la' - to lack

In Somali, 'leh' means 'own/possess/have'


Shaah oo sonkor leh ii keen - Bring me tea with sugar(in it)


We use the present continous 'leeyahay' when talking about people owning things


Guri weyn buu leeyahay - He has a big house


The opposite of 'leh' is la'. The apostrophe at the end of the word is a glottal stop. La' means 'to lack'


Shaah oo sonkor la' - Sugarless tea
nin oo xoog la' - a man without/lacking strength
lacag la' - without money, cashless


The present continous is 'la'yahay'. You can use it to say if someone/something lacks something


Cali lacag wuu la'yahay - Cali doesn't have any money


However, it is more common to use 'ma leh/laha' 


Cali lacag ma leh - Ali doesn't have any money
Bill guri ma laha - Bill doesn't have a house
Shaahu sonkor ma laha - The tea doesn't have any sugar


La' can be turned into the noun 'la'aan'. 


Dad cunto la'aan ku bannaanbaxaya Muqdisho - The hungry people(lit:'foodless') are demonstrating in Mogadishu


There is a well-known saying, 'Aqoon la'aan waa iftiin la'aan'. 'Aqoon(ta)' is a noun which means 'knowledge', 'iftiin(ta)' is a noun which means 'light'. Therefore it means 'lacking knowledge is lacking light' or in more correct English, 'to lack knowledge is to lack light'. 
In English, we put 'lacking' first, then we say what is lacking, but in Somali the order is reversed, you say the object first, then you say whether you are lacking it or not. 


You can play around with phrase and add your own words,


Lacag la'aan waa cunto la'aan - No cash, no food
Xaas  la'aan waa farxad la'aan - No wife&kids, no happiness
Geel la'aan waa hanti la'aan - To have no camels, is to have no wealth