LingoflyNegation: nemaie, nikhto ne, nide ne
Absence gets its own word: nemaie (short nema) plus the of form. Nemaie chasu there is no time, nemaie zviazku no signal, nemaie vilnykh nomeriv no rooms free. There is no subject at all — the same move as English there is no. For example: “У (U) мене (Mene) немає (nemaie) дрібних грошей” (hroshei) — I do not have small change. A rule from the Ukrainian course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
Absence gets its own word: nemaie (short nema) plus the of form. Nemaie chasu there is no time, nemaie zviazku no signal, nemaie vilnykh nomeriv no rooms free. There is no subject at all — the same move as English there is no.
In the past and future the word changes but the case does not: vchora ne bulo svitla, zavtra ne bude doshchu.
To negate a verb, ne stands separately: ne practsiuie, ne znaiu, ne chipaite. Written together, ne appears only where the word cannot exist without it: nenavydity, nezabarom.
And negation is double, every time: nikhto ne znaye, nichoho ne stalosia, nide ne bachyv, nikoly ne zapiznuiusia. Dropping the second half is not casual style — the sentence breaks. English slang jokes with I do not see nothing; Ukrainian insists on it as grammar.
Table
| time | shape | example |
|---|---|---|
| right now | nemaie + the of form | nemaie chasu |
| past | ne bulo + the of form | ne bulo svitla |
| future | ne bude + the of form | ne bude doshchu |
| with verbs | ne + verb | ne practsiuie |
By example
- У мене немає дрібних грошейU mene nemaie dribnykh hrosheiI do not have small change
How the rule settles in your head
A rule is not memorized from an explanation. It is memorized from an attempt to use it and a mistake — that is why the app delivers it mixed in with words, not as a separate lesson: it resurfaces exactly where you forgot it.
Frequently asked
How to say there is no in Ukrainian: nemaie?
Absence gets its own word: nemaie (short nema) plus the of form. Nemaie chasu there is no time, nemaie zviazku no signal, nemaie vilnykh nomeriv no rooms free. There is no subject at all — the same move as English there is no.
What does it look like in a Ukrainian example sentence?
“У (U) мене (Mene) немає (nemaie) дрібних грошей” (hroshei) (U mene nemaie dribnykh hroshei) — I do not have small change. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.