ليس followed by verb

[𐎛𐎁𐎗𐎅𐎎1]

Hello everybody!

I had a question about ليس. It can be added to a مبتدا خبر sentence. But also it can be used before a جملة فعلية. In this case what is the difference between it and a normal negated جملة فعلية? Look here:

ليس يتحسر أهل الجنة إلا على ساعة مرت بهم ولم يذكروا الله تعالى فيها

Why not just say لا يتحسر أهل الجنة?

Thanks

 

[HotIcyDonut]

The explanation I saw is, ليس isn't just a negative sentence, but a categorical denial of any possibility of action expressed by its paired verb. E.g. If I say لستُ أبقى, I mean in no way I'm gonna last/live forever and I'll eventually die. Like a very strong denial.

 

[analeeh]

I think in practice it does usually correspond quite closely in meaning to a normal لا negation. لست أعرف means more or less exactly the same thing as لا أعرف.

 

[WadiH]

The way Arabic grammarians view this is that there is a "hidden" pronoun that acts as the مبتدأ/اسم ليس:

ليس [هو] يتحسر أهل الجنة

 

[Mahaodeh]

ليس [هو] يتحسر أهل الجنة

Not to nitpick, but ألا يكون الضمير المستتر هنا بصيغة الجمع؟ أعني هم

 

[WadiH]

فكرت فيها لكن ستصبح أكلوني البراغيث.

 

[Ali Smith]

The explanation I saw is, ليس isn't just a negative sentence, but a categorical denial of any possibility of action expressed by its paired verb. E.g. If I say لستُ أبقى, I mean in no way I'm gonna last/live forever and I'll eventually die. Like a very strong denial.

Where did you find this explanation?

 

[HotIcyDonut]

Where did you find this explanation?

الفرق بين “لا يفعل” و”ليس” يفعل - Aqlam Alhind

 

[Mahaodeh]

الفرق بين “لا يفعل” و”ليس” يفعل - Aqlam Alhind

I don’t know, this looks like original research to me.

What I do know is this: when you are negating a nominal sentence, there has been some discussion, but if we are talking about a verbal sentence (as in your source) then linguists (grammarians or otherwise) agree that ليس acts and means the same as لا, no difference. In fact, some say that ليس never negates a verb because it is a verb (فعل ناقص) and if you find it followed by a verb, that verb is جملة فعلية في محل نصب خبر ليس. I’m not sure but I think that the latter are more than the former.