What’s the difference between НИчего and НЕчего?
This answer was also published on Reddit:
The words beginning with “ни” are negative pronouns:
- ничто́ – nothing
- никто́ – no one
- никако́й – no
- ниче́й – no one's
- нигде́ – nowhere (about place)
- никуда́ – (to) nowhere (about destination)
- никогда́ – never
When at least one of such pronouns appears in the sentence, the verb should be accompanied with the negative particle “не”:
- Ничто НЕ имеет значения. – Nothing matters.
- Никто этого НЕ знает. – Nobody knows it.
- Антон нигде НЕ работает. – Anton works nowhere.
- Вчера я никуда НЕ ходил. – I didn't go anywhere yesterday.
- Я никогда НЕ был в Италии. – I have never been to Italy.
Such words as не́чего/не́чему/не́чем, не́кого/некому/некем, не́где, не́куда… are used in structures like «Someone has nothing/no one/no place/no time to do something». Note that there forms are stressed on the first syllable (on "не") the dative case should be used here:
- Мне не́чего есть. – I have nothing to eat.
- Тебе не́ с кем поговорить? (the preposition must be inserted between “не” and the pronoun) – Do you have no one to talk to?
- Нам не́ о чем беспокоиться. – We have nothing to worry about.
- Антону не́где жить. – Anton has no place to live.
- Антону не́куда идти. – Anton has no place to go.
If you want to put these sentences in the past tense, add “было”:
- Мне БЫЛО не́чего есть. – I had nothing to eat.
- Тебе БЫЛО не́ с кем поговорить? – Did you have no one to talk to?
- Нам БЫЛО не́ о чем беспокоиться. – We had nothing to worry about.
- Антону БЫЛО не́где жить. – Anton had no place to live.
- Антону БЫЛО не́куда идти. – Anton had no place to go.
For the future tense add “будет”:
- Мне БУДЕТ не́чего есть. – I will have nothing to eat.
- Тебе БУДЕТ не́ с кем поговорить? – Will you have no one to talk to?
- Нам БУДЕТ не́ о чем беспокоиться. – We will have nothing to worry about.
- Антону БУДЕТ не́где жить. – Anton will have no place to live.
- Антону БУДЕТ не́куда идти. – Anton will have no place to go.
If you have any questions or doubts, feel free to leave them in the comments.
Best regards,
Yevgeni Yeliseyev
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