Introduction

     لاحسن / أحسن and لـ are synonomous when they both mean 'lest, because I am afraid that, in case'. Just like لـ, the conjunction
لاحسن/احسن is often found following requests/commands and the verb خاف.
    Some things to pay attention to: 1) the clause that لاحسن precedes often will contain an undesirable situation/ outcome just like the word 'lest'. For this reason one cannot say in English "Come quick lest I give you ice cream". 2) the clause that لاحسن precedes must have a verb in the plain-form present tense. If it is an verbless sentence or the verb is in the habitual بـ or future tense هـ / حـ then the helping verb يكون / تكون is used. Section 1 shows لاحسن used with commands/requests, Section 2 shows لاحسن with the verb خاف and Section 3 shows that it can be used in situations outside of those explained by section 1 and 2.

    لـ can be used in a sentence where the speaker wants the listener to do something. Such a sentence usually includes a verb in the imperative form or words like اوعى، بلاش، اياكand even words that mark requests like ممكن. When used with commands/requests, لـ precedes the clause that expresses either why the command/request is being given (Examples 1-5) or the punishment for not following the command (Example 6). When لـ precedes a clause explaining why the command is being given, it can be translated as 'because I am/was afraid that....' and when preceding a clause that contains a punishment it can be translated as 'or else.'

    احسن / لاحسن also frequently appears alongside the verb خاف. The conjunction لاحسن / أحسن can continue to be translated as 'lest' but it some sentences it may be more natural to translate it as 'that' or even 'because'. The best way to think about لاحسن / أحسن with this verb is that it marks the clause that explains why the speaker is feeling fear and not the clause that explains the object of the emotion. Therefore, even though both لاحسن / أحسن and إن can be translated as 'that' they mark two different things in Egyptian. إن marks the object of these verbs (the thing the speaker is afraid of) while لاحسن / أحسن marks why the speaker is feeling this emotion.

    We saw above in Section 1 that لاحسن / أحسن can be translated as 'lest', because I am afraid that', 'in case' when explaining why a command is being given. The examples below shows that this definition and use is not restricted to commands.