ní

See also: Appendix:Variations of "ni"

Bassa

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ní]

Noun

ní

1. water

References

• Bassa-English Dictionary
• 2007. The UCLA Phonetics Lab Archive. Los Angeles, CA: UCLA Department of Linguistics.

Cogui

Noun

ní

1. water

References

• Grace Hensarli, The function of -ki 'switch' in Kogi

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈɲiː]

Pronoun

ní

1. genitive/dative/locative and instrumental singular of ona

Dakota

Verb

ní

1. live, be alive

Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /n̠ʲiː/

Etymology 1

From Old Irish ní (“something, n of nech”) conflated with reanalysis of Old Irish aní (“that which”) as an ní (“the thing”).

Alternative forms

• nídh (dated)

Noun

ní m (genitive singular ní, nominative plural nithe)

1. thing

   Synonym: rud

2. object

Declension

Declension of ní

Fourth declension

Bare forms Case Singular Plural Nominative ní nithe Vocative a ní a nithe Genitive ní nithe Dative ní nithe

Forms with the definite article Case Singular Plural Nominative an ní na nithe Genitive an ní na nithe Dative leis an ní don ní leis na nithe

Derived terms

• neamhní (“nothing”)
• nithiúil

Pronoun

ní

1. which (referring back to a clause) (followed by a relative clause)
   • 1939, Peig Sayers, “Inghean an Cheannaidhe”, printed in Marie-Louise Sjoestedt, Description d’un parler irlandais de Kerry, Bibliothèque de l'École des Hautes Études 270. Paris: Librairie Honoré Champion, p. 194:

     Do bhíodar sé mhí gan fille, agus nuair a chonaic Máire an t-árthach ag teacht chun cuain, bhí sceitimíní ar a croidhe le lúthgháir agus le h-áthas, ní nárbh’ iongnadh.

     They were [away] six months without returning, and when Máire saw the vessel coming to port, her heart had raptures of gladness and joy, which was not surprising.

Etymology 2

From Old Irish nige.

Alternative forms

• nighe (obsolete)
• níochán (Cois Fharraige)

Noun

ní f (genitive singular nite)

1. verbal noun of nigh
2. washing

Verb

ní

1. present subjunctive analytic 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. It is not used in the past tense except for some irregular verbs. It 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 cá cár, cárbv cár, cárbhv cé cér, cérbv cér, cérbhv dá dá mba, dá mb’v de/do dar, darbv dar, darbhv faoi faoinar, faoinarbv faoinar, faoinarbhv i inar, inarbv inar, inarbhv le lenar, lenarbv lenar, lenarbhv má más má ba, má b’v mura mura, murabv murar, murarbhv ó (prep.) ónar, ónarbv ónar, ónarbhv ó (conj.) ós ó ba, ó b’v trí trínar, trínarbv trínar, trínarbhv
v Used before vowel sounds

Etymology 4

From Old Irish do·gní.

Alternative forms

• ghní (obsolete)
• níonn

Verb

ní

1. (archaic, Ulster) present analytic independent of déan

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977), “ní”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• G. Toner, M. Ní Mhaonaigh, S. Arbuthnot, D. Wodtko, M.-L. Theuerkauf, editors (2019), “1 ní ‘anything’”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• G. Toner, M. Ní Mhaonaigh, S. Arbuthnot, D. Wodtko, M.-L. Theuerkauf, editors (2019), “2 ní ‘a thing’”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• G. Toner, M. Ní Mhaonaigh, S. Arbuthnot, D. Wodtko, M.-L. Theuerkauf, editors (2019), “3 ní ‘not’”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• G. Toner, M. Ní Mhaonaigh, S. Arbuthnot, D. Wodtko, M.-L. Theuerkauf, editors (2019), “nige”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• Dinneen, Patrick S. (1904), “ní ‘not’”, in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla, 1st edition, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, page 517
• Dinneen, Patrick S. (1904), “níḋ”, in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla, 1st edition, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, page 518
• Dinneen, Patrick S. (1904), “niġe”, in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla, 1st edition, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, page 519
• Entries containing “ní” in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm, 1959, by Tomás de Bhaldraithe.
• Entries containing “ní” in New English-Irish Dictionary by Foras na Gaeilge.

Lakota

Adjective

ní

1. alive

Mandarin

Alternative forms

• ni – nonstandard

Romanization

ní (ni², Zhuyin ㄋㄧˊ)

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

Middle Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /n͈ʲiː/

Etymology 1

From Old Irish ní, from Proto-Celtic *nīs (compare Welsh ni), from Proto-Indo-European *ne h₁ésti (“is not”) (compare Sanskrit न (na), Latin ne, Gothic 𐌽𐌹 (ni)).

Particle

ní

1. not
   • c. 1000, Anonymous; published in (1935), Rudolf Thurneysen, editor, Scéla Mucca Meic Dathó, Dublin: Staionery Office, § 1, l. 15, page 2: “Mani·tucad immurgu ní din chéttadall ni·bered a n-aill. [If, however, he did not take anything at (literally “from”) his first thrust, he did not bring the second.]”

Descendants

• Irish: ní

Verb

ní

1. is not, isn’t

Etymology 2

Pronoun

ní

1. something, anything
   • c. 1000, Anonymous; published in (1935), Rudolf Thurneysen, editor, Scéla Mucca Meic Dathó, Dublin: Staionery Office, § 1, l. 15, page 2: “Mani·tucad immurgu ní din chéttadall ni·bered a n-aill. [If, however, he did not take anything at (literally “from”) his first thrust, he did not bring the second.]”

Navajo

Etymology

di- (“oral”) + -∅- (3rd person subject prefix) + -∅- (classifier) + -ní (neuter imperfective stem of root -NIID, “to say”).

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 á- (“thus”) to any of the forms of the verb. This modifies the meaning to something like "to say as follows" or "to say thus":

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

This is a neuter verb that uses only the imperfective mode. Other modes are suppleted by the active verb niih, reproduced below for convenience.

Conjugation

Paradigm: Neuter imperfective (∅), with some irregularities.

NEUTER IMP	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	dooniid	dadooniid
3rd person	dííniid		dadííniid
4th person	jidííniid		dazhdííniid

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

ITERATIVE	singular	duoplural	plural
1st person	ńdíshʼniih	ńdiiʼniih	ńdadiiʼniih
2nd person	ńdíʼniih	ńdóhʼniih	ńdadohʼniih
3rd person	ńdíʼniih		ńdadiʼniih
4th person	nízhdíʼniih		ńdazhdiʼniih

OPTATIVE	singular	duoplural	plural
1st person	dóshneʼ	dooʼneʼ	dadooʼneʼ
2nd person	dóóneʼ	doohneʼ	dadoohneʼ́
3rd person	dóneʼ		dadóneʼ
4th person	jidóneʼ		dazhdóneʼ

See also

• ání
• haʼní

Old Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [n͈ʲiː]

Etymology 1

From Proto-Celtic *nīs (compare Welsh ni), from Proto-Indo-European *ne h₁ésti (“is not”) (compare Sanskrit न (na), Latin ne, Gothic 𐌽𐌹 (ni)).

Particle

ní

1. not
   • c. 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 499–712, Wb. 24^a38

     Ní epur a n-anman sund.

     I do not say their names here.

   Synonym: nícon

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.

Descendants

• Middle Irish: ní
  • Irish: ní

Verb

ní

1. is not, isn’t
   • c. 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 499–712, Wb. 12^c29

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

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

   • c. 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 499–712, Wb. 20^c25

     Níta chumme-se friusom.

     I am not like them.

   • c. 800–825, Diarmait, Milan Glosses on the Psalms, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 7–483, Ml. 23^d23

     Cía thés hí loc bes ardu, ní ardu de; ní samlid són dúnni, air ⟨im⟩mi ardu-ni de tri dul isna lucu arda.

     Though he may go into a higher place, he is not the higher; this is not the case for us, for we are the higher through going into the high places.

Conjugation

See relevant rows at Template:sga-conj-is.

Etymology 2

Pronoun

ní

1. something, anything; some, any [+ di (object) = of]
2. (in a negative clause) nothing

For quotations using this term, see Citations:ní.

Declension

Case	Animate	Neuter
Nominative	nech	ní
Accusative	nech
Genitive	neich
Dative	neuch, neoch

Alternative forms

• níi

Derived terms

• na ní

Mutation

Old Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Nasalization
ní also nní after a proclitic	ní pronounced with /n(ʲ)-/	unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Rawang

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ni˥/

Numeral

ní

1. two.

Synonyms

• shòní