Learn Arabic › B1 › أَبَى
أَبَى
to refuse /ʔaˈbaː/
verbB1#2302 most common
Also: to decline, to reject, to be unwilling (to do something)
Example sentences
هُوَ يَأْبَى أَنْ يَأْكُلَ.
He refuses to eat.
أَبَتْ أَنْ تَذْهَبَ إِلَى المَدْرَسَةِ.
She refused to go to school.
أَبَى الطِّفْلُ أَنْ يَنَامَ مُبَكِّرًا.
The child refused to sleep early.
أَبَى الرَّئِيسُ التَّوْقِيعَ عَلَى القَانُونِ الجَدِيدِ.
The president refused to sign the new law.
أَبَتِ الحُكُومَةُ إِلَّا أَنْ تُطَبِّقَ القَرَارَ فَوْرًا.
The government would accept nothing but immediate implementation of the decision.
فَأَبَى أَكْثَرُ النَّاسِ إِلَّا كُفُورًا.
But most people refuse everything except disbelief.
Conjugation
| Present Active | Simple Past Active | Simple Future Active | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1sg | آبَى | أَبَيْتُ | سَآبَى |
| 2sg | تَأْبَى | أَبَيْتَ | سَتَأْبَى |
| 3sg | يَأْبَى | أَبَى | سَيَأْبَى |
| 1pl | نَأْبَى | أَبَيْنَا | سَنَأْبَى |
| 2pl | تَأْبَوْنَ | أَبَيْتُمْ | سَتَأْبَوْنَ |
| 3pl | يَأْبَوْنَ | أَبَوْا | سَيَأْبَوْنَ |
Word family
إباءrefusal, pride, self-respect
أبيّproud, unyielding, one who refuses to submit
تأبّىto refuse stubbornly, to resist
آبٍone who refuses (active participle)
Etymology
أَبَى comes from a basic triliteral Semitic root, ʾ-b-y, used in Classical Arabic to mean to refuse or to be unwilling. It appears throughout pre-Islamic poetry and the Quran, often in the set phrase 'X refused except Y,' meaning X insisted stubbornly on Y. Arabic belongs to the Semitic family, not the Indo-European one, so it has no Proto-Indo-European root. It does share the root with other Semitic languages, though the meaning can drift: Hebrew's cognate root shifted toward 'to be willing.'
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