нельга

Belarusian

Alternative forms

• nielha, nieĺha — Łacinka (Belarusian Latin alphabet)

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *ne / *ně + *lьga (“possibility”), likely related to *lьgъkъ (whence лёгкі (ljóhki, “light, easy”)). By surface analysis, не (nje) +‎ льга (lʹha).

Compare Russian нельзя́ (nelʹzjá), Ukrainian нільга́ (nilʹhá), Old Church Slavonic льзѣ (lĭzě, “possible, possibly”), Slovak nelza, nelzä, neľzä, Old Polish nielza, also modern Slovene lahko (“may, be allowed”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈnʲelʲɣa]
• Rhymes: -elʲɣa

Predicative

не́льга • (njélʹha) (impersonal, invariable)

1. it is impossible, one cannot, you can't

   Synonyms: немагчы́ма (njemahčýma), немажлі́ва (njemažlíva)

2. it is prohibited, it is forbidden, it is not allowed, one must not
3. one cannot

Further reading

• “нельга” in Belarusian–Russian dictionaries and Belarusian dictionaries at slounik.org
• “нельга”, in Skarnik's Belarusian dictionary (in Belarusian), based on Kandrat Krapiva's Explanatory Dictionary of the Belarusian Language (1977-1984)