ní

See also Appendix:Variations of "ni"

Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA: [n̠ʲiː], [nʲiː]

Etymology 1

From Old Irish níd

Alternative forms

• nídh

Noun

ní m (genitive ní, nominative plural nithe)

1. A thing (inanimate)
2. An object

Synonyms

• rud

Derived terms

• neamhní (“nothing”)

Etymology 2

From Old Irish nige.

Alternative forms

• nighe (obsolete)

Noun

ní f (genitive nite)

1. Verbal noun of nigh.

Etymology 3

From Old Irish ní.

Particle

ní

1. not (preverbal particle)

   Ní thuigim. — I do not understand.

   Ní dheachaigh mé ansin. — I did not go there.

   Ní bhfaighidh siad é. — They will not find it.

2. not (present copular form)

   Ní críonnacht creagaireacht. — Miserliness is not thrift.

   Ní hionann iad. — They are not the same.

   An gloine é? Ní hea. — Is it glass? No.

Usage notes

The preverbal particle triggers lenition of a following consonant. Not used in the past tense except for some irregular verbs. Takes the dependent form of irregular verbs. The copular form triggers h-prothesis of a following vowel.

Related terms

• cha (nonstandard)
• níor (used in the past tense with regular and some irregular verbs, also the past/conditional copular form)

Irish copular forms

Simple copular forms Present/future Affirmative Negative Interrogative Neg. inter. Main clauses is ní an nach Direct relative clauses nach Indirect relative clauses ar, arbv Other subordinate clauses gur, gurbv an nach Past/conditional Affirmative Negative Interrogative Neg. inter. Main clauses ba, b'v níor, níorbhv ar, arbhv nár, nárbhv Direct relative clauses ba, abv nár, nárbhv Indirect relative clauses ar, arbhv Other subordinate clauses gur, gurbhv ar, arbhv nár, nárbhv Present subjunctive Affirmative Negative gura, gurabv nára, nárabv		Compound copular forms Base word Present/future Past/conditional má más má ba, má b'v ó ós ó ba, ó b'v dá dá mba, dá mb'v mura mura, murabv murar, murarbhv sula sular, sularbv sular, sularbhv cé cér, cérbv cér, cérbhv cá cár, cárbv cár, cárbhv de/do dar, darbv dar, darbhv faoi faoinar, faoinarbv faoinar, faoinarbhv i inar, inarbv inar, inarbhv le lenar, lenarbv lenar, lenarbhv ó ónar, ónarbv ónar, ónarbhv trí trínar, trínarbv trínar, trínarbhv
Note: Forms marked v are used before a vowel sound.

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Lakota

Adjective

ní

1. alive

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Mandarin

Romanization

ní (form of ni2 with diacritic)

1. See 倪
2. See 呢
3. See 坭
4. See 埿
5. See 妫
6. See 婗
7. See 尼
8. See 屔
9. See 怩
10. See 泥
11. See 淣
12. See 狋
13. See 猊
14. See 秜
15. See 籾
16. See 臡
17. See 蚭
18. See 蜺
19. See 觬
20. See 貎
21. See 跜
22. See 輗
23. See 郳
24. See 鈦
25. See 霓
26. See 鯓
27. See 鯢, 鲵
28. See 麑
29. See 齯

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Navajo

Pronunciation

• Audio (NV)

  (file)

Verb

ní

1. he/she says

   Dooda, dishní! — I say no!

Usage notes

This verb is frequently used for quoted speech. To introduce quoted speech, just add the prefix a- to any of the forms of the verb. This modifies the meaning to something like "to say as follows" or "to say thus":

Asdzą́ aní, Beeʼeldííl Dahsinilgóó deekai, ní. — That woman says, “we are going to Albuquerque,” she says.

Conjugation

IMPERFECTIVE	singular	duoplural	plural
1st person	dishní	diiʼní	dadiiʼní
2nd person	diní	dohní	dadohní
3rd person	ní		daaní
4th person	jiní		dajiní

PERFECTIVE	singular	duoplural	plural
1st person	dííniid	diiʼniid	dadiiʼniid
2nd person	dííníniid	dohniid	dadohniid
3rd person	dííniid		dadííniid
4th person	jidííniid		dazhdííniid

FUTURE	singular	duoplural	plural
1st person	dideeshniił	didiiʼniił	dadiiʼniił
2nd person	didííniił	didoohniił	dadidoohniił
3rd person	didooniił		dadidooniił
4th person	jididooniił		dazhdidooniił

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Old Irish

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *nīs (compare Welsh ni), from *nēsti (“is not”), from Proto-Indo-European *ne h₁esti (compare Sanskrit न (na), Latin ne, Gothic 𐌽𐌹 (ni)).

Particle

ní

1. not
   • circa 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, Wb. 24^a38

     Ní epur a n-anman sund.

     I do not say their names here.

Usage notes

Followed by the dependent form of the verb, which (in Old Irish) is not subjected to nasalization or lenition mutation unless a direct object pronoun is implied. Compare:

• Ní ben inna firu "He does not strike the men": Here the b of ben is unmutated.
• Ní mben "He does not strike him": Here the b of ben is nasalized to mb.
• Ní ben "He does not strike it": Here the b of ben is lenited.

In Middle Irish increasingly, and in Modern Irish always, ní lenites the following verb.

Synonyms

• nícon

Descendants

• Irish: ní

Verb

ní

1. is not, isn't
   • circa 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, Wb. 12^c29

     Ní ar formut frib-si as·biur-sa inso.

     It is not because of envy towards you that I say this.

Conjugation

Person	Singular	Plural
1	níta, nída	nítan, nídan
2	níta, nída	nítad, nídad
3	ní	nítat, nídat