Kilo Lingo

Ch 1 · Lesson 31

Не and нет: saying no

goes in front of whatever it denies, with no do to bolt on: . is the answer no, and it also means there is no.

The short version

Ne negates a word; net means there is none

. (Ego net doma.)

He is not at home.
Why?

Ne goes directly in front of the word it negates, usually the verb. Net is a word of its own: it is the answer no, and it means there is no, with the missing thing in the genitive. In the past it becomes ne bylo, frozen in the neuter whatever is missing, because the missing thing is not the subject.

Russian negation is simpler than English in one way and stricter in another. Simpler, because there is no do to bolt on: is I don't know. Stricter, because a word like nobody or never demands a second negative: , word for word nobody not knows, is the only correct way to say it.

не (negates)ни- (reinforces)genitiveWhat do the colours mean?
RussianEnglishThe rule
.I don't know. before the word it denies
, .No, thanks. is the answer no
.I have no time. + genitive: there is no
.Nobody knows.a -word needs as well

не: the basic negator

goes immediately before the word it negates. Most of the time that is the verb:

Я не знаю: I don’t know
  • . - I don't know.
  • . - I don't like coffee.
  • . - He doesn't understand.

There is no auxiliary and no change of word order. Because negates whatever it sits in front of, you can move it to change what is being denied:

RussianEnglish
.That is not what I said.
.It wasn't me who did it.
.This is not my car.
.He is not a doctor.

In the last two there is no verb to negate, because быть vanishes in the present, so sits in front of the thing being denied.

Two words pair with so often that they are worth learning as units:

  • . - He hasn't arrived yet. ( , not yet)
  • . - I don't work there any more. ( , no longer)

In the past tense, pulls the stress onto itself with most forms of , but not the feminine:

RussianSaidEnglish
NYE bylhe wasn't
NYE by-lathere wasn't
ne by-LAshe wasn't

нет: no, and there is no

(nyet) is a separate word, not a stronger , and it has two jobs. The first is the answer no:

  • ? , . - Do you want coffee? No, thanks.

The second is there is no or there isn't. Here it brings the genitive with it, because Russian expresses absence as a genitive:

  • . - I have no time.
  • . - There is no water here.
  • . - She has no money.
On a table, a smiling blue bowl heaped with steaming porridge and berries, a spoon standing in it, beside a sleepy green bowl that has been eaten clean, the spoon resting inside and a few crumbs left.
  1. .
  2. .

Каша есть: there is porridge. Каши нет: there is no porridge. Once it is gone, каша turns into the genitive каши.

only works in the present. In the past it becomes , always neuter and singular, whatever is missing; in the future, :

TenseRussianEnglish
present .He isn't at home.
past .He wasn't at home yesterday.
future .I won't be here tomorrow.

That frozen neuter catches everybody. It does not agree with the missing person, because the missing person is not the subject; they are in the genitive, and the sentence has no subject at all:

  • . - She wasn't at home. (never )

The genitive case covers this pattern in full.

Going further: ни: the double negative, and why it is compulsory and the rest of the guide, when you want them. This lesson does not need them.

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Lesson 31 of 43 in this chapter

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