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нельзя. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
нельзя, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
нельзя in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
нельзя you have here. The definition of the word
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Russian
Etymology
From не (ne) + льзя (lʹzja), from Old East Slavic нельзѣ (nelĭzě), нельзѧ (nelĭzę), нельза (nelĭza), from Proto-Slavic *ne / *ně + *lьga (“possibility”) (possibly influenced by its dative *lьdzě), likely related to *lьgъkъ (whence лёгкий (ljóxkij, “light, easy”)).
Compare Ukrainian не́льга (nélʹha), нільга́ (nilʹhá), нельзя́ (nelʹzjá), Belarusian няльга́ (njalʹhá), нільга́ (nilʹhá), не́льга (njélʹha), Old Church Slavonic льзѣ (lĭzě, “possible, possibly”), Slovak nelza, nelzä, neľzä, Old Polish nielza, also modern Slovene lahko (“may, be allowed”)
Pronunciation
Predicative
нельзя́ • (nelʹzjá) (impersonal, invariable)
- it is impossible (perfective aspect), one cannot, you can't
- нельзя́ ему́ + perfective infinitive ― nelʹzjá jemú + perfective infinitive ― it is impossible for him to (perfective infinitive)
- it is prohibited (imperfective aspect), it is forbidden, it is not allowed, one must not
- здесь нельзя́ кури́ть ― zdesʹ nelʹzjá kurítʹ ― it is not allowed to smoke here
- one cannot
- нельзя́ не заме́тить, что он влюби́лся в неё ― nelʹzjá ne zamétitʹ, što on vljubílsja v nejó ― One cannot fail to notice that he has fallen in love with her
- not an option
- Проиграть нельзя́. ― Proigratʹ nelʹzjá. ― Losing is not an option.
Usage notes
Нельзя́ is the negative of мо́жно (móžno).
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