The Negative 'nogat'

01

The Answer 'No'

On its own, nogat answers a question negatively. This is its commonest use by far, and it is the word you want whenever English would simply say "no".

• Oh nogat!

  Oh no!

• Nogat, em wikend.

  No, it's the weekend.

• Nogat, em anti bilong mi.

  No, she's my aunt.

• Nogat, tasol mi gat kus.

  No, but I have a cough.

• Nogat, dokta tok olsem bai mi stap wanpela wik.

  No, the doctor said I'll stay one week.

Note that yes and nogat say whether the question is right as asked, so a negative question gets the reverse of the English answer. To "Isn't this shirt short?" the reply Yes, em i no sot means "yes, what you said is right: it is not short" - where English would answer "No, it isn't".

• Dispela klos i no sot?

  Isn't this shirt short?

• Yes, em i no sot.

  No, it isn't short.

02

The Verb 'Not Have'

Used with a subject and an object, nogat is a verb in its own right meaning "not to have". There is no separate word for "have" being negated here - nogat simply replaces gat.

• Mi nogat taim.

  I don't have time.

• Mi nogat poro.

  I don't have a friend.

• Em nogat wok.

  He doesn't have a job.

• Mi nogat planti mani.

  I don't have much money.

• Mi nogat tru mani.

  I really don't have money.

03

'There Isn't'

Tok Pisin says "there is" with i gat, which has no subject at all - it is simply the marker plus the verb. Its negative is the same construction with nogat, giving "there isn't".

• I gat sampela hevi?

  Are there any problems?

• Nogat, i nogat hevi.

  No, there's no problem.

• Nogat rong.

  There's nothing wrong.

That reply is a compact illustration of the whole topic: the first nogat is the answer "no", the second is the existential "there isn't".

04

Answer and Verb Together

A single exchange can use the answer word and the verb together, showing that the same word asks the question and answers it.

• Yu nogat wanpela wok mani?

  Don't you have a salary?

• Nogat, mi nogat wok.

  No, I don't have a job.

05

The Tag Question

Tacked onto the end of a statement after o ("or"), nogat turns it into a question - the equivalent of English "…, isn't it?" or "…, or not?". English builds its tag out of whatever auxiliary the sentence happened to use, so it changes shape every time; Tok Pisin uses the same two words regardless.

• Dispela tok em i tru, o nogat?

  Is this true, or not?

• Ol i laik helpim yu, o nogat?

  Do they want to help you, or not?

• Save bilong yu inap, o nogat?

  Is your knowledge enough, or not?

06

A Note on Spelling

nogat is written both as one word and, in the "not have" and "there isn't" uses, spaced as no gat. The answer word stays joined. Both spellings are current and mean the same thing.