Negation in ‘Ammiyya is very straightforward. Two tools are used for negation: ما and مِش . In this section, you will learn how to use both of them.
– ما –
Is used to negate:
A. Verbs in all tenses
| English | العامية Colloquial Jordanian |
استَمِع Listen |
| Present I’m vegetarian, I don’t eat meat or fish. |
المُضارِِع أَنا نَباتِيّة، ما باكُل لَحمة أَو سَمَك. |
|
| Past Why didn’t you go to the party yesterday? |
الماضي ليش ما رُحتي عالحَفلة مبارِح؟ |
|
| Future My family will not travel this year. |
المُستَقبَل عيلتي ما رح يِسافروا هاي السَّنة. |
B. Pseudo-verbs, which are based on non-verbal construction and usually consist of a preposition. Such as: بِدّه، عِندُه، مَعه، إلُه، في
| English | العامية Colloquial Jordanian |
استَمِع Listen |
| We don’t have a test today | ما عِندنا امتحان اليوم. | |
| My sister doesn’t want to study in Jordan. | أُختي ما بِدّها تُدرُس بالأُردُن. | |
| The students don’t have (with them) the dictionary for today’s class. | الطُّلاب ما مَعهُم القاموس للصَّف اليوم. | |
| There are no nuts in the food. | ما في مُكَسَّرات بالأكِل. |
– مِش –
Is used to negate everything else:
A. Nouns, including proper names أَسماء مَعرِفة, pronouns الضَمائِر, demonstrative pronouns أَسماء الإِشارة, active participle اسم الفاعِل, passive participle اسم المَفعول.
| English | العامية Colloquial Jordanian |
استَمِع Listen |
| I’m not Khalid, I’m Sami. | أنا مِش خالِد، أَنا سامي. | |
| It wasn’t him who bought the car, my dad bought it. | مِش هُوِّ اللي اشتَرى السِّيارة، أَبوي اشتَراها. | |
| This isn’t our house, our house is at the end of the street. | مِش هاد بيتنا، بيتنا في آخِر الشارع. | |
| My mom isn’t free today, she has a lot of work. | أُمي مِش فاضية اليوم، عِندها شُغل كثير. | |
| Smoking isn’t prohibited in many places in Jordan. | التَّدخين مِش مَمنوع في كثير أَماكِن بالأُردُن. |
B. Adjectives, including Nisba adjectives and colors
| English | العامية Colloquial Jordanian |
استَمِع Listen |
| My phone isn’t broken. | تِلِفوني مِش خَربان. | |
| My brother isn’t very social. | أَخوي مِش اجتِماعي كثير. | |
| This color isn’t green, it’s blue. | هاد اللون مِش أَخضَر، هاد أزرَق |
C. Equivalents for English words which express modality (modal verbs, adjectives), such as need or must (لازِم), can or (to be) possible (مُمكِن), and must or (to be) necessary (ضَروري).
| English | العامية Colloquial Jordanian |
استَمِع Listen |
| You don’t need to study a lot for the test. It isn’t difficult. | مِش لازِم تُدرُسي كثير للامتِحان. مِش صَعِب. | |
| I can’t see you this evening. I will sleep early. | مِش مُمكِن أشوفَك اليوم المَسا، رَح أَنام بَكير. | |
| This work isn’t necessary, you can finish it tomorrow. | هاد الشُّغُل مِش ضَروري، مُمكِن تخَلصيه بُكرة. |
