Those are the negative
words that can be seen in negative sentences in the past tense. They are
all particles. The first two are different from the other two in that they
require the verb after them to be an imperfective verb in the
jussive mood, even though the sentence will be in
the past tense.
lam
لَمْ
This the major negative
particle for the past tense in formal Arabic. Although it is used for the
past tense, it can never be used with the perfective verb itself, rather
it is only used before imperfective verbs.
Positive Nominal
الْوَلَدُ
أَكَلَ
'al-walad(u)
'akal(a)
= the boy ate
Translation: the boy ate/has eaten
Negative
الْوَلَدُ
لَمْ
يَأْكُلْ
'al-walad(u)
lamya'<kul
= the boy
did not eat
Translation: the boy didn't eat/hasn't eaten
Positive Verbal
أَكَلَ
الْوَلَدُ
'akal(a) ('a)l-walad(u)
= ate the boy
Translation: the boy ate/has eaten
Negative
لَمْ
يَأْكُلِ
الْوَلَدُ
lamya'<kul(i) 'al-walad(u)
= did noteat the boy
Translation: the boy didn't eat/hasn't eaten
Positive Nominal
زِيَاْدٌ
كَاْنَهُنَاْ
ziyaad(un)
kaan(a) hunaa
= Ziyad was here
Translation: Ziyad was here
Negative
زِيَاْدٌ
لَمْ
يَكُنْ
هُنَاْ
ziyaad(un)
lam yakun
hunaa
= Ziyad did not
be here
Translation: Ziyad was not here
Positive Verbal
كَاْنَزِيَاْدٌ
هُنَاْ
kaan(a)ziyaad(un)
hunaa
= was Ziyad here
Translation: Ziyad was here
Negative
لَمْ
يَكُنْ
زِيَاْدٌهُنَاْ
lam yakun
ziyaad(un)
hunaa
=
did not be
Ziyad here
Translation: Ziyad was not here
Lam is a jussive particle and the
imperfective verb after it must be in the jussive
mood. Conjugation of the verb
yakoon(u) in the jussive
mood is available here.
lammaa
لَمَّاْ
Lammaa
is a classical negative particle for the past tense that works just like
lam;
it comes
before imperfective verbs and it is also a jussive particle. However,
lammaa
means "did not yet" rather than "did not" only. When
lammaa
is used, the speaker means that the action is not realized yet but it is
expected to be so at any time.
Positive Nominal
الْوَلَدُ
أَكَلَ
'al-walad(u)
'akal(a)
= the boy ate
Translation: the boy ate/has eaten
Negative
الْوَلَدُ
لَمَّاْ
يَأْكُلْ
'al-walad(u)
lammaa
ya'<kul
= the boy did not yeteat
Translation: the boy hasn't eaten yet
Positive Verbal
أَكَلَ
الْوَلَدُ
'akal(a) ('a)l-walad(u)
= ate the boy
Translation: the boy ate/has eaten
Negative
لَمَّاْ
يَأْكُلِ
الْوَلَدُ
lammaa
ya'<kul(i)
'al-walad(u)
= did not yeteat the boy
Translation: the boy hasn't eaten yet
Note that when
lammaa
comes before a perfective verb it will have a totally different
meaning. In that case, it would mean something like "since that."
لَمَّاْ
دَرَسَ
نَجَحَ
lammaa
daras(a) najah(a)
= since that
(he) studied
(he) succeed
Translation: since that he studied, he
passed
Finally, we should mention
here that the word
lammaa
is used in almost all of the modern dialects of Arabic as a conjunction
word meaning "when."
e.g. "lammaa 'akalt ..."
= "when I ate ..."
Maa مَاْ
&
'inإِنْ
Maa
and 'in
are used for
all tenses.
Maa
is frequently used in classical Arabic to negate past tense sentences (but
not as frequently in modern formal Arabic).
Maa
is also the exclusive past tense negator used in the modern dialects of
Arabic.
Positive Nominal
الْوَلَدُ
أَكَلَ
'al-walad(u)
'akal(a)
= the boy ate
Translation: the boy ate/has eaten
Negative
الْوَلَدُ
مَاْ
أَكَلَ
'al-walad(u)
maa
'akal(a)
= the boy not
ate
Translation: the boy didn't eat/hasn't eaten
Negative
الْوَلَدُ
إِنْ
أَكَلَ
'al-walad(u)
'in
'akal(a)
= the boy not ate
Translation: the boy didn't eat/hasn't eaten
Positive Verbal
أَكَلَ
الْوَلَدُ
'akal(a) ('a)l-walad(u)
= ate the boy
Translation: the boy ate/has eaten
Negative
مَاْ
أَكَلَ
الْوَلَدُ
maa
'akal(a) ('a)l-walad(u)
= not
ate the boy
Translation: the boy didn't eat/hasn't eaten
Negative
إِنْ
أَكَلَ
الْوَلَدُ
'in
'akal(a) ('a)l-walad(u)
= not ate the boy
Translation: the boy didn't eat/hasn't eaten
When we use maa
or 'in,
there is no need to change anything about the verb of the sentence.