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Let’s open the discussion with a famous mistake in Arabic:

NOT CORRECTI have never done that. لَمْ أَفْعَلْ ذٰلِكَ أَبَدًا
Why is there a mistake? Because the word أَبَدًا is an adverb that is used for the future (ظَرْفُ زَمانٍ لِلمُسْتَقْبَلِ) only.It basically means al­ways, for­ever; ever. أَبَدًا con­veys the meaning of continu­ity (اِسْتِمْرارٌ) in the future.It may receive case inflections (مُعْرَبٌ).

So, what is the solution? How would you say: “I have never done that”? You use a different word!

CORRECTI have never done that..لَمْ أَفْعَلْ ذٰلِكَ قَطُّ
The word قَطُّmeans never; ever, at all. It is an adverb of time (ظَرْفُ زَمانٍ) that engages in the past tense (لاِسْتِغْراقُ الْماضِي.The word قَطُّ has an indeclinable, fixed shape (مَبْنِيٌّ) and never changes its form.قَطُّ must be used with the negation (نَفْيٌ). Since we have to use the past tense, we negate the verb with لَمْ or with ما.

Some examples to underline the difference

incorrectI have never visited him..ما زُرْتُهُ أَبَدًا
correctI have never visited him..ما زُرْتُهُ قَطُّ
correctI will never visit him.. لَنْ أَزُورَهُ أَبَدًا
Remark: The translation of أَبَدًا depends on the context and – more important – whether there is a negation involved or not.
  • With a negation: Never (in the future), not at all, on no ac­count
  • Not negated: Never! Not at all! By no means!
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Let’s check an example of the Qur’an:

Sura 5:24:

قَالُوا يَا مُوسَىٰ إِنَّا لَن نَّدْخُلَهَا أَبَدًا مَّا دَامُوا فِيهَا ۖ فَاذْهَبْ أَنتَ وَرَبُّكَ فَقَاتِلَا إِنَّا هَاهُنَا قَاعِدُونَ

They said, ‘Moses, we will never enter while they are still there, so you and your Lord go in and fight, and we will stay here.’

Pictures: pixabay (free license)

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3 comments

  1. Could you answer these two questions?
    1. If I use a مصدر that has a همزة الوصل with the article, does it get a همزة القطع ? Like امتحان > الإمتحان
    2. Does the ا at the end of for example اُغْزُوا or رَأَوْا remain written when a word with the article follows?
    Like اُغْزُو الرجالَ

    Reply

  2. If you are right, I used “abadan” wrong till today :-).
    In Egyptian dialect I would use “khalis” to stress a kind of “never” for the past or “wa la marra”.

    Reply

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The tricky word ma (ما) in Egyptian Arabic

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