The negative copula لَيْسَ laysa in Arabic, meaning ‘not to be’, is used to turn a nominal sentence into the negative form.
Uniquely, this verb is one of the ‘sisters of kana’ which we’ll discuss here. Additionally, it inflects only for perfect tense while conveying a meaning associated with imperfect and present actions.
Laysa (لَيْسَ) being technically a verb, the predicate (خَبَر) of the nominal sentence it governs will always be in the accusative form (مَنْصُوب).
| مُثَنّى (dual) | جمع (plural) | مُفْرَد (singular) | تَصْرِيف لَيْسَ Laysa conjugation | |
| لَسْنا | لَسْتُ | المُتَكَلِّم 1st person | ||
لَسْتُما | لَسْتُمْ | لَسْتَ | المُذَكَّر masc. | المُخاطَب 2nd person |
| لَسْتُنَّ | لَسْتِ | المُؤَنَّث fem. | ||
| لَيْسا | لَيْسُوا | لَيْسَ | المُذَكَّر masc. | الغائِب 3rd person |
| لَيْسَتا | لَسْنَ | لَيْسَتْ | المُؤَنَّث fem. | |
Examples:
| I am not a doctor | لَسْتُ طَبِيبًا |
| Fawzia isn’t at home | لَيْسَتْ فَوْزِِيةُ في بَيْتِها |
| This isn’t correct | لَيْسَ صَحِيحًا |
Note: When لَيْسَ is followed by preposition بِ the sentence can take step further in the negation, meaning ‘at all’.
I am absolutely not a doctor لَسْتُ بِطَبِيبًا This isn’t correct at all لَيْسَ بِصَحِيحًا
Note 2: If the nominal sentence carries a temporal expression (كانَ وأَخواتِها), then it is it which will convert into a negative form by adhering to the standard rules of negating verbs.
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