Negative words in Russian are words beginning with ни-[ni-] and не-[nye-] and serve a similar function as negative words in English: to negate a statement. For example:
Никто
niKTO
nobody
Нечего
NYEchiva
nothing
These words may have familiar translations, but in Russian, we use them a little differently. Where in English, it would be officially incorrect to say “I will never not tell nobody nothing about it” — that is a word-by-word translation of what Russians would say!
As you can see, negative words, such as “never,” “nobody,” and “nothing,” play an important role in Russian. In this post, we’ll take you through how to form them, when to use them, and how to use many of them in the same sentence. Follow me, and you’ll find out.
In Russian, negative words that are equivalent to words like “nothing” or “nowhere” in English can either be formed by adding ни-[ni] or не-[nye-] in front of a question word. We’ll talk about when to use each type a little further down, but first let’s cover the forms of these words. Let’s have a look!
In a sentence, Russian negative words will sometimes be translated as a “no” form and sometimes as an “any” form. This is because officially an English sentence can only have one negative word.
Я нигде не могу найти свои ключи.
ya niGDYE ni maGOO nayTEE svaEE klyuCHEE
I cannot find my keys anywhere.
lit. I nowhere cannot find my keys.
The majority of Russian negative words are formed by putting ни-[ni] in front of a question word like кто[kto](who) где[gdye](where), or как[kak](how), so if you know those in Russian already, you will have no trouble forming negative words yourself.
Here is the full list of them (in the nominative case where applicable):
Negative word | Example |
|---|---|
никто niKTO nobody | Никто не пришёл. niKTO nye priSHYOL Nobody came. |
ничто niSHTO nothing | Ничто не вечно. niSHTO nye VYECHna Nothing lasts forever. |
никакой nikaKOY no / none / not any | Какой костюм тебе нравится? - Никакой. niKTkaKOY kasTYOOM tiBYE NRAvitsa? - nikaKOY Which suit do you like? - None. |
ничей niCHEY nobody’s | Чей это стул? - Ничей. chey Eta stool? - niCHEY Whose chair is this? - Nobody’s. |
никак niKAK by no means / (in) no way | Я никак не мог приехать. ya niKAK ni mok priYEkhat There was no way I could come. |
нисколько nisKOLka none / not at all | Я нисколько не устал. ya niSKOLka nye usTAL I am not at all tired. |
никогда nikagDA never | Никогда не говори никогда. nikagDA nye gavaREE nikagDA Never say never. |
нигде niGDYE (at) nowhere | Её нигде нет. yeYO niGDYE nyet She is nowhere to be found. |
никуда nikooDA (to) nowhere | Он никуда не ушёл. on nikooDA nye ooSHOl He did not go anywhere. |
ниоткуда niatKOOda from nowhere | Ничто не берётся из ниоткуда. niSHTO nye byeRYOtsya iz niatKOOda Nothing comes from nowhere. |
Ни-[ni-], when added as a prefixNo definition set for prefixLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum., is never stressed when you pronounce the word.
Do these words have more than one form?
Никак(by no means), нисколько(not at all), никогда(never), нигде(nowhere), никуда(nowhere), ниоткуда(from nowhere) do not change forms, as they are adverbsNo definition set for adverbsLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum..
Никто(nobody) and ничто(nothing) are marked for caseNo definition set for caseLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum..
Никакой(no) and ничей(nobody's) act like full adjectivesNo definition set for adjectivesLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum., and so are marked to reflect the case, numberNo definition set for numberLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum., and genderNo definition set for genderLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. of the noun they describe.
To see all of the endings for Russian negative words, check out our chart at the bottom of the page!
The following negative words in Russian can be formed by adding не-[nye-] in front of question words.
Negative word | Example |
|---|---|
некого NYEkavo nobody | Некого cпросить. NYEkavo spraSEET There is nobody to ask. |
нечего NYEchiva nothing | Дома есть было нечего. DOma YEst BYla NYEchiva There was nothing to eat at home. |
негде NYEgdye nowhere (about location) | Нам негде сегодня ночевать. nam NYEgdye siVOdnya nacheVAT We have nowhere to sleep tonight. |
некуда NYEkooda nowhere (about direction) | Тебе некуда идти. tyeBYE NYEkooda itTEE You have nowhere to go. |
неоткуда NYEatkooda from nowhere | Мне неоткуда взять денег. mnye NYEatkuda vzyat DEnyek I have nowhere to get money (from). |
некогда NYEkagda (there is) no time | Нам сейчас некогда. nam syeyCHAS NYEkagda We have no time now. |
незачем NYEzachem (there is) no reason, no need | Вам незачем беспокоиться. vam NYEzachem byespaKOitsya You have no reason to worry. |
When added as a prefix, не-[nye-] is always stressed.
As we saw above, while most of the negative words starting with не- function as adverbs and never change, некого(nobody) and нечего(nothing) look and behave like nouns and have different endings in different cases. These forms can be seen in our negative words ending chart as well.
The final two negative words, некогда(no time) and незачем(no reason) do not change forms. They are always nominative and are only used in impersonal sentences (the ones without a clear subject).
You probably noticed that most Russian negative words with не- have a “sister word” that uses ни- instead? For example:
“nowhere” = нигде / негде(nowhere)
But did you notice that никто(nobody) and ничто(nothing) do not have “sister words” with не- ? This is because words некто[NYEkto] and нечто[NYEchta] actually mean “somebody” and “something,” respectively, and are not negative in the least!
Another word that looks negative but isn’t is несколько[NYEskalka](a few, several).
When you use Russian negative pronouns after prepositions they are “broken” so that the negative prefix comes before the preposition instead of attaching directly to the question word, like this:
ни/не
preposition
question word
Это ни для кого не секрет.
Eta ni dlya kaVO nye sekRYET
It is no secret for anybody.
В какой ресторан ты хочешь пойти? - Ни в какой.
f kaKOY ryestaRAN ty KHOchesh payTEE? - ni f kaKOY
Which restaurant would you like to go to? - To none.
Мне не с кем пойти гулять.
mnye nye s kyem payTEE guLYAT
I have nobody to go for a walk (with).
Нам не о чем говорить.
nam nye a chem gavaREET
We have nothing to talk about.
The negative words that follow this pattern are:
никто(nobody)
ничто(nothing)
нникакой(no/none/not any)
некого(nobody)
нечего(nothing)
In Russian, negative words with ни-[ni-] can only be used if не[nye](not) or a negative word with не-[nye-] is present or implied elsewhere in the sentence. This is because, where negative words with не-[nye-] actually turn a positive sentence negative, negatives with ни-[ni-] only emphasize or intensify negation.
Use НИ- only when there is a НЕ- in a sentence / context.
Compare:
Мне нечего есть.
mnye NYEchiva yest
I have nothing to eat
Я ничего не ел.
ya nichiVO nye yel
I haven’t eaten anything.
You may see negative words with ни-[ni-] on their own, in some circumstances, such as in response to a question. This is an acceptable use because нe-[nye-] is implied. For example:
Что ты будешь есть?
shto ty BOOdish est?
What are you going to eat?
Ничего. ( = Я ничего не буду есть.)
nichivO
Nothing. (= I will not eat anything.)
In Russian, you can use as many negative words with ни-[ni-] in a sentence as you want, as long as one use of не-[nye-] is present in the sentence.
The word with не-[nye-] will make the sentence negative, but using more negative words with ни-[ni-] can intensify the negation. Most commonly the negative word with не will just be the word не on its own, used before the verb. For example:
В этой квартире никогда никто не жил.
v Etay kvarTEErye nikagDA niKTO nye zhyl
Nobody has ever lived in this apartment.
lit. In this apartment never nobody has not lived.
Remember the example we used at the very beginning of this post?
Я никогда никому ничего не скажу об этом.
ya nikagDA nikaMOO nichiVO nye skaZHOO ab Etam
I will never tell anybody anything about it.
lit. I will not never tell nobody nothing about it.
Some Russian negative pronouns have special meanings, for example:
Ничья[niCHYA](nobody's) can mean “a tie” or “a draw” in sports.
Ничего[nichiVO](nothing) is often used in the meaning “it’s okay” to reassure or calm somebody down, or “never mind.”
Ничего, все наладится!
nichiVO, fsyo naLAditsya
It’s ok, everything will work out!
Что ты хотел? - O, ничего.
shto ен khaTYEL? - O, nichiVO
What did you want? - Oh, nothing / never mind.
Никакой[nikaKOY](no/none) may also mean:
“dead tired”
Он после работы приходил никакой.
on POSlye raBOty prikhaDEEL nikaKOY
He came from work dead tired.
“of no talent or skill”
Художник из него никакой.
khooDOZHnik iz niVO nikaKOY
He is no artist. / He has no artistic talent.
Не за что is a typical reply in Russian to Спасибо, so basically it means, “You are welcome!”
In this post we discussed how to form negative words in Russian:
You can add ни-[ni-] and не-[nye-] to question words to form negative words.
Some of these words change forms, some do not.
While не-[nye-] is a purely negative element, ни-[ni-] is an intensifier
As long as there is a не- in a sentence (or when it is implied), you can add a virtually unlimited number of negative words with ни-[ni-].
Ready to put Russian negative words into practice? Check out the activities and study sheet below!
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