) Using ما to negate verbs + a few others

So you want to negate a verb? Just use ما.

Here are some examples:

ليش ما جيت عالجامعة مبارح؟

Why didn’t you come to university yesterday?

انا ما بحكي انجليزي

I don’t speak English

أحمد نباتي وما بيحب يآكل لحم

Ahmad is a vegetarian and he doesn’t like to eat meat

 

NOTE: Only when using the verb in its command form (giving orders), you can then use either ما or لا to negate it.

For example, if you want to say “Don’t talk to me”, you can either say

لا تحكي معي

or

ما تحكي معي

 

In addition, there are a few words that are not exactly verbs but they are still negated using ما.

The following are the common words where ما is used to negate:

• بده (he wants) + the rest of conjugated pronouns
• عنده (he has) + the rest of conjugated pronouns
• معه / معاه (with him = he has) + the rest of conjugated pronouns
• في (there is/are)

You will need to know how to conjugate these words for the other pronouns (she, they, you, etc) and then use ما when negating them.

Here are some examples:

ما بده يجي عالحفلة

He doesn’t want to come to the party

ما بدي أعرف شو اللي عم بيصير

I don’t want to know what is going on/happening

ما عندن (عندهم) اولاد

They don’t have any children

نحنا (احنا) جوعانين وما عنا (عندنا) اكل

We are hungry and we don’t have food

ما معي (معاي) اي مصاري هلأ

I don’t have any money now

ما معي سيجارة…معك سيجارة؟

I don’t have a cigarette with me now…do you have one?

ما في سكر بالشاي

There is no sugar in the tea

ما في داعي تعمل هيك

There is no need for you to do this

في شي مستحيل؟ لأ, ما في شي مستحيل

Is there anything impossible? No, there is nothing impossible

 

#3) All about مو and مش  + using them to negate everything else

Question #1: What’s the difference between مو and مش?

Answer: مش is used in all sub-dialects of Levantine Arabic but مو is a feature of Syrian Arabic.

 

Question #2: How do you pronounce مش?

Answer: There are two ways of pronouncing the word.

You can pronounce it as مِش [mish] or you can pronounce it as مُش [mush].

I personally found the pronunciation مِش [mish] being more common than مُش [mush] although it really depends on which area/city you’re looking at in the Levant.

 

Using مش and مو To Negate Everything Else

Here are some examples:

• Negating adjectives

ليش شكلك مش (مو) مبسوط اليوم؟

Why do you look unhappy today?

سيارتي الجديدة مش (مو) كبيرة

My new car is not big

 

• Negating adjectives that resemble active participles (Syrian Arabic)

The grammar term is صفة مشبهة باسم الفاعل and includes words such as قدران , مرضان and سمعان, just to name a few.  Such words are generally used only in Syrian Arabic.

Note: It is possible to negate these adjectives using ما as well. Both ما and مو are acceptable and used in Spoken Syrian Arabic.

هي مو قدرانة تساعدِك

She is not able to help you (f)

لا,لا, انا مو مرضان. الله يخليك, خليني روح معك

No, no, I’m not ill. Please let me come with you

كل ما نادي لابني يساعدني بالمطبخ، بيعمل حاله مو سمعان

Whenever I call my son to help me in the kitchen, he would pretend not to hear

 

• Negating active participles (اسم الفاعل)

وين اقرب بنك؟ والله مش (مو) عارف

Where’s the nearest bank? I don’t know

انا مش (مو) فاهمة شو عم بيصير

I (f) don’t understand what is happening

عشان المطر, مش (مو) رايحين عالسينما

Because of the rain, we are not going to the cinema

 

• Negating passive participles (اسم المفعول)

الدكان مش (مو) مفتوح اليوم

The grocery store is not open today

اصحابك مش (مو) معزومين على الحفلة

Your friends are not invited to the party

 

• Negating modal verbs (such as ممكن, لازم, مفروض, ممنوع, etc)

مش (مو) ممكن آجي لعندك هلأ

It’s not possible for me to go to you now

مش (مو) لازم تزورني كل يوم

You don’t have to visit me every day

مش (مو) مفروض تيجي عالشغل وانت مريض

You’re not supposed to come to work if you’re ill

التدخين مش (مو) ممنوع في الأماكن العامة

Smoking is not forbidden in public spaces

 

• Negating nouns/pronouns/everything else

هيداك (هداك) الزلمة اللي واقف هنيك (هناك) مش (مو) أحمد

That guy that is standing there is not Ahmad

هاي السيارة الحمرا مش (مو) سيارتك

This red car is not your car

مش (مو) أنا اللي كتبت المقالة

It is not me who wrote the article

هاي الشنطة مش (مو) اللي

this bag is not mine (does not belong to me)

خلاص! مش (مو) وقتا (وقتها) هلأ

that’s enough! Now it’s not the (right) time

اخوكي مش (مو) هون

your (f) brother is not here

 

• Negating عند (when it refers to a location)

Depending on contexts, the word عند can also mean “at”.

For example,

العزيمة اليوم على الغدا عند أحمد

Today’s lunch invitation is at Ahmad’s place

***The word can also be conjugated (عندي, عنده, عندك, etc) and thus should not be confused with the meaning of “have” (he has, she has, I have, etc).

For example, if you want to ask somebody to come to your place (house), you can say:

تعال لعندي

come to my house (or wherever I’m at right now)

*There are natives who say تعى instead of تعال

 

Or if you want to tell the person that you will arrive at his location (wherever he’s currently at – house/office etc) in 5 minutes, then you can say:

خمس دقايق وبكون عندك

I’ll reach your place in 5 minutes = I’ll be there in 5 mins

 

So if you want to negate عند in this context, you’ll have to use مش or مو.

Here are some examples:

لأ, جزدانك مش (مو) عندي

No, your purse is not at my place

دوّرت على موبايلي في غرفة محمود ومتأكد انه مش (مو) عنده

I looked for my phone in Mahmoud’s room and I’m sure that it’s not at his (room)

 

#4) In Reality…

In reality, you might hear natives using ما to negate some of the things mentioned in Part #3 above.

So besides using مو and مش, you might hear natives using ما to negate non-verbs.

Spoken Arabic is after all flexible in nature with no rigid rules or structure.

So for example, you may hear natives say…

انا ما مبسوط

I’m not happy

ما حلوة

not pretty/nice

ما ممكن

not possible

 

In addition, as mentioned above, adjectives that resemble active participles (like مرضان, سمعان, قدران) can also be negated using ما.

However, for simplicity’s sake, I would just stick to the KISS way of negating.

 

#5) Bonus – FOUR additional ways to negate!

1st Way:

So apart from the three words mentioned above, you can also negate using the word…

مان

However, this word is only used in North Levantine Arabic. 

Here is how you conjugate for the word:

 

The word is typically NOT used to negate verbs.

Here are some examples:

مانّي عايزة حدا يساعدني

I (f) don’t need anyone to help me

*The word عايز / عايزة (need) is a feature of Lebanese Arabic. The rest of the sub-dialects would use محتاج/محتاجة instead

أحمد مانّو عايش بسوريا, هو عايش بلبنان هلأ

Ahmad does not live in Syria, he lives in Lebanon now

مانّا من عيلة غنية

We are not from a rich family

انت مانّك زلمة. بعدك ولد

You’re not a man. You’re still a child

Note: You can still say مو or مش instead of مان in these sentences

2nd Way:

The second additional negation word is…

مال

This word is generally used only in Syrian Arabic.

Here is how you conjugate for the word:

 

Here are some examples:

نجحت بالإمتحان بس مالي مبسوط

I passed my exam but I’m not happy

(ديانا مالا (مالها) غيرانة من ريما مع انو احمد حكى معا (معها

Diana is not jealous of Reema even though Ahmad talked to her

أحمد مالو بالبيت. رحنا اكتر من مرة لعندو و ما حدا فتح الباب

Ahmad is not at home. We went more than once to his place and nobody opened the door

 

3rd Way:

Instead of negating using مش or مو, there are times where the word غير is used.

However, this way of negating leans towards MSA/Fusha and thus is less common in Spoken Arabic.  The word غير is likely to be said in more formal settings. 

Example:

المدير غير موجود اليوم

The manager is not in (is not present) today

**Using مش or مو instead of غير is more common in Spoken Arabic.

4th Way:

Last but not least, you can also negate by adding the letter ش at the back of them.

This way of negating is generally more common in South Levantine Arabic. You will definitely hear this in Jordan and Palestine.

• Verbs

So for example, if you want to say “I don’t know”, you can choose from one of the three options below:

ما بعرف

بعرفش

ما بعرفش

I don’t know

 

Here’s another example:

والله ما عملت إشي

والله عملتش إشي

والله ما عملتش إشي

I swear I didn’t do anything

*In South Levantine Arabic, the word إشي is more commonly used than شي

 

There are also a few non-verbs where the letter ش can be added to the back.

• في

As mentioned above, you can negate the word في (there is/are) using ما. However, you can also negate it by adding the letter ش at the back of في

ما في

ما فيش

فيش

The three phrases above have the same meaning.

*An alternative spelling is فش (without the ي)

 

 ما فيش إشي اسمه حب

There is no such thing called love

فيش شغل بالبلد

There are no jobs in the country

 

• مع

الحكومة معهاش فلوس

The government does not have money

*معهاش = ما معها

معناش وقت, بدنا نروح هلأ

We don’t have time, we have to go now

*معناش = ما معنا

• عند (to have)

ما عندي = عنديش/ ما عنديش

I don’t have

بعرفش استخدم الكمبيوتر وما عنديش طولة بال

I don’t know how to use the computer and I don’t have the patience

 

**These are just some of the more common examples where the letter ش is added to the back. I’m sure that there are other words beside the ones mentioned.

Summary

If you’re overwhelmed, it may just be better to stick to what I call negating the KISS way. This is what I personally do when I speak Levantine Arabic.

Rule #1: Use ما to negate verbs + a few other words

Rule #2: Use مش or مو to negate everything else

~~~

So I hope that this post clears up any doubts you may have regarding the various negation words in Levantine Arabic 🙂

Note that the word ما can be used in a variety of ways and not just as a negation word. Hopefully, I will address this topic in a future post.

But until then, take care and I’ll see you around in the hosh.

Lyn