ніхто, нічога, ніякі - and the pair нічога against няма чаго, which look alike, mean different things and take different cases.
I can use the negative pronouns with the compulsory не, split them correctly around a preposition, and tell нічога from няма чаго.
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
Ніхто нічога не ведае пра гэта.
Nobody knows anything about it.
Я ні з кім пра гэта не размаўляў.
I have not talked to anybody about it.
Няма чаго рабіць - усе сышлі.
There is nothing to do - everyone has left.
Ні ў кога няма ключа ад дзвярэй.
Nobody has the key to the door.
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
| ніхто | nobody | ніхто не прыйшоў |
| нічога | nothing | нічога не ведаю |
| ніякі | no kind of | ніякай розніцы |
| нічый | nobody's | нічыя кніга |
| ніколі | never | ніколі не быў |
| нідзе | nowhere | нідзе не бачыў |
Every one of them requires не on the verb as well. The double negative is not emphasis; it is the grammar.
When a preposition governs a ні- pronoun, it goes inside, between the ні and the rest:
Written as three words. This is the feature that most often gets written wrong.
Two forms that look related and are not interchangeable:
| Form | Means | Structure |
|---|---|---|
| нічога не | a plain negative | Я нічога не ведаю. - I know nothing. |
| няма чаго | there is nothing to | Няма чаго рабіць. - There is nothing to do. |
The second is impersonal: no subject, and it takes an infinitive. The same pattern gives няма каго спытаць (there is nobody to ask) and няма дзе жыць (there is nowhere to live).
Repeated ні joins two negated items, and the verb still takes не: Ён не піша ні па-беларуску, ні па-англійску.
Apply this grammar in B1 course exercises
Practice ExercisesTypical errors: dropping the не from the verb, and writing the preposition outside the pronoun instead of inside it.
Dropping не from the verb
The double negative is compulsory: ніхто не прыйшоў.
Putting the preposition before the whole pronoun
It goes inside: ні з кім, ні пра што, ні ў кога.
Writing и instead of і
Ніхто, нічога, ніякі, ніколі, нідзе.
Confusing нічога не with няма чаго
Нічога не ведаю is a plain negative; няма чаго рабіць is impersonal with an infinitive.
Ніхто нічога не ведае пра гэта.
Nobody knows anything about it.
Three negatives, all required.
Я ні з кім пра гэта не размаўляў.
I have not talked to anybody about it.
The preposition sits inside the pronoun, written as three words.
Няма чаго рабіць - усе сышлі.
There is nothing to do - everyone has left.
The impersonal construction: no subject, and an infinitive follows.
Ні ў кога няма ключа ад дзвярэй.
Nobody has the key to the door.
A split pronoun with <em>ў</em>, and <em>няма</em> taking the genitive.
Ён не гаворыць ні па-беларуску, ні па-англійску.
He speaks neither Belarusian nor English.
Repeated <em>ні</em>, and the verb still carries <em>не</em>.
Practice in course
Apply this grammar in B1 course exercises
The current academic reference grammar; the linked edition serves the full text. Its morphology part is the source for the paradigms used here. On the neuter noun it states the nominative singular endings as -а (-о) and -е (-ё), and gives the nominative plural as -ы after a hard consonant (сёлы, вёдры) against -і after a soft consonant and after к, х (палі, воблакі).
The academic reference grammar behind the phonology, orthoepy and morphology sections: the 32-letter inventory, дж and дз as digraphs rather than letters, and the normative description of akanne and jakanne. A print work; no URL is given, because the only one available is a library catalogue record that carries none of the text.