ni

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (GA)

  (file)

Noun

ni

1. (grammar) Initialism of noun inanimate.

See also

• na
• nad
• nid

Anagrams

• -in, -in', IN, i'n, in, in-

Abinomn

Pronoun

ni

1. you (singular)

Afar

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈni/,

Determiner

ní

1. our
   • Saytun Qhuraan kee kay maqnah tarjamaty Qafar afal tani [The clear Qur'an and its explanation translated into the Afar language]‎, Suurat Al-Faatica, verse 5:

     Diggah nanu Ni Rabbow koo inkittosnaah Qibaada dibuk koo caglisna, nanu ni-caagiidah inkih cato koo esserra.

     Our God, with strength we make you whole, only you we give adoration, we as one ask you for help with our afairs.

See also

References

• E. M. Parker, R. J. Hayward (1985) “ni”, in An Afar-English-French dictionary (with Grammatical Notes in English), University of London, →ISBN
• Mohamed Hassan Kamil (2015) L’afar: description grammaticale d’une langue couchitique (Djibouti, Erythrée et Ethiopie)‎, Paris: Université Sorbonne Paris Cité (doctoral thesis)

Ainu

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nʲi/

Noun

ni (Kana spelling ニ)

1. tree
2. wood

Synonyms

• cikuni

Albanian

Alternative forms

• tani
• nani
• nime

Etymology

From Proto-Albanian *nū, from Proto-Indo-European *nū (“now”). Cognate to Sanskrit नू (nū, “now”). Often occurs in coordination with other particles, compare tani, nani, nime.

Adverb

ni

1. now

   Synonyms: tash, tani, hë, nani, nime

Related terms

• nu

References

Anguthimri

Noun

ni

1. (Mpakwithi) place
2. (Mpakwithi) camp

References

• Terry Crowley, The Mpakwithi dialect of Anguthimri (1981), page 187

Aromanian

Alternative forms

• nã

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin nīs, from Latin nos. Compare Romanian ne (older form nă).

Pronoun

ni (unstressed accusative and reflexive form of noi)

1. (direct object, first-person plural) us

Related terms

• noi (stressed accusative)

Pronoun

ni (unstressed dative and reflexive form of noi)

1. (indirect object, first-person plural) (to) us

Related terms

• nau (stressed dative)

See also

• vi

Asturian

Noun

ni f (uncountable)

1. nu (name for the letter of the Greek alphabet: Ν and ν)

Atong (India)

Etymology

From Proto-Bodo-Garo *nɯi⁴ (“two”), from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *g/s-ni-s (“two”). Cognate with S'gaw Karen ခံ (khee), Tibetan གཉིས (gnyis), Sikkimese ཉི (nyi), Nuosu ꑍ (nyip), Burmese နှစ် (hnac).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ni/

Numeral

ni (Bengali script নি)

1. two

Synonyms

• rongni
• tu
• do

References

• van Breugel, Seino. 2015. Atong-English dictionary, second edition. Available online: https://www.academia.edu/487044/Atong_English_Dictionary.

Bambara

Etymology 1

Noun

ni

1. soul, life, spirit

Etymology 2

Conjunction

ni

1. if

   Ni taara sugu la, i bɛ ne ba ye.

   If you go to the market, you will see my mother

2. when

References

• Richard Nci Diarra, Lexique bambara-français-anglais, December 13, 2010

Basque

Etymology

From Proto-Basque *ni.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ni/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -i
• Hyphenation: ni

Pronoun

ni

1. First-person singular personal pronoun; I
   • 1989, Gorka Aulestia, Basque-English Dictionary, Douglas: William A, page 53:

     Ni errege izan nintzen.

     I was king.

   • 2013, Patricio Urquizu Sarasua, Gramática de la lengua vasca, Universidad Nacional de Educación de Distancia, page 154:

     Ni etorri naiz.

     I have come.

Declension

Derived terms

Further reading

• "ni" in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia , euskaltzaindia.eus
• “ni” in Orotariko Euskal Hiztegia , euskaltzaindia.eus

Biloxi

Noun

ni

1. Synonym of ani (“water”)

References

• David Kaufman, Tanêks-Tąyosą Kadakathi: Biloxi-English Dictionary (University of Kansas, 2011, →ISBN, page 34

Breton

Etymology 1

From Proto-Brythonic *ni, from Proto-Celtic *snīs.

Pronoun

ni

1. we (first-person plural personal pronoun)

Etymology 2

From Proto-Brythonic *nei, from Proto-Celtic *neɸūss, from Proto-Indo-European *népōts.

Noun

ni m (plural nied)

1. nephew

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencian)
• Rhymes: -i

Etymology 1

Conjunction

ni

1. neither, nor

Adverb

ni

1. not even, even

Etymology 2

Noun

ni f (plural nis)

1. nu; the Greek letter Ν (lowercase ν)

Danish

Danish cardinal numbers

<  8	9	10  >
Cardinal : ni     Ordinal : niende

Etymology

From Old Norse níu, from Proto-Germanic *newun, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁néwn̥ (“nine”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /niː/,

Numeral

ni

1. nine

Drung

Etymology

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-nəj.

Noun

ni

1. day

References

• Ross Perlin (2019) A Grammar of Trung‎, Santa Barbara: University of California

Dumbea

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ni/

Pronoun

ni

1. they

References

• Leenhardt, M. (1946) Langues et dialectes de l'Austro-Mèlanèsie. Cited in: "ⁿDuᵐbea" in Greenhill, S.J., Blust, R., & Gray, R.D. (2008). The Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database: From Bioinformatics to Lexomics. Evolutionary Bioinformatics, 4:271–283.
• Shintani, T.L.A. & Païta, Y. (1990) Dictionnaire de la langue de Païta, Nouméa: Sociéte d'etudes historiques de Nouvelle-Calédonie. Cited in: "Drubea" in Greenhill, S.J., Blust, R., & Gray, R.D. (2008). The Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database: From Bioinformatics to Lexomics. Evolutionary Bioinformatics, 4:271–283.

Eastern Huasteca Nahuatl

Determiner

ni

1. this.

Pronoun

ni

1. this.

Esperanto

Etymology

From Italian noi, French nous, Spanish nos, Latin nos, plus the i of personal pronouns.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /ni/

Pronoun

ni (first-person plural, accusative nin, possessive nia)

1. we (first-person plural personal pronoun)

   Ni batis lin.

   We hit him.

2. ourselves

   Ni diris al ni.

   We said to ourselves.

French

Etymology

From Middle French ny, from Old French ne, from Latin nec. Compare Italian né, Catalan and Spanish ni, Portuguese nem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ni/

• audio

  (file)

Conjunction

ni

1. neither; nor
   • 1898, Revue du monde invisible, page 339:

     Notre imagination, si ardente qu’on la suppose, ne peut ni guérir instantanément une lésion organique, ni ressusciter un mort.

     Our imagination, so ardent as we suppose, can neither instantaneously heal an organic lesion, nor resuscitate the dead.

   • 1876, Bulletins et mémoires de la Société médicale des hôpitaux de Paris, Volume 12:

     […] les constitutions accidentelles ou intercurrentes ne sont ni moins importantes ni plus faciles à expliquer.

     accidental or intercurrent constitutions are neither less important nor easier to explain.

   • c. 1656–1662, Blaise Pascal, “Preuves par discours I – Papier original : RO 3-1 r° / v° et RO 7-1 r° / v°”, in Pensées [Thoughts]‎:

     Mais nous ne connaissons ni l’existence ni la nature de Dieu, parce qu’il n’a ni étendue, ni bornes.

     But we know neither the existence nor the nature of God, because He has neither extent nor limits.

Usage notes

• Used with the negative particle ne.
• Chiefly used at least twice in the same sentence the same way neither and nor would be used in an English sentence, such as ni riche, ni pauvre (“neither rich nor poor”).

Derived terms

See also

• soit

Further reading

• “ni”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Gothic

Romanization

ni

1. Romanization of 𐌽𐌹

Hausa

Alternative forms

• níi

Etymology

From Proto-Chadic, from Proto-Afroasiatic *ˀanāku.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /níː/
  • (Standard Kano Hausa) IPA^(key):

Pronoun

nī

1. I (1st person singular pronoun)

See also

• mínì (1st person singular indirect object enclitic pronoun)
• nì (1st person singular independent object pronoun)
• -wá (1st person singular possessive enclitic pronoun)

Hungarian

Etymology

Native word of debated origin:

1. Shortened from nézd (“look!”) ~ nízd (a dialectal variant).
2. An onomatopoeia expressing astonishment.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ni

Interjection

ni

1. (colloquial) lo!, look!

   Itt van ni! ― Look! Here it is!

Usage notes

Most of the time it is used in its duplicated form: nini!

References

Further reading

• ni in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (‘The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN

Idi

Noun

ni

1. water

References

• Idi Organised Phonology Data

Ido

Pronoun

ni

1. (personal) we (first-person plural personal pronoun)

Ingrian

Pronunciation

• (Ala-Laukaa) IPA^(key): /ˈni/,
• (Soikkola) IPA^(key): /ˈni/,
• Rhymes: -i
• Hyphenation: ni

Conjunction

ni

1. Alternative form of niin
   • 1937, V. A. Tetjurev, translated by N. I. Molotsova, Loonnontiito (ensimäin osa): oppikirja alkușkoulun kolmatta klaassaa vart, Leningrad: Riikin Ucebno-Pedagogiceskoi Izdateljstva, page 6:

     Jot saavva tiitä mitä ono pintamaas, ni pittää tehä mokomat oopьtat.

     In order to get to know what is in the topsoil, (that's why) it's important to perform such experiments.

References

• Ruben E. Nirvi (1971) Inkeroismurteiden Sanakirja, Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura, page 340

Interlingua

Alternative forms

• nec

Etymology

From French and Spanish ni, from Latin nec (“and not”).

Adverb

ni

1. and not.

   Io non sape, ni vole saper ― I don’t know, and I don’t want to know

2. Neither, nor.

   Illo ni me place ni displace ― It neither pleases me nor displeases me

3. And, or (following a "with no" or "without").

   Nos debe resister sin aqua ni alimento ― We must resist with no water or food

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈni/
• Rhymes: -i
• Hyphenation: nì

Etymology 1

Blend of no +‎ sì.

Adverb

ni

1. (informal) neither yes nor no

Etymology 2

Noun

ni m or f (invariable)

1. nu (Greek letter)

Anagrams

• in, in-

Japanese

Romanization

ni

1. Rōmaji transcription of に
2. Rōmaji transcription of ニ

Kamano

Alternative forms

• nina

Noun

ni

1. water

References

• The Papuan Languages of New Guinea (1986, →ISBN

Kansa

Etymology

From Proto-Siouan *wa-rį́• (“water”).

Noun

ni

1. water
2. any liquid
3. river

References

• Kansa dictionary
• Quapaw dictionary, in notes: "ni (ni) - water, river, liquid (Kanza)"

Kedah Malay

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ni/

Pronoun

ni

1. you (singular)

Klao

Noun

ni

1. water

References

• World Lexicon of Grammaticalization (2002, →ISBN

Laboya

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Noun

ni

1. coconut

References

• Allahverdi Verdizade (2019) “ni”, in Lamboya word list‎, Leiden: LexiRumah

Latin

Etymology

From Old Latin nei, from Proto-Italic *nei, from Proto-Indo-European *néy (“not”), from *ne. Cognates include Gothic 𐌽𐌴𐌹 (nei), Lithuanian nei, Old Church Slavonic ни (ni), Old Irish ní and Sanskrit न (ná). See also nē.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /niː/,
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ni/,

Adverb

nī (not comparable)

1. not, if...not, unless- an absolutely negative particle like ne so only in combinations

Derived terms

• quid nī? (why not?)
• nīmīrum (not wonderful)
• nisi

Conjunction

nī

1. not, that not, unless; like ne in imperative and intentional clauses

   Ni quid tibi hinc in spem referas. ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   Vinum aliudve quid ni laudato. ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   Numa constituit, ut pisces, qui squamosi non essent, ni pollucerent ... ni qui ad polluctum emerent. ― Numa ordained scaleless fish not to be served nor bought for serving.

Ligurian

Etymology

From Latin nec.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ni/

Conjunction

ni

1. nor
2. neither...nor
3. either...or

Livonian

Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *nügüt. Cognates include Finnish nyt.

Adverb

ni

1. now

Luxembourgish

Etymology

From Middle High German nie, from Old High German nio. Cognate with German nie.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /niː/

Adverb

ni

1. never

Synonyms

• (never): nimools, keemol, keemools

Malay

Alternative forms

• ini
• اين
• ني

Etymology

Shortened form of ini, from Proto-Malayic *(i)ni(ʔ), from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *(i-)ni, from Proto-Austronesian *(i-)ni.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ni/
• Rhymes: -ni, -i

Determiner

ni

1. (colloquial) this (the (thing) here)
2. (colloquial) this (known (thing) just mentioned)
3. (colloquial) this (known (thing) about to be mentioned)
4. (colloquial) this (known (thing) that the speaker does not think is known to the audience)

Pronoun

ni

1. (colloquial) this (The thing, item, etc. being indicated)

Mandarin

Romanization

ni

1. Nonstandard spelling of nī.
2. Nonstandard spelling of ní.
3. Nonstandard spelling of nǐ.
4. Nonstandard spelling of nì.

Usage notes

• Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.

Marshallese

Etymology

From Proto-Micronesian *niu, from Proto-Oceanic *niuʀ, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *niuʀ.

Pronunciation

• (phonetic) IPA^(key):
• (phonemic) IPA^(key): /nʲij/
• Bender phonemes: {niy}

Noun

ni

1. coconut tree

Related terms

• iu (coconut)

References

• Marshallese–English Online Dictionary

Middle English

Adverb

ni

1. Alternative form of ne

Conjunction

ni

1. Alternative form of ne

Middle Irish

Particle

ni

1. Alternative spelling of ní

Mohegan-Pequot

Pronoun

ni (first person singular)

1. singular first-person pronoun I

Navajo

Pronoun

ni

1. second person singular pronoun you

   Shí dóó ni ayóo ałk’is niidlį́.

   You and I are really good friends.

2. second person singular possessive pronoun yours

   Díí naaltsoos éí ni.

   This book is yours.

Usage notes

The verb in Navajo incorporates information about person, and many sentences may thus not have explicit independent pronouns. For instance:

• Hooghandi naniná.
• Ni éí hooghandi naniná.

Both sentences are grammatically complete, and mean essentially the same thing: you are at home. The verb naniná is in the second-person form, so the pronoun can be safely omitted, as in the first sentence. This is similar to pronoun dropping in other languages where the verb specifies person, such as Spanish. Meanwhile, the explicit use of ni in the second sentence emphasizes that the speaker is talking about you. This can be thought of as roughly equivalent to the use of emphasis in English: while the first sentence comes across as you're at home, the second one is more like you, you're at home.

See also

Naxi

Etymology 1

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-ŋja.

Noun

ni

1. fish

Etymology 2

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *g/s-ni-s.

Numeral

ni

1. two

References

• Naxi Dictionary by T.M. Pinson, Lijiang 2012

Ningil

Noun

ni

1. water

References

• transnewguinea.org, citing D. C. Laycock, Languages of the Lumi Subdistrict (West Sepik District), New Guinea (1968), Oceanic Linguistics, 7 (1): 36-66 : /niː/
• Margaret Manning, Naomi Saggers, A Tentative Phonemic Analysis of Ningil (SIL), in Phonologies of five Austronesian languages (Richard Loving, John M. Clifton; 1975) : /ni/

Norwegian Bokmål

Norwegian Bokmål cardinal numbers

<  8	9	10  >
Cardinal : ni     Ordinal : niende

Etymology

From Old Norse níu (whence also Danish ni, Icelandic níu, Faroese níggju and Swedish nio) from Proto-Germanic *newun, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁néwn̥. Cognate with Gothic 𐌽𐌹𐌿𐌽 (niun); Old English niġon (English nine); Old Frisian nigun (West Frisian njoggen); Old High German niun (German neun).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ni/

Numeral

ni

1. nine

Derived terms

• førtini
• nittini

Related terms

• niende

References

• “ni” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Norwegian Nynorsk cardinal numbers

<  8	9	10  >
Cardinal : ni     Ordinal : niande

Alternative forms

• nio, nie

Etymology

From Old Norse níu.

Numeral

ni

1. nine

Derived terms

• førtini
• nittini

References

• “ni” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Nutabe

Noun

ni

1. water

References

• Paul Rivet, Nouvelle contribution à l’étude de l’ethnologie précolombienne de Colombie, Journal de la Société des Américanistes volume 35, pages 25-39 (1943), page 26

Old High German

Alternative forms

• ne

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *ne.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ni/

Particle

ni

1. not

Derived terms

• nein

Descendants

• Middle High German: ne
  • German: nee (dialectal)

Old Irish

Particle

ni

1. Alternative spelling of ní

Omaha-Ponca

Etymology

From Proto-Siouan *wa-rį́• (“water”).

Noun

ni

1. water

References

• Alice Cunningham Fletcher, Francis La Flesche, The Omaha Tribe (1970), page 166

Phalura

Etymology 1

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ni/

Determiner

ni (demonstrative, Perso-Arabic spelling نیۡ)

1. this (agr: prox fem / prox non-nom masc)

References

• Liljegren, Henrik, Haider, Naseem (2011) Palula Vocabulary (FLI Language and Culture Series; 7)‎, Islamabad, Pakistan: Forum for Language Initiatives, →ISBN

Etymology 2

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ni/

Determiner

ni (demonstrative, Perso-Arabic spelling نیۡ)

1. these (agr: prox)

References

• Liljegren, Henrik, Haider, Naseem (2011) Palula Vocabulary (FLI Language and Culture Series; 7)‎, Islamabad, Pakistan: Forum for Language Initiatives, →ISBN

Etymology 3

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ni/

Pronoun

ni (demonstrative, Perso-Arabic spelling نیۡ)

1. it
2. she (prox fem nom)

References

• Liljegren, Henrik, Haider, Naseem (2011) Palula Vocabulary (FLI Language and Culture Series; 7)‎, Islamabad, Pakistan: Forum for Language Initiatives, →ISBN

Etymology 4

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ni/

Pronoun

ni (demonstrative, Perso-Arabic spelling نیۡ)

1. they (prox nom)

References

• Liljegren, Henrik, Haider, Naseem (2011) Palula Vocabulary (FLI Language and Culture Series; 7)‎, Islamabad, Pakistan: Forum for Language Initiatives, →ISBN

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɲi/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -i
• Syllabification: ni

Etymology 1

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *ni.

Conjunction

ni

1. (archaic) Alternative form of ani

Derived terms

Particle

ni

1. (dialectal) Alternative form of nie

Etymology 2

Noun

ni n (indeclinable)

1. Alternative form of ny

Further reading

• ni in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• ni in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek νῦ (nû).

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: ni

Noun

ni m (plural nis)

1. nu (the thirteenth letter of the Greek alphabet)

Proto-Norse

Romanization

ni

1. Romanization of ᚾᛁ

Rawang

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ni˧/

Etymology 1

Alternative forms

• vni

Verb

ni

1. to pour; to water.

Etymology 2

Alternative forms

• vni

Noun

ni

1. headhair.

Etymology 3

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-nəj. Cognate with Burmese နေ (ne) and နေ့ (ne.), Old Chinese 日 (*njiɡ).

Noun

ni

1. day (24 hour).

See also

• yáng (“daytime”)

Romanian

Etymology 1

Inherited from Latin.

Pronoun

ni

1. Alternative form of ne (dative of noi): to us

Usage notes

This form is used when ne (which is dative) is combined with the following accusatives:

• îl (the accusative of el, contracted as ni-l)
• îi (the accusative of ei, contracted as ni-i)
• le (the accusative of ele)
• se (the reflexive accusative of all third-person pronouns)

See also

• li
• vi

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Hungarian ni.

Interjection

ni

1. (Transylvania) lo!, look!, behold!

   Ni la el! ― Look at him!

Samoan

Article

ni

1. some (plural indefinite article)

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *ni (“nor, not”), from Proto-Balto-Slavic *nej, from Proto-Indo-European *ney. Compare ni-, ne.

Particle

ni (Cyrillic spelling ни)

1. (emphasizes negation) even, either

   ni ja to ne znam — even I don't know that; I don't know that either

   Nisam ni htio čuti njegov prijedlog.

   I didn't even want to hear his proposal.

Conjunction

ni (Cyrillic spelling ни)

1. (shortening of niti) neither, nor

   ona nije ni pametna ni(ti) marljiva — she is neither smart nor industrious

   ni traga ni glasa o .. — not a trace about ..

   ni kriv ni dužan — completely innocent (lit. neither guilty nor indebted)

Sicilian

Alternative forms

• nni

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):
• (unstressed) IPA^(key):

Pronoun

ni

1. us, accusative of nuàutri
2. us, dative of nuàutri
3. us, reflexive of nuàutri

Inflection

nominative	nuàutri
prepositional	nuàutri
accusative	ni
dative	ni
reflexive	ni
possessive	nostru

See also

• nuàutri
• vi

Slovene

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nìː/

Verb

ní

1. negative third-person singular present of bíti

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈni/
• Rhymes: -i
• Syllabification: ni

Etymology 1

From Old Spanish nin, from Latin nec, apocopated form of neque, from Proto-Indo-European *nekʷe (“and not, neither, nor”), from *ne (“not”) + *-kʷe (“and”). Compare Asturian and Galician nin, Catalan and French ni, Portuguese nem, Italian né, Dalmatian ne. Indo-European cognates include Gothic 𐌽𐌹𐌷 (nih) and Irish nach.

Conjunction

ni

1. (coordinating) neither... nor

   Antonym: o ... o

   No tengo ni dinero ni tiempo.

   I have neither money nor time.

   1. (with three or more referents) none of...

      Ni Juan, ni Pedro, ni Felipe te darán la razón.

      None of John, Peter, or Phillip will give you the reason.

2. nor, or

   No descansa de día ni de noche.

   He doesn't rest during the day nor during the night.

Derived terms

Adverb

ni

1. not even

   No descansaba ni por un minuto

   I didn't rest even for a minute.

   Ni yo sé qué significa esta palabra.

   Not even I know what this word means.

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Noun

ni f (plural níes)

1. nu; the Greek letter Ν, ν

   Synonym: ny

Further reading

• “ni”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

Swahili

Pronunciation

• Audio (Kenya)

  (file)

Verb

ni

1. positive degree present and gnomic (all persons, numbers, and classes) of -wa (“to be”)

Swedish

Etymology

Since 1661, through rebracketing of the 2nd plural verb suffix -(e)n and the older pronoun I ("ye"), e.g. vissten I > visste ni (“did you know”). Compare Icelandic þér and þið which developed similarly.

The Old Swedish ī, īr derives from Old Norse *īʀ (East Norse variant of ér) from Proto-Germanic *jīz, from Proto-Indo-European *yū́. Compare Danish I.

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /niː/
• Rhymes: -iː

Pronoun

ni

1. you (plural nominative), "y'all"

   Du är bara en person, men ni där borta är fyra personer

   You are just one person, but you/y'all over there are four people

2. you (second-person singular nominative formal) (capitalized Ni, rare in modern use)
   1. (obsolete) title used when addressing a person of lower social rank

      –Ni kan börja med att städa kontoret, fröken Andersson.
      –Javisst, Herr Direktör.

      –You can start with cleaning the office, miss Andersson.
      –Certainly, Mr. Director

   2. (colloquial, perceived formal, derogatory to some) by some considered a respectful alternative to du (“you”), especially when addressing customers or the elderly

      Vill ni ha en påse med köpet?

      Do you want a bag with your purchase?

Usage notes

Both ni and er are second person plural forms, but can also be used as formal second person singular, as in the German Sie or French vous. It may sometimes also be capitalized (Ni, Er). The courteous "ni" was introduced in Swedish around the year 1900 as an alternative to the more complicated pattern of addressing others in the third person singular by their appropriate titles. This required knowledge of social status, occupation, educations, etc. with terms like fru (“Mrs.”) or fröken (“Ms.”), greve (“count”), kamrer (“accountant”), kandidat (“bachelor's degree holder”), etc. However this "ni-reform" was not well liked and when authority came to use the word ni to their subordinates the word got a condescending undertone. Interestingly enough the older I, from which ni was originally formed, was used alongside ni all along (and is still in use in some dialects) but never got the condescending undertone that ni got. This was all phased out gradually during the 1960s and 1970s in the so-called du-reformen, (“the you-reform”). In contemporary Swedish, du is universal and may be used to address anyone, regardless of differences in social status or age.

Ni is used occasionally by younger speakers to address customers in order to be formal and polite. However this is often seen as being overly formal and too contrived, even condescending and insulting, especially by older speakers. Formality and politeness in modern Swedish is not conveyed through specific grammatical forms, but primarily done through indirectness, manners of speaking or various other behaviors.

Declension

Synonyms

• I

References

• ni in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• ni in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• ni in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

Anagrams

• in

Tagalog

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ni/,

• (file)

Etymology 1

From Proto-Austronesian *ni (“marker of possession”).

Preposition

ni (plural nina, Baybayin spelling ᜈᜒ)

1. of; possessive particle, used only with personal names

   bisikleta ni Juan ― Juan's bicycle

2. objective marker for personal names, objective form of si; functional equivalent of ng

See also

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Spanish ni (“not even”), from Old Spanish nin, from Latin nec, apocopated form of neque.

Conjunction

ni (Baybayin spelling ᜈᜒ)

1. neither; nor

   Ni ako hindi nagsisigarilyo. ― Even I don't do cigarettes.

   Ni aso ni pusa. ― Neither dog nor cat.

Adverb

ni (Baybayin spelling ᜈᜒ)

1. not even

   Hindi ako humingi ni isang butil ng bigas. ― I didn't ask not even for a single grain of rice.

Tarifit

Alternative forms

• ney

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

Verb

ni (Tifinagh spelling ⵏⵉ)

1. (intransitive) to mount (on an animal)
2. (intransitive) to get into, to board, to embark (a vehicle)

Conjugation

This verb needs an inflection-table template.

Derived terms

• Verbal noun: tnaya (“mounting, boarding”)
• Causative: sni (“to make board”)
  • Verbal noun: aseniy
• tnaya (“transport”)
• amnay (“rider; cavalier, knight”)

Tokelauan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):
• Hyphenation: ni

Etymology 1

From Proto-Nuclear Polynesian *ni. Cognates include Tuvaluan ni and Samoan ni.

Article

ni

1. Plural indefinite article; any

See also

Etymology 2

Particle

ni

1. Changes a statement into a polite question; isn't it? doesn't it?

References

• R. Simona, editor (1986), Tokelau Dictionary‎, Auckland: Office of Tokelau Affairs, page 250

Unami

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Pronoun

ni

1. I

Ura (Vanuatu)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ni/,

Noun

ni

1. tree

Further reading

• Terry Crowley, Ura: A Disappearing Language of Southern Vanuatu (1999)

Uzbek

Particle

ni (Cyrillic ни)

1. accusative case marker. It is placed after the direct object of a transitive verb.

   Men O'zbek tilini o'rganyapman.

   I am studying Uzbek.

Veps

Etymology

Borrowed from Russian ни (ni).

Determiner

ni

1. not, not a, no

Inflection

Not inflected.

Conjunction

ni ... ni

1. neither ... nor

References

• Zajceva, N. G., Mullonen, M. I. (2007) “ни”, in Uz’ venä-vepsläine vajehnik / Novyj russko-vepsskij slovarʹ [New Russian–Veps Dictionary]‎, Petrozavodsk: Periodika

Vietnamese

Etymology

See này.

This is one of many cases in which monophthongs were not diphthongized in Central Vietnamese, compare mày vs. mi, chấy vs. chí, nước vs. nác.

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key):
• (Huế) IPA^(key):
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key):

Determiner

ni

1. (Central Vietnam) this

Adverb

ni

1. (Central Vietnam) now

See also

Vietnamese demonstratives
Laurence Thompson (1965), Vietnamese Grammar
					Unspecified					Close to the speaker or newly introduced					Remote, already identified
PLACE đ- (first register)					đâu ‘wherever’					đây ‘here’					đấy ‘there’
REFERENCE n- (second register)					nào ‘whichever’					này ‘this’					nọ ‘that’
PROPORTION b- (first register)					bao ‘to whatever extent’					bây ‘to this extent’					bấy ‘to that extent’
MANNER s- (first register) v- (second register)					sao ‘however’					vầy ‘this way’					vậy ‘that way’
Nguyễn Phú Phong (1992), “Vietnamese Demonstratives Revisited”
				D• (Indefinite)				D1 (Proximal)				D2 (Medial)				D3 (Distal)
+NOM(inal)				đâu place-what				đây place-this				đấy place-that1
±NOM(inal)												đó (place-)that1				kia (place-)that2
–NOM(inal)				nào what				nầy this				nấy/ấy that1				nọ that2

Vietnamese demonstratives (alternative version)

	Proximal (*-iː)	Distal 1 (*-iːʔ)	Distal 2 (*-əːʔ)	Distal 3/ Remote (*-ɔːʔ)	Interrogative (rime was a rounded back vowel)
Place, attributive1 n-	ni nì này	nấy	nớ	nọ	nào
Place, nominal2 đ-	đây	đí đấy	—	đó	đâu
Manner r-	ri rày	—	rứa	—	ru sao3
Extent 14 b-	bây	bấy	—	—	bao
Extent 25 v-	vầy	vậy	—	—	—
1 Originally can only follow a nominal (being used attributively), hence nơi này (“this place; here”), nơi nào (“where”) (no longer completely true in the modern language). 2 Can be used on its own/is itself nominal, hence đây (“here”), đâu (“where”). 3 From earlier *C-raːw (where *C is nonspecific consonant). 4 Placed before the head: bây nhiêu (“this much”), bấy nhiêu (“that much”), bao nhiêu (“how much”). 5 Placed after the head: nhanh vầy (“this fast”), nhanh vậy (“that fast/so fast”).

Anagrams

• in

Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /niː/
• Rhymes: -iː

Etymology 1

From Proto-Brythonic *ni, from Proto-Celtic *snīs.

Pronoun

ni

1. us; we

Etymology 2

From Proto-Celtic *nīs, from Proto-Indo-European *ne h₁ésti (“is not”).

Adverb

ni

1. not

West Makian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /n̪i/

Pronoun

ni (possessive prefix ni)

1. second-person singular pronoun, you

See also

References

• Clemens Voorhoeve (1982) The Makian languages and their neighbours‎, Pacific linguistics

Yil

Noun

ni

1. water

References

• transnewguinea.org, citing D. C. Laycock, Languages of the Lumi Subdistrict (West Sepik District), New Guinea (1968), Oceanic Linguistics, 7 (1): 36-66 : /niː/
• A Tentative Phonemic Statement in Yil in West Sepik Province, in Phonologies of five Austronesian languages (Richard Loving, John M. Clifton; 1975) : /ni/

Yoruba

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /nĩ́/

Noun

ní

1. The name of the Latin-script letter N.

See also

• (Latin-script letter names) lẹ́tà; á, bí, dí, é, ẹ́, fí, gí, gbì, hí, í, jí, kí, lí, mí, ní, ó, ọ́, pí, rí, sí, ṣí, tí, ú, wí, yí

Etymology 2

Alternative forms

• nẹ́ (Ondo, Ikalẹ)

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /nĩ́/

Verb

ní

1. (transitive) to have

Etymology 3

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /nĩ́/

Preposition

ní

1. at, in (used when no movement is implied)
2. preposition used for creating adverbials

Derived terms

See also

• sí

Etymology 4

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /nĩ́/

Verb

ní

1. (intransitive) to say

See also

• sọ
• wí

Etymology 5

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /nĩ̄/

Verb

ni

1. (transitive) to be (to have a quality or identification)

Usage notes

This verb cannot be used with regular subject pronouns such as mo or ó, and emphatic subject pronouns must be used in their place. This verb is also often used in a flipped structure where the quality or identification becomes the grammatical subject of the verb while an object pronoun is used for the actual subject of the sentence.

1. Òun ni ọ̀rẹ́ mi. – He is my friend. (uses the emphatic pronoun òun instead of ó)
2. Ṣé ọmọ Yorùbá ni yín? – Are you Yoruba? (Ọmọ Yorùbá becomes the subject of ni while "you" becomes the object pronoun yín)

See also

• jẹ́
• wà

Etymology 6

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /nĩ̄/

1. (intransitive) to be bloated, to be tumid

Derived terms

• níni

Zou

Etymology 1

From Proto-Kuki-Chin *nii, from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-nəj. Cognates include Northern Min 日 (nì) and Burmese နေ (ne).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ni˧/

Noun

ni

1. sun

Etymology 2

Zou cardinal numbers

<  1	2	3  >
Cardinal : ni

From Proto-Kuki-Chin *ni, from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *g/s-ni-s. Cognates include Northern Min 二 (nī) and Tibetan གཉིས (gnyis).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ni˧/

Numeral

ni

1. two

References

• Lukram Himmat Singh (2013) A Descriptive Grammar of Zou, Canchipur: Manipur University, page 40

Zulu

Etymology 1

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Adjective

-ni^?

1. what (kind of)

Inflection

Enumerative concord, tone H
	Modifier
Class 1	muni
Class 2	bani
Class 3	muni
Class 4	mini
Class 5	lini
Class 6	mani
Class 7	sini
Class 8	zini
Class 9	yini
Class 10	zini
Class 11	luni
Class 14	buni
Class 15	kuni
Class 17	kuni

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronoun

-ni

1. Combining stem of nina.

References

• C. M. Doke, B. W. Vilakazi (1972) “-ni”, in Zulu-English Dictionary, →ISBN: “-ni”