Negation — Croatian Grammar

Croatian negates with the little word , but two features will surprise an English speaker: some verbs fuse the negation into a single word, and Croatian piles up negatives where English allows only one.

The Basic 'ne'

To negate an ordinary verb, put 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.

Fused Negatives: 'biti' and 'imati'

Two very common verbs swallow the into one word. "To be" gives , , and so on; "to have" gives , , .

Nisam umoran.
I am not tired.
To nije moje.
That is not mine.
Nemam vremena.
I do not have time.

Double Negation Is Required

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

Nitko 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.

Negative Commands with 'nemoj'

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

Nemoj plakati.
Don't cry.
Nemojte se brinuti.
Don't worry.

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

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

Ne pijem ni čaj ni kavu.
I drink neither tea nor coffee.
Nema ni vremena ni novca.
He has neither time nor money.

Negating 'have' Pulls the Genitive

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

Imam novac.
I have money.
Nemam novca.
I don't have any money.

A Whole Family of 'ni-' Words

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

(nobody), (nothing)
(never), (nowhere)
(not one), (no kind of)

Nigdje ga nema.
He is nowhere to be found.
Nemam nikakav plan.
I have no plan at all.

Saying 'No'

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

Ne, hvala.
No, thank you.
Ne, nisam.
No, I am not.

In the course

Sentences from Lingora’s Croatian course

73 of the course's 500 sentences use this, the first in lesson 16. A few of them, with the words “Negation” is about in bold:

On također spava. Ona ne spava.
He is also sleeping. She isn't.
Lesson 16
Osjećam se odlično! Nisam bolestan. Zdrav sam.
I feel great! I am not sick. I am healthy.
Lesson 64
Nisam te vidjela devet godina!
I haven't seen you for nine years!
Lesson 175

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