and the predicate is indefinite, the subject is simply juxtaposed with its predicate. When both the subject and the predicate are definite, a pronoun (agreeing with the subject) may be inserted between the two. For example: (), "Muhammad is an engineer" (lit. "Muhammad an-engineer") (), "Muhammad is the engineer' (lit. "Muhammad he the-engineer") The extra pronoun is highly recommended in order for one not to confuse the predicate for a qualifying adjective: (), "Muhammad the engineer' (This is just a noun phrase with no copula. See al- for more on the use of definite and indefinite nouns in Arabic and how it affects the copula.) In the past tense, however, or in the present tense negative, the verbs and are used, which take the accusative case: (), "Muhammad was an engineer' ( = "(he) was") (literally "be it Muhammad an-engineer") (), "Muhammad is not an engineer' (lit. "Muhammad is not an-engineer") When the copula is expressed with a verb, no pronoun need be inserted, regardless of the definiteness of the predicate: (), "Muhammad is not the engineer' (lit. "Muhammad is not of the-engineer") Hebrew, another Semitic language, uses zero copula in a very similar way. Ganda The Ganda verb "to be", , is used in only two cases: when the predicate is a prepositional phrase and when the subject is a pronoun and the predicate is an adjective: , "She is beautiful' (, "(he/she) is") , "Kintu is in the car" (literally "Kintu he-is in-car") Otherwise, the zero copula is used: , "The girl is beautiful" (literally "the-girl beautiful") Here the word , "beautiful" is missing its initial vowel pre-prefix . If included, it would make the adjective qualify the noun attributively: , "The beautiful girl' or "a beautiful girl". American Sign Language American Sign Language does not have a copula. For example, "my hair is wet" is signed my hair wet, and "my name is Pete" may be signed [MY NAME]topic P-E-T-E. Irish The copula is used in Irish but may be omitted in the present tense. For example, ("He is a big man") can be expressed as simply . The common phrase (meaning "anyhow", lit. "Whatever story it [is]") also omits the copula. Welsh The fact that Welsh often requires the use of a predicative particle to denote non-definite predicates means that the copula can be omitted in certain phrases. For example, the phrase ("Since he is/was/etc. a