5 Things You Need to Know About غَير

غَير will remind you of the verb غَيَّرَ, which means “to change”. It denotes “a change” and is commonly used in the following five ways:

1- You have probably seen it A LOT with adjectives, as in:

غَيرُ مُمكِنٍ = Not possible

غَيرُ صَحيحٍ ٍ = Not correct

2- With an adjective, after a negated verb, as in:

لَم يَكتُب غَيرَ رِسالةٍ واحِدةٍ =

He didn’t write except one letter, meaning he only wrote one letter

لا يُصاحِبُ غَيرَ المُثَقَّفينَ =

He doesn’t befriend except educated people, meaning he only befriends educated people

3- With a pronoun suffix (referring to a previous “understood” noun), as in:

لم أَرَ غَيرَها في الغُرفةِ =

I didn’t see (people, understood) other than her in the room, meaning I only saw her in the room

لَن أَزورَ غَيرَ مَدينةٍ واحِدَةٍ =

I will not visit (any cities, understood) except one city, meaning I will only visit one city

4- With a noun (referring to a previous “understood” noun), as in:

لَم يُقابِل غَيرَ وَزيرِ الدّاخِلِيّةِ =

He did not meet (anyone, understood) except the Interior Minister, meaning he only met the Interior Minister

ما شاهَدتُ غَيرَ فيلمٍ واحِدٍ =

I did not watch (any movies, understood) except one movie, meaning I only watched one movie

5- Followed by a noun, as in:

صافَحَ رجلا غَيرَ صَديقِهِ =

He shook hands with a man other than his friend

أَخَذَ كِتاباً غَيرَ كِتابِهِ =

He took a book other than his

--

--

Multilingual author, language enthusiast and teacher. http://www.thouriabenferhat.com/

Get the Medium app

A button that says 'Download on the App Store', and if clicked it will lead you to the iOS App store
A button that says 'Get it on, Google Play', and if clicked it will lead you to the Google Play store