Exposition on "Lam (لم) & lammaa (لما)" in the Arabic Grammar
By:
Muhibudeen Qosim A.
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The Arabic prepositions, lam (لم) & lammaa (لما), can come before a fi`lun mudoori` (فعل مضارع), yet they have distinct meaning. While both envisage negation, lam (لم), implies: "didn't". On the contrary, lammaa (لما) means:"yet to" or "has not...", depending on the fi`l (Verb) that comes after it.
Example of the two are given in the following expressions:
لم يذهب إسماعيل
(Ismail didn't go)
لما يذهب إسماعيل
(Ismail has not gone or Ismail is yet to go).
KINDLY NOTE thst when either lam (لم) or lammaa (لما) appears before a fi`lun mudoori` (فعل مضارع), both affect the last letter of the fi`l (verb) by giving it As-sukuun (السكون). That is,
• "lam yadh-hab" instead of (lam yadh-habu❌)
• "lammaa yadh-hab" instead of (lammaa yadh-habu❌)
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