Negation with laysa

A nominal sentence (subject + predicate, no verb) is negated with ليس (is not). It behaves like a past-tense verb and changes with the subject:

• لستُ I am not, لستَ / لستِ you are not (m/f)
• ليس he is not, ليست she is not
• لسنا we are not
• لستم / لستن you are not (m/f plural)
• ليسوا / لسن they are not (m/f plural)
• dual: لستما you two, ليسا / ليستا they two (m/f)

Without vowel marks لستُ, لستَ and لستِ are all written لست. A noun subject usually comes first and ليس agrees with it: السيارة ليست جديدة (The car is not new). A predicate noun or adjective takes the accusative: أنا لست طالبا (I am not a student).