לֹא

One syllable, with an l sound followed by a clear o sound, without the glide often heard in English “no.”

Use לֹא to answer “no” or to decline something, as in לֹא, תּוֹדָה (“No, thank you”). It also means “not” within a sentence. In לֹא, אֲנִי לֹא רוֹצֶה (“No, I don’t want to”), the first לֹא is the answer, while the second negates “want.”

To negate a statement, לֹא generally comes before the word it negates. It does not change for gender or number.