ما زال / لم يعد

In Modern Standard Arabic, expressing continuity or cessation requires specific verbal constructions:

1. Still (ما زال / لا يزال)
To express 'still,' the verb زال must be preceded by a negation particle (like ما or لا). Without this negation, the verb does not carry the meaning of continuity. These constructions behave like the Sisters of Kāna:

• ما زالَ (negation + past tense) is the standard way to express present continuity ('he is still'), indicating a state that began in the past and persists now.
• لا يزالُ (negation + present tense) is also used for present continuity ('he is still'). To express past continuity ('he was still'), كان لا يزال is the standard form.
• لا زالَ (negation + past tense) is traditionally reserved for prayers or wishes (e.g., لا زالَ بيتكَ عامراً - 'May your house remain prosperous').

The subject (ism) remains nominative and the predicate (khabar) must be accusative (e.g., ما زال الجوُّ بارداً). These verbs conjugate fully and can take pronoun suffixes as their subject (e.g., ما زلتُ - 'I am still').

Important Distinction: The verb used for 'still' is زال / يزال (middle vowel 'a' in the present). This is distinct from زال / يزول (middle vowel 'u' in the present), which means 'to go away' or 'to disappear.'

2. No Longer (لم يعد / ما عاد)
To say something is no longer the case, use لم يعد (using the jussive of 'to return') or ما عاد (the past tense).

• Grammar: While these function like Sisters of Kāna by taking a predicate in the accusative case (e.g., لم يعد طالباً), they are technically classified as verbs of transformation (Af‘āl al-Taḥwīl).
• Actions: These forms can be followed by a present tense verb to indicate that an action is no longer performed (e.g., لم يعد يذهب).
• Conjugation: In لم يعد, the long vowel drops to avoid the meeting of two silent letters (sukūns) when the final letter has a sukūn (e.g., لم أعُد، لم تعُد، لم نعُد). They also take pronoun suffixes (e.g., ما عدتُ - 'I no longer').

3. Register Note
While these are the standard for writing and news, they are also frequently used in 'Educated Spoken Arabic.' Building fluency in ما زال and لم يعد is essential to become proficient in formal communication.