Ce chapitre n'a pas encore été traduit — il s'affiche en anglais.

Negation

не goes directly in front of whatever it negates.

Я не зна́ю. — I don't know.

It can move, and moving it moves the meaning: Не я сказа́л — "it wasn't I who said it."

Pile them up

Russian requires agreement between negatives. Where English forbids double negatives, Russian insists on them.

Я никогда́ никому́ ничего́ не говори́л. — "I never to nobody nothing didn't say" — I never told anyone anything.

Four negatives, one meaning. Drop the не and the sentence is broken.

нет

нет is "no" — and also "there isn't", in which case what is absent goes into the genitive:

• У меня́ нет вре́мени. — I have no time.
• Его́ нет до́ма. — He isn't home.

The genitive of negation

Negating a verb can pull its object into the genitive, especially with abstractions:

• Я не по́нял вопро́са. — I didn't understand the question.
• Он не сказа́л пра́вды. — He didn't tell the truth.

With concrete objects the accusative is now normal, and this is one of the live arguments in modern usage.

не and ни

не negates; ни intensifies inside an already-negative sentence. Ни сло́ва! — "not a word!" And the pronouns split the same way: не́кого "there is nobody to" against никого́ "nobody" — same letters, different stress, opposite jobs.

мочь and уме́ть, не and нельзя́

Нельзя́ is "one must not" and не на́до is "there's no need". Both are impersonal, with no subject to be told off.

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