See Arabic Particles Meanings series to learn Arabic particles and related words' meanings.
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Post 1st published on : 19th December 2019.
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Post's relevant content last edited on : 2nd January 2020 . (minor meaning shade keys edition on 2nd January 2020)
All the credit and all the praises and all the thanks for whatever is good and beneficial in this post and all the other posts, tools, and projects are just for ALLAH, and whatever shortcoming or mistake there is in any of these is due to me, an ordinary slave of ALLAH! and I seek ALLAH's forgiveness and pardon for any shortcomings and mistakes in any of these.
[ Core Meaning shades ]
[ | Modified meaning shades due to context | ]
[ { Meaning shade combined with context } ]
[ (possible translation related to core meaning but not direct translation for the word) ]
/ = and or or.
: = previous statement continues to next statement.
i. Notes on لِ li
For notes on particle لِ li as preposition, see the post:Arabic Particles: Learn Arabic Preposition لِ li
Remaining notes follow:
1 (n,p,m,lm,dt) . The particle لِ li is usually used to:
to point out or specify or assign or direct or request
a person or persons
to or for
some act or deed
that is for him or them to do
or that he or they should or ought to or must or is/are supposed to or required to or demanded to or requested to do.
OR
to point out or specify
for someone to do something
i.e. it specifies both the who (with for) and what (with to).
[ [ to , for , for ... to ] , [ | (should , must) , (ought) to , (supposed) to , (requested) to , (let) | ] , [ { am to , is to , are to , has to } ]]
The particle لِ li in this sense is usually used with active 3rd person and 1st person imperative verb and passive 1st, 2nd and 3rd person imperative verb. This لِ li is called لَامُ الطَّلَب and also لَامُ الْأَمْر and is not restricted to use with verbs in the sense order only and may be used with verbs in the sense of order, command, recommendation, suggestion, supplication, prayer, request, threat, warning etc. The imperative verbs are مَجْزُوم majzoom. In these verbs, usually occurrence of something is sought. This لِ li usually becomes سَاكِن saakin لْ if directly preceded by وَ wa or فَ fa and sometimes also becomes سَاكِن saakin لْ if preceded by ثُمَّ thumma. The imperative verbs are commonly used without لِ li for 2nd person active. For 1st person active and for 1st, 2nd and 3rd person passive, imperative verbs are not common. Supplication and prayer sense is for cases where prayer, supplication or request is made to ALLAH. Request is for cases where higher authority is involved. Recommendation and suggestion is mostly given to comparable authority and can also be given to higher or lower authority. Threat and warning is mostly given to lower or comparable authority.
Why this لِ li is not used with active 2nd person imperative in most cases? Perhaps, since the speaker is directly addressing and assigning the task to the addressee. This arrangement does away with the need to include this لِ li. It is more eloquent to drop this لِ li in the 2nd person active in most cases. Similarly this لِ li is not usually used with قُلْ since قُلْ is itself a 2nd person active imperative in which a command is given to someone to say something i.e. a 2nd person active imperative command and so with قُلْ also, this لِ li is not usually used.
According to some, for 2nd person active, this لِ li is suppressed in writing and speaking but is implied in meaning. I don't agree with this view. In English, if I give order to eat, to someone directly, the imperative eat! is better than saying you should eat / you must eat! etc. When I say to someone directly, eat!, no one will say to me, you meant to say, you should eat, and should is implied in meaning but suppressed in my speaking. Similarly, to say eat! is not better for 3rd person active in most cases, since in such cases, usually should eat is better. In 3rd person dropping the لِ may imply giving direct order to someone not even present.
1st person active لِأَضْرِبْ I am to strike. I ought to strike. I should strike.
2nd person active without لِ e.g اِضْرِبْ You strike
3rd person active لِيَضْرِبْ He is to strike. he ought to strike. he should strike.
1st person passive لِأُضْرَبْ I am to be struck. I ought to be struck. I should be struck.
2nd person passive لِتُضْرَبْ You are to be struck. You ought to be struck. You should be struck.
3rd person passive لِيُضْرَبْ He is to be struck. he ought to be struck. he should be struck.
لِيُنْفِقْ He should spend. He is to spend. For him to spend.
وَلْيُؤْمِنُواْ And they should believe. And they are to believe. And for them to believe.
2 (n) . To understand this لِ li better, let's also compare it to لَا النَّاهِيَة
This لِ li is used for seeking the doing of something, while the لَا النَّاهِيَة is used for seeking the not doing of something. Both are used with فِعْل مُضَارِع مَجْزُوم jussive imperfect verb.
[ [ to , for , for ... to ] , [ | (should , must) , (ought) to , (supposed) to , (requested) to , (let) | ] , [ { am to , is to , are to , has to } ]]
لِأَكْتُبْ For me to write. I should write.
لَآ أَكْتُبْ I shouldn't write.
اُكْتُبْ You write.
لَا تَكْتُبْ You don't write.
لِيَكْتُبْ For him to write. He should write.
لَا يَكْتُبْ He shouldn't write.
ii. Notes on emphatic لَ la, with quick introduction to إِنَّ inna نَّ nna and نْ (emphatic verb endings) and قَدْ qad
1 (n,*) . The core meaning shade of emphatic لَ la appears to be:to point out or specify that
what is stated with it
is sure or definite or confirmed
or what has been or will be, surely or definitely or certainly done.
OR
to assert the :
sure / definite / inevitable / confirmed / certain :
truthfulness / factuality / reality / existence / occurrence :
of the content of what is stated with it
[ definitely (without doubt) , surely , certainly ]
+ (n,*). To understand emphatic لَ la better, and to avoid mixing up the shades of emphasis, let's also briefly discuss the core meaning shades of related emphatic particles with which emphatic لَ la is often used.
(Note: Separate post or posts will be required inshaALLAH! to discuss these particles in more depth, but for now, at least a quick introduction is necessary)
The emphatic نَّ and نْ endings of imperfect verbs لَيَفْعَلَنْ لَيَفْعَلَنَّ
The core meaning shade of emphatic نَّ and نْ endings of imperfect verbs appears to be:to emphasize the completion of implementation / execution of the verb.
OR
to show the conviction / determination of the speaker / writer regarding the stated verb that
it will be completed, done, implemented, executed (without any possibility of failure).
Emphatic نَّ indicates stronger : emphasis / conviction / determination / stress : regarding the completion of the action as compared to نْ
Note: Focus is not on continuity or intensity of the action, but rather on the completion/execution of the action without failure (or execution of the action without hesitation).
e.g. in English we say, "I will stop at nothing to do this", "I will do this without failure", "I will complete it without failure"
[ ( make it / have it / will be : ) done / completed / executed / ...en ( : without any possibility of failure ) , taken to : completion (without any possibility of failure) , ensure , ensure to ( make it / have it : ) done / completed / executed / ...en ( : without any possibility of failure ) ]
إِنَّ inna
The core meaning shade of إِنَّ inna appears to be :to assert the
(firmly) established
existence / presence / occurrence :
of something.
[ indeed , (yes) indeed , verily , (it is) established, (its existence is) established , (in truth) , the existing / established : fact / case / matter : is ]
To understand it better, let's analyse some usage of the verb أَنَّ
Anna أَنَّ verb : he moaned (uttered a prolonged voice of pain) / said ah! by reason of pain. (He complained due to disease or pain)
أَنَّتِ ٱلْقَوْسُ The bow made a gentle and prolonged sound.
In the above 2 cases, the disease/pain or shooting of arrow is corroborated by the accompanying sound.
Anna أَنَّ verb : it exists / is established
مَا أَنَّ ذَالِكَ الْجَبَلَ مَكَانَهُ as long as that mountain is : existing/established : in its place.
مَا أَنَّ فِى السَّمَآءِ نَجْمٌ as long as there exists in the sky a star.
قَدْ qad:
The core meaning shade of قَدْ qad appears to beto indicate
termination/completion/conclusion : of action
or to indicate
cut off / completed / concluded / done : action
[ [ already , done , already done , ..en , did ] , [ {have/had …en/done} , {have/had …already en/done} , { did do } ] ]
Related verb قَدَّهُ qaddahu : he cut it / he cut it off.
Coming back to emphatic لَ la
2 (n,*) . Below are a few simple examples to have a better understanding.
فَعَلَ he did.
قَدْ فَعَلَ he already did / he did do / he has already done.
لَقَدْ فَعَلَ definitely he already did / surely he did do / definitely he has already done.
يَفْعَلُهُ he will do it.
يَفْعَلَنْهُ he will make it done.
يَفْعَلَنَّهُ he will ensure to make it done.
لَيَفْعَلَنَّهُ surely / definitely : he will ensure to make it done.
اَلْمُدَرِّسُ قَاعِدٌ The teacher is sitting.
إِنَّ ٱلْمُدَرِّسَ قَاعِدٌ Indeed, the teacher is sitting.
إِنَّ ٱلْمُدَرِّسَ لَقَاعِدٌ Indeed, the teacher is definitely sitting.
3 (a,h,w,n) . Below are a few examples of usage of لَ la:
3.1. Can come at the beginning of a : sentence / subject / topic / mubtada مُبْتَدَأ
لَأَنْتُمْ أَشَدُّ رَهْبَةً فِى صُدُورِهِم مِّنَ اللّٰهِ Definitely you(pl) are severer in fear (the type with uneasiness / anxiousness & caution) in their chests than ALLAH (Translation attempt for part of Surah 59: Ayah 13 from the Qur'an)
3.2. Can come with the predicate of إِنَّ whether the predicate starts with a noun, a verb or a particle etc.
وإِنَّ اللّٰهَ لَسَمِيعٌ عَلِيمٌ and indeed ALLAH is definitely Ever All Hearing, Ever All Knowing. (Translation attempt for part of Surah 8: Ayah 42 from the Qur'an)
وَإِنَّ رَبَّكَ لَيَحْكُمُ بَيْنَهُمْ and indeed your Maintaining-Lord will definitely Judge (by Establishing/Settling/Fixing matters) between them... (Translation attempt for part of Surah 16: Ayah 124 from the Qur'an)
إِنَّكَ لَعَلَىٰ هُدًى مُّسْتَقِيمٍ Indeed you are definitely upon a guidance keeping upright. (Translation attempt for part of Surah 22: Ayah 67 from the Qur'an)
3.3. Can come with the predicate of إِنْ i.e. the so called إِنِ ٱلْمُخَفَّفَةُ مِنَ ٱلثَّقِيلَةِ the إِنْ lightened from the heavy إِنَّ
Note: The difference between the 2 requires a separate thorough research and a separate post specifically on إِنَّ أَنَّ إِنْ أَنْ and 1 important thing is that noun of إِنْ is not مَنْصُوب mansoob while noun of إِنَّ is مَنْصُوب mansoob. 2ndly this type of إِنْ is not usually used without لَ unless the predicate is negative. Since this research is not yet done or concluded by me, I am not posting any example for this point.
3.4. Can come with the جَوَاب response or corresponding statement of قَسَم oath and لَوْ and لَوْلَا
قَالُواْ تَاللّٰهِ إِنَّكَ لَفِى ضَلَـٰلِكَ ٱلْقَدِيمِ They said: "By ALLAH, indeed you are : definitely / surely : in your old error". (Translation attempt for part of Surah 12: Ayah 95 from the Qur'an)
قَالُواْ لَوْ نَعْلَمُ قِتَالًا لَّٱتَّبَعْنَـٰكُمْ They said: "Had we known mortal-fighting, definitely we would have adopted following you(pl)"(Translation attempt for part of Surah 3: Ayah 167 from the Qur'an)
فَلَوْلَا فَضْلُ اللّٰهِ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَتُهُۥ لَكُنْتُم مِّنَ ٱلْخَـٰسِرِينَ Then had it not been ALLAH's Fadl* on you(pl) and HIS Mercy, definitely you(pl) would had been from the losers. (Translation attempt for part of Surah 2: Ayah 64 from the Qur'an)
Fadl* فَضْل translation attempt : A benefit / a gift / a favour / a bonus / a surplus reward:
more or much more than what is due based on the deserving cause, or even without any deserving cause.
Note that لَوْ is usually used for counter-factual conditions and إِنْ is usually used for potential conditions and إِذَا is usually used for temporal conditions.
3.5. Can come with إِنْ i.e لَئِنْ and also with the statement coming after this conditional statement.
وَلَئِنْ سَأَلْتَهُم مَّنْ خَلَقَ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضَ وَسَخَّرَ ٱلشَّمْسَ وَٱلْقَمَرَ لَيَقُولُنَّ اللّٰهُ and surely if you ask them, who created the heavens and the earth and subdued the sun and the moon, definitely they will (without fail) say ALLAH. (Translation attempt for part of Surah 29: Ayah 61 from the Qur'an)
3.6. Can come with قَدْ i.e لَقَدْ
لَقَدْ كَانَ فِى يُوسُفَ وَإِخْوَتِهِۦٓ ءَايَـٰتٌ لِّلسَّآئِلِينَ Surely already there is in Yusuf and his brothers signs for the askers. (Translation attempt for part of Surah 12: Ayah 7 from the Qur'an)
3.7. Can come with emphatic imperfect verb endings.
لَتُفْسِدُنَّ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ مَرَّتَيْنِ Definitely you(pl) will (without fail) cause corruption in the earth twice... (Translation attempt for part of Surah 17: Ayah 4 from the Qur'an)
3.8. Can come with the object of يَدْعُو
يَدْعُواْ لَمَنْ ضَرُّهُۥٓ أَقْرَبُ مِن نَّفْعِهِۦ He calls surely the one whom - his harm is nearer than his benefit. He calls surely him whose harm is nearer than his benefit. He calls surely the one whose harm is nearer than his benefit. (Translation attempts for part of the Qur'an from Surah 22, Ayah 13)
3.9. Can come prefixed with مَنْ as seen in above example and مَا
لَمَآ ءَاتَيْتُكُم Surely what I have given you(pl)... (Translation attempt for part of the Qur'an from Surah 3, Ayah 81)
4. (l,s,n) The لَ is also used with عَمْر life / lifespan
in a form of emphasis / swearing : in which لَعَمْرُكَ "surely / definitely : your life" is mentioned before a statement to emphasize or increase the certainty of this statement placed by it.
Surely your life + statement, perhaps to emphasize the certainty of the statement so much that before it, an important life is mentioned, or perhaps, the next statement is literally placed by / next to : "Surely your life". We may attempt to translate it as "Surely by your life ...statement".
[ { surely your life , surely by your life , as sure as your life } ]
لَعَمْرُكَ إِنَّهُمْ لَفِى سَكْرَتِهِمْ يَعْمَهُونَ Surely by your life, indeed they were(pl), surely in their sakrah* wandering blindly. (Translation attempt for part of the Qur'an from Surah 15, Ayah 72).
sakrah سَكْرَة translation attempt : stoppage of proper working or flow of : senses / intellect / reasoning / judgement : due to intoxication / excitement etc. or due to extreme hardship / fear / pain etc.
iii. Notes on اَلْ
1 (l). Apparently اَلْ is originally لْ alone and then conjunctive اَ is prefixed to it so that it may commence with it.2 (q,a,l,n). The core meaning shade of اَلْ appears to be :
to specify / focus / mark / refer to
a : definite / particular : scope / range
of the word it is prefixed to, depending on the context.
[ the , " " (i.e. in English some of its use cases demand no translated word) ]
3 (q,l,n). It is used to specify someone or something as a specific member of a : type / kind / genus / species : which is known to the speaker or listener or both by being mentioned earlier.
[ the ]
كَمَآ أَرْسَلْنَآ إِلَىٰ فِرْعَوْنَ رَسُولًا فَعَصَىٰ فِرعَوْنُ ٱلرَّسُولَ ... just like WE Sent towards fir'aun a messenger and then fir'aun disobeyed the messenger... (Translation attempt for part of Surah 73, Ayah 15 and Ayah 16 from The Qur'an.)
4 (q,l,n). It is used to specify someone or something as a specific member of a : type / kind / genus / species : which is known by being : present / witnessed / experienced : in context.
[ [ the , " " , the (present) , the (current) ] , [ {this} ,{ today (can be used for the day) } ] ]
وَهَـٰذَا ٱلْبَلَدِ ٱلْأَمِينِ ...and this safe city. ...and this the safe city . (Translation attempts for part of The Qur'an from Surah 95, Ayah 3.)
قَالَ لَا تَثْرِيبَ عَلَيْكُمُ ٱلْيَومَ He said, "there is no tathreeb* on you today...". He said, "there is no tathreeb* on you the (present) day..." (Translation attempts for part of The Qur'an from Surah 12, Ayah 92.)
tathreeb تَثْرِيب translation attempt: Stripping off or removing the cover from a blameworthy /punishable : trait or fault or deed (and showing it to be : foul / abominable / bad etc.)
5 (q,l,n). It is used to specify someone or something as a specific member of a : type / kind / genus / species : which is known to the speaker or listener or both by being present in the knowledge / mind : of speaker or listener or both
[ the ]
إِذْ يُبَايِعُونَكَ تَحْتَ ٱلشَّجَرَةِ When they pledged allegiance to you under the tree. (Translation attempt for part of The Qur'an from Surah 48, Ayah 18.)
6 (n). It is used to specify someone or something as an example of a specific : type / genus / species : instead of being an example of some other type.
[ the ]
وَأَخَافُ أَن يَّأْكُلَهُ ٱلذِّئْبُ And I fear that the wolf will eat him. (Translation attempt for part of Surah 12, Ayah 13 from The Qur'an.)
Note that this is not a specific known wolf rather the animal known as the wolf, instead of other dangerous animals or some other danger.
7 (n,q,l). It is used to specify someone or something as a model example of a : type / genus / species : meeting all the requirements of being from the type, or having all the required qualities of the type.
[ the ]
إِنَّا نَحْنُ نَزَّلْنَا ٱلذِّكْرَ وَإِنَّا لَهُۥ لَحَـٰفِظُونَ Indeed Us - We Transmitted down The Remembrance and indeed We are surely Preservers for it. (Translation attempt for part of Surah 15, Ayah 9 from The Qur'an.)
8 (n). It is used to specify a specific : type / genus / species : as a whole. This is different from saying all members of this type. e.g. to say the species called man is hasty, and to say all men are hasty, is different.
[ the , " " ]
إِنَّ ٱلْإِنْسَـٰنَ لَكَفُورٌ Indeed the human is surely very : ungrateful / denying . (Translation attempt for part of Surah 22, Ayah 66 from The Qur'an.)
9 (p2,n,l). It is used to specify a specific type of : quality / trait / attribute / property / term / thing : etc. with all its necessary features & requirements and all what comes in its scope.
[ the , " " ]
اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّٰهِ The حَمْد thankful-praise is exclusively for ALLAH. (Translation attempt for part of Surah 1, Ayah 2 from The Qur'an) .
To explain this type further, What is called حَمْد is exclusively for ALLAH. What comes in the scope of the term حَمْد is exclusively for ALLAH. A logical deduction from this, may allow us to say All the حَمْد is exclusively for ALLAH, but this is not the translation but rather a further explanation of the statement.
10 (q,l,n). It is used to specify a specific type of thing / essence / quiddity / material / class : instead of being another type.
[ " " , the ]
وَجَعَلْنَا مِنَ ٱلْمَآءِ كُلَّ شَىْءٍ حَىٍّ And WE made from water every living thing. (Translation attempt for part of Surah 21, Ayah 30 from The Qur'an.)
11 (q,l). It is used to specify the doer of some act
[ the ]
اَلْقَاتِل The killer.
12 (q,l). It is used to specify the object of some act
[ the ]
اَلْمَقْتُول The killed.
13 (l). It is used to specify predominance of application i.e frequent usage or mention of a specific member of a : type / kind / genus / species, in some relation or in some role etc.
[ the ]
الْمَدِينَة The city. (i.e. The city of The Prophet (peace be upon him))
14 (l). It is also prefixed to a noun transferred from its original application to that of a proper name; it being so prefixed to convey an allusion to the original specification; and such noun being generally an epithet and, sometimes an infinitive noun, and sometimes a generic noun.
[ the ]
الْحَارِث The plougher. (i.e. the meaning of the name is the plougher which has been assigned to a person as a proper name).
15 (l,h). It is also a permanent inseparable part of some words like الْآنَ the now or right now and اَلَّذِى
To study these particles further in many other books read the related pages in
Arabic Particles Tool . Also to see other posts in Arabic Particles Meanings series.
References: When multiple references mentioned for a point, it means material selected from all quoted references more from some and less from others and all quoted references do not necessarily agree on everything. Material is not exactly copied but based on the reference quoted and I have made additions, editions & changes where required :
w = Wright Arabic Grammar English
h = Howell Arabic Grammar English
l = Lane's Lexicon
n = New indication by me
a = Arabic Almanac and Mawrid Reader books
p = Arabic Particles Tool books
p2 = Ma'ani un Nahw (AP Tool 2) .
m = Sharh of Miatu Amil .
f = Fischer Arabic Grammar (its PDF can be downloaded from the link).
lm = Al laamaat (its PDF can be downloaded from this link)
q = Qawaid Zaban e Qur'an Urdu .
s = A Study of Qur'anic Oaths .
dt = Available sample pages of David Testen's works on la.
* = multiple books / internet articles consulted in parallel.
Arabic has been typed using the free and detailed Arabic keyboard, latest live version of which is available at:
Online Arabic Keyboard to Type Arabic Directly using English Keyboard with 7 Arabic Web Fonts .
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بَلۡ بَلَىٰ كَ إِنۡ أَنۡ سَ سَوۡفَ أَ هَلۡ إِذۡ إِذَا إِذًا أَنَّىٰ لَـٰكِنۡ لَـٰكِنَّ