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The Negative Pronouns

The document explains the use and formation of negative pronouns in Russian, such as никто, ничто, некого, and нечего, which refer to absent or nonexistent entities. It details how these pronouns are derived from interrogative pronouns using prefixes and how they change by cases, gender, and number. Additionally, it provides examples of their usage in sentences and highlights the stress patterns associated with the prefixes не- and ни-.

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15 views4 pages

The Negative Pronouns

The document explains the use and formation of negative pronouns in Russian, such as никто, ничто, некого, and нечего, which refer to absent or nonexistent entities. It details how these pronouns are derived from interrogative pronouns using prefixes and how they change by cases, gender, and number. Additionally, it provides examples of their usage in sentences and highlights the stress patterns associated with the prefixes не- and ни-.

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allaminislam7966
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We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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The Negative Pronouns

In Russian, pronouns are words that substitute for nouns or adjectives. The negative pronouns никто,
ничто, некого, нечего, никакой, ничей, нисколько are used to talk about absent or
nonexistent things and people.

Consider these examples:

• В доме ничего нет.


• (There is nothing at home.)
• Он никого не знает.
• (He doesn't know anybody.)

There are many more negative pronouns than listed above. You can make up your own Russian
negative pronouns once you know how they are formed. You should be familiar with the interrogative
pronouns from our previous lessons.

How to form Russian negative pronouns


The negative pronouns are formed from the interrogative pronouns with the help of such prefixes
as не- and ни-. For example:

Interrogative pronoun Negative pronoun

кто никто

сколько нисколько

что нечто

когда некогда

Note that не- is always stressed. It is used to negate. On the contrary, the prefix ни- is never
stressed. It is used to intensify negation. Here are some examples:

Я ничего не делал. ни- is used to intensify the negation formed by


I was doing nothing. the verb делал and the particle не.

Мне нечего делать. нe- is used to show that an action can not be
I have nothing to do. performed because there is no an object (i.e.
there is nothing to do)

Changes by cases, gender, and number


The negative pronouns никто, ничто change by cases like their interrogative counterparts кто, что.
Change by cases

Case никто ничто

Nominative никто ничто

Genitive никого ничего

Dative никому ничему

Accusative никого ничего

Instrumental никем ничем

Prepositional ни о ком ни о чём

The negative pronouns некого, нечего do not have the nominative form.

Change by cases

Case некого нечего

Nominative — —

Genitive некого нечего

Dative некому нечему

Accusative некого нечто

Instrumental некем нечем

Prepositional не с кем не о чем


The negative pronouns никакой, ничей change by gender and number.

Singular masculine Singular neuter Singular feminine Plural (any gender)

никакой никакое никакая никакие

ничей ничьё ничья ничьи

These pronouns change by cases the same way as negative pronouns they were formed from.

Change by cases

Case никакой ничей

Nominative никакой ничей

Genitive никакого ничьего

Dative никакому ничьему

Accusative никого (animate) ничьего (animate)


никакой (inanimate) ничей (inanimate)

Instrumental никаким ничьим

Prepositional ни о каком ни о чьём

The pronouns некого, нечего are used in impersonal sentences, i.e. those that do not refer to a
particular person or thing. For example:

• Нам некого и нечего бояться.


• (We have nobody and nothing to fear.)

Negative pronouns with prepositions


When used with prepositions, the negative pronouns fall into two parts. The preposition is to be placed
between the particle не and ни and corresponding interrogative pronoun (кого, кем, etc.). For
example:
Nominative Pronoun with preposition Example

никого ни у кого Ни у кого нет книги.


(Nobody has a book.)

некого не у кого Мне не у кого спросить.


(I have nobody to ask.)

некому не к кому Ему не к кому обратиться.


(He has nobody to address to.)

никем ни с кем Он ни с кем не хочеть дружить.


(He does not want to be friends with anybody.)

Stress patterns
Finally, there are some more examples to demonstrate the stress patterns. Remember, that in
Russian negative pronuns, the ни part is never stressed, while the не part is always stressed.
Compare the following sentences:

не ни
Некому приехать к родителям. Никому не надо приезжать.
(There is nobody to visit parents.) (Nobody has to visit.)
Ребёнок ни с кем не хочет играть.
Ребёнку не с кем играть.
(The child does not want to play with
(The child has nobody to play with.)
anybody.)
Мне нечем рисовать. Я ничем не хочу рисовать.
(I have nothing to draw with.) (I do not want to draw with anyting.)

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