GrammarNegation

Russian negation rests on two small words, не (not) and нет (no / there isn’t), plus that negatives stack instead of cancelling each other out.

не — “not”

не negates the word that comes right after it — most often the verb, but it can sit in front of anything you want to deny:

• Я не зна́ю. (I don’t know.)
• Э́то не моя́ кни́га. (This isn’t my book.)
• Он не до́ма. (He’s not home.)
• Я не о́чень уста́л. (I’m not very tired.)

нет — “no” / “there isn’t”

нет can either mean:

• “No” as an answer: Ты гото́в? — Нет. (Are you ready? — No.)

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    		<b>“There isn’t / don’t have”</b>: <span className='native'>нет</span> + genitive
  

• У меня́ нет вре́мени. (I have no time.)

• This is the negative of existence — see Existence.

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Double negative for ни-

There are a bunch of ни- words (nobody, nothing, never, ...), and you always need to keep the не as well:

• Никто́ не зна́ет. (Nobody knows. — literally “nobody doesn’t know”)
• Я ничего́ не ви́жу. (I don’t see anything.)
• Он никогда́ не опа́здывает. (He’s never late.)
• Мы никуда́ не идём. (We’re not going anywhere.)

This is different from English, where a double negative actually becomes a positive again: "Nobody doesn't know" becomes "Somebody knows". In Russian, it's still negative.

These are the ни- words. They pair with не every time:

And they stack freely - every negative stays negative: Никто́ никогда́ ничего́ не де́лает. (Nobody ever does anything.)

The никто́ / ничто́ / никако́й forms are pronouns and decline — see Negative pronouns.

ни … ни — “neither … nor”

To negate a list of two or more items, use ни … ни, still with не on the verb:

• Ни ты, ни я не зна́ем отве́та. (Neither you nor I know the answer.)
• Он ни сло́ва не сказа́л. (He didn’t say a single word.)
• Она́ не говори́т ни по-англи́йски, ни по-ру́сски. (She speaks neither English nor Russian.)

Objects under negation: genitive or accusative?

1. After нет / не́ было / не бу́дет — always genitive

These say that something doesn’t exist, and the missing thing is always genitive. No choice, no exceptions:

• У меня́ нет де́нег. (I have no money.)
• Его́ не́ было до́ма. (He wasn’t home.)

2. After a negated verb (не + verb) — genitive is the safe default

Here the direct object can be either case. The genitive is always correct, so when in doubt, use it. The accusative is an option only for a specific, concrete thing you have in mind:

Common mistakes

• Dropping не with a ни- word (translating English one-for-one).
  Никто́ зна́ет. (wrong) → Никто́ не зна́ет. (correct)
• Confusing не and нет. не negates a word; нет = “no / there isn’t”.
  Я нет зна́ю. (wrong) → Я не зна́ю. (correct)
• Mixing up stressed не́- and unstressed ни-. не́кто = “a certain person” (positive); никто́ = “nobody”. See indefinite and negative pronouns.

Summary

• не = “not”, placed before the word it negates (usually the verb).
• нет = “no” (answer) or “there isn’t” (нет + genitive).
• Double negative is mandatory: a ни- word always keeps не on the verb — Никто́ не зна́ет.
• Negatives stack: Никто́ никогда́ ничего́ не де́лает.
• ни … ни = “neither … nor”
• After нет / не́ было / не бу́дет the object is always genitive; after a negated verb the genitive is the safe default.