Stylistics of means of negation

Negation is expressed by the suffix -ma forming the negative form of the verb, by the words emas and yo‘q, and by the correlative na … na. These means also give several stylistic meanings. -ma inside a rhetorical question strengthens affirmation: «Kim sog‘lom bo‘lishni istamaydi?» (“Who does not want to be healthy?”) – “everybody does”. When -ma is used with both the main and the auxiliary verb it expresses not negation but firm affirmation: «Maqsadiga erishmay qo‘ymaydi» (“He will not fail to reach his goal”) – he will certainly reach it. The suffix -ma does not occur together with -moq, -moqda, -moqchi: «kelmamoqchi» is not said; «kelmoqchi emas» is. Na … na in repetition makes negation strong and firm: «Na qor yog‘di, na yomg‘ir» (“neither snow nor rain fell”). Sometimes negation is given by intonation too, and a «yo‘q» placed at the beginning of a sentence expresses a strong refusal.