It's an Arabic proverb , i'll try to express it in English : Literally, If you called an alive person , he's supposed to answer . But no life in what you calling. Well, i guess it means that there's no use from trying to advise a person or asking him to do something because only alive people can answer you but he's not. note: " he's not" doesn't mean he 's dead . but mean he will never answer or listen to you as dead people. Simply, we use " لا حياة لمن تنادي" as an idiom to refer a person who never listen to you ,as i mentioned before or a stubborn person who insist on his own opinion. Hope it helped , and please ask if not clear ;)

It means that there is no life in the person you're calling. It doesn't mean that the person is literally dead, but that they're apathetic or not listening. An English equivalent would be "It's like talking to a brick wall."

نحن العرب نغير في مواضع الكلمات داخل الجملة لكي نركز على معنى محدد لو غيرت ترتيب الكلمات لاتضح لك المقصود بسهولة ، لكن القائل شاعر وهو يبحث عن موسيقى الكلمات ودقة المعنى الاصل ، لو انك ناديت حيا لكنت اسمعته لكن هذا الذي تناديه - لاحياة له - ليس حيا

If you call an alive person he will hear you, but the one you're calling isn't alive