nichts

See also: Nichts

German edit

Alternative forms edit

nix (a very common colloquial pronunciation; frequently seen in informal writing)
nischt (dialectal, widely restricted to eastern Germany)

Etymology edit

From Middle High German nihtes niht (“nothing of nothing”), a reenforcing construction with niht. See nicht.^[1] Cognate with Dutch niets, Hunsrik nichs.

Pronunciation edit

IPA^(key): /nɪçts/, /nixts/
Audio (file)
Audio (file)

Pronoun edit

nichts n (indefinite pronoun)

nothing
Ich weiß, dass ich nichts weiß.
I know that I know nothing.

Usage notes edit

Used instead of nicht to negate a sentence involving a non-specific noun.
Gibt es da etwas? Nein, ich sehe nichts. ― Is there something there? No, I don't see anything.
Frequently, especially in spoken or informal language, accompanied by gar.
Ich sehe gar nichts. ― I don't see anything at all.

Declension edit

Invariable. A following adjective is capitalized and declined as a neuter singular in the strong pattern. Thus nichts Neues (“nothing new”) in the nominative and accusative cases; nichts Neuem in the dative case.

A genitive form does not exist. It is paraphrased by means of the preposition von (“of”). After the prepositions statt, trotz, während, and wegen, the dative case is used instead: wegen nichts Wichtigem – “because of nothing important” (i.e. because of something unimportant).

References edit

^ Friedrich Kluge (1883) “nichts”, in John Francis Davis, transl., Etymological Dictionary of the German Language, published 1891

Scots edit

Noun edit

nichts

plural of nicht

[1] Friedrich Kluge (1883) “nichts”, in John Francis Davis, transl., Etymological Dictionary of the German Language, published 1891

[1]