Archive for December, 2010
Abaya Posted by aziza on Dec 9, 2010
In a previous post, I wrote about the traditional costumes of Arab men in the Gulf region. In this post, I write about women’s dress. In Gulf countries, women traditionally wear Abaya (العباية) which is a traditional long black over garment. The Abaya often comes with a matching head cover, as shown in the picture…
Arabic Negation Using ‘laa’ Posted by aziza on Dec 6, 2010
In my previous post, I explained how (لا) can be used to indicate categorical negation. In this post, I explain the difference between its use for negation (النفي) and prohibition (النهي). (لا) is used for negation (النفي) with present tense verbs, e.g. لا أشرب القهوة كثيراً. “I do not drink a lot of coffee.” لا…
Categorical Negation in Arabic Posted by aziza on Dec 3, 2010
The negative particle (لا) is typically used to negate verbal sentences in the present tense. In this way, it is used before the present tense verb to negate it, e.g. لا أشرب الكحول. “I do not drink alcohol.” There is another use of (لا) for categorical negation (لا النافية للجنس). In this way, (لا) negates…