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Russian Negative Pronouns

Russian grammar --> Negative Pronouns

Negative pronouns are words used to indicate the absence or non-existence of people, objects, or other entities. In Russian, this function is performed by two sets of pronouns formed from interrogative/relative pronouns:

- pronouns formed by means of the prefix ни-: никто, ничто, никакой, ничей
- pronouns некого, нечего

Pronouns никто, ничто, никакой, ничей

Usage

The pronouns никто, ничто, никакой, ничей are used to refer to unidentified persons and things that do not exist or are not present. They correspond to English words nobody/no one/not anyone, nothing/not anything, not any kind of and no one's/not anyone's, respectively.

When these pronouns are used in a sentence, the verb is negated with the negative particle не. Such constructions are called double negative, and it means that several parts of the phrase may be negated, but it expresses a single negation. Unlike English, Russian sententces can have several negatives together with a negated verb.

Sometimes, Russian negative sentences do not contain verbs. In such instances, the use of negative pronouns do not change the negative construction.

Declension

These pronouns decline similarily to the corresponding interrogative/relative pronouns. When they are used with a preposition, the prefix ни- is detached and the preposition comes between ни and the second part of the pronoun. Note that ничто in the accusative case takes the forms of the genitive.

Pronouns некого, нечего

Usage

These negative pronouns are used in impersonal constructions with the infinitive form of the verb and correspond to English constructions "there is no one to + verb" and "there is nothing to + verb". The verbs in Russian phrases containing pronouns некого and нечего are not negated.

Declension

These pronouns decline similarily to the corresponding interrogative/relative pronouns. However, these negative pronouns do not occur in the nominative case forms to express negation, since impersonal consructions in which they are used do not have subject. The nominative forms may occur (никто, ничто), but they will have a different meaning and refer to unspecified beings and objects(see also: Indefinite Pronouns).

When they are used with a preposition, the prefix не- is detached and the preposition is placed between не and the second part of the pronoun.