نہ + Verb Stem + پانا

Failing to Manage an Action

Level 3

Negate the possibility of carrying out the action.

How It Works

In مریم جواب نہ لکھ پائی, Maryam did not manage to write the reply. The sentence leaves the reason open unless you give it.

The phrase does not necessarily describe a refusal. A busy person may want to reply and still not manage it. Use the context to explain the obstacle.

The construction has no نے, even with a transitive action. A feminine subject selects پائی in a completed event or پاتی in a habitual statement.

مریم جواب نہ لکھ پائی۔
Maryam did not manage to write the reply.
The feminine subject selects پائی despite masculine جواب.
شور کی وجہ سے میں آپ کی بات سن نہیں پایا۔
Because of the noise, I could not hear what you said.
نہیں appears between the action stem and پانا.
ہم وقت پر نہ پہنچ پائے۔
We did not manage to arrive on time.
نہ precedes the main stem here.
وہ مصروف رہتی ہے اور روز فون نہیں کر پاتی۔
She stays busy and cannot manage to call every day.
The feminine habitual form describes recurring difficulty.

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

نہ + Verb Stem + پاناLevel 3Failing to Manage an Action

Recognize the positive manage-to construction. Negate the achievement rather than inventing a separate inability verb.

Patterns that build on this one.

پانانہنہ

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