Negation

01

The Basic 'ne'

To negate an ordinary verb, put ne directly in front of it. It is written separately and never changes shape.

• Ne razumijem.

  I do not understand.

• Ona ne govori engleski.

  She does not speak English.

• Ne znam gdje je.

  I do not know where it is.

02

Fused Negatives: 'biti' and 'imati'

Two very common verbs swallow the ne into one word. "To be" gives nisam, nisi, nije and so on; "to have" gives nemam, nemaš, nema.

• Nisam umoran.

  I am not tired.

• To nije moje.

  That is not mine.

• Nemam vremena.

  I do not have time.

03

Double Negation Is Required

This is the big rule: when a sentence has a negative word like ništa (nothing), niko (nobody) or nikad (never), the verb must also be negated. English forbids "I don't know nothing"; Bosnian requires exactly that doubling.

• Niko ne zna.

  Nobody knows.

• Ništa ne vidim.

  I see nothing.

• Nikad ne kasnim.

  I am never late.

• Nikad nikome ništa ne govori.

  He never tells anybody anything.

04

Negative Commands with 'nemoj'

You do not form a negative command with ne plus the imperative. Instead use nemoj (to one person) or nemojte (to several, or polite) followed by the infinitive.

• Nemoj plakati.

  Don't cry.

• Nemojte se brinuti.

  Don't worry.

05

'Neither ... nor' with 'ni ... ni'

To link two negated items, Bosnian uses ni ... ni, again keeping the verb negative.

• Ne pijem ni čaj ni kafu.

  I drink neither tea nor coffee.

• Nema ni vremena ni novca.

  He has neither time nor money.

06

Negating 'have' Pulls the Genitive

After negated "have", the object often slips into the genitive - a rule still strong with nemati.

• Imam novac.

  I have money.

• Nemam novca.

  I don't have any money.

07

A Whole Family of 'ni-' Words

The prefix ni- builds a matching negative for most question words, and every one of them still needs the verb negated.

• niko (nobody), ništa (nothing)
• nikad (never), nigdje (nowhere)
• nijedan (not one), nikakav (no kind of)

• Nigdje ga nema.

  He is nowhere to be found.

• Nemam nikakav plan.

  I have no plan at all.

08

Saying 'No'

The bare answer is ne; to deny a statement Bosnian repeats the negated verb, much as English says "No, I don't".

• Ne, hvala.

  No, thank you.

• Ne, nisam.

  No, I am not.