GrammarNegative

Negative pronouns (отрица́тельные местоиме́ния) say that no one, nothing, no kind of thing or nobody's thing is involved. They are the negative answers to the question words кто? (who?) and что? (what?):

• Никто́ не зна́ет. (Nobody knows.)
• Я ничего́ не ви́жу. (I don't see anything.)
• Э́то никако́й не секре́т. (This is no secret at all.)

How they are formed

Every negative pronoun is just the matching interrogative pronoun with the stressed-away prefix ни- stuck on the front:

Because they are built from question words, they inherit exactly the same endings. If you know how кто, что, како́й and чей decline, you already know the negative forms.

Use double negative

This is the single most important thing about negative pronouns. When the sentence contains a negative pronoun, the verb must also be negated with не. Russian uses the negation twice (or more), and this is not a mistake, it is required:

• Никто́ не зна́ет. (Nobody knows. — literally “nobody doesn't know”)
• Я ничего́ не ви́жу. (I don't see anything.)
• Он никому́ не звони́л. (He didn't call anyone.)
• Она́ ни с кем не разгова́ривает. (She doesn't talk to anyone.)

English uses a single negative (“nobody knows”, not “nobody doesn't know”). Russian is the opposite: the negative pronoun and the не on the verb work together. Dropping the не is the most common beginner error:

• Никто́ зна́ет. (wrong) → Никто́ не зна́ет. (correct)
• Я ничего́ ви́жу. (wrong) → Я ничего́ не ви́жу. (correct)

If there are several negative words in one sentence, every one of them stays negative and the не still stands on the verb: Никто́ никогда́ ничего́ мне не говори́т. (Nobody ever tells me anything.)

Declension

Никто́ and ничто́ decline like кто and что. Notice that ничто́ in practice appears mostly as its genitive/accusative form ничего́.

The case is chosen by the verb or preposition, exactly as with any noun: ве́рить кому́? takes the dative, so “I trust no one” is Я никому́ не ве́рю.; дово́лен чем? takes the instrumental, so “I'm satisfied with nothing” is Я ниче́м не дово́лен.

Никако́й declines like the adjective како́й and agrees with its noun in gender, number and case; ниче́й declines like чей (ниче́й, ничья́, ничьё, ничьи́).

Preposition splitting: ни у кого́, not у никого́

This is easy to get wrong. When a preposition is used with никто́ or ничто́, the prefix ни breaks off and the preposition slips into the middle, between ни and the pronoun. They are written as three separate words:

The double-negative rule still holds, so the verb keeps its не as well:

• Ни у кого́ нет э́той кни́ги. (Nobody has this book.)
• Я ни с кем не говори́л. (I didn't speak with anyone.)
• Мы ни о чём не жале́ем. (We regret nothing.)
• Я ни от кого́ не зави́шу. (I don't depend on anyone.)

A few of these have hardened into set phrases: ни за что́ (no way, not for anything) and ни при чём (has nothing to do with it).

Genitive of negation

Negative objects very often stand in the genitive. With the negative existential нет (there is no…) the genitive is obligatory, and with a negated transitive verb it is very common:

• У меня́ ничего́ нет. (I don't have anything.) — нет + genitive
• Я никого́ не ви́жу. (I don't see anyone.) — genitive/accusative object of a negated verb
• Он ничего́ не бои́тся. (He isn't afraid of anything.) — боя́ться takes the genitive

A separate set: stressed не́- (не́чего, не́кого)

Do not confuse the ни- pronouns with the look-alike set that begins with stressed не́-: не́чего, не́кого, не́где, не́когда, не́куда. These mean “there is nothing / no one / nowhere / no time to do something”. They work completely differently:

• they go with an infinitive, and
• they take no second не on the verb.

Compare the two sets carefully, the difference is both the stress and the whole construction:

The stress alone tells them apart: ничего́ is stressed on the ending, while не́чего is stressed on the prefix не́-. The person who “has nothing to do” goes in the dative (мне, ему́, нам). This не́- set is really a topic of its own; here just remember it exists and does not follow the double-negative rule.

Common mistakes

• Don't forget the не before the verb, the double negative is required.
  Никто́ зна́ет. (wrong) → Никто́ не зна́ет. (correct)
• Not splitting around a preposition. The preposition goes in the middle.
  у никого́ (wrong) → ни у кого́ (correct)
• Confusing ничего́ with не́чего. ничего́ = “nothing” (with a negated verb); не́чего = “nothing to do” (with an infinitive, no second не).
  Я ничего́ не де́лаю (I'm not doing anything) vs Мне не́чего де́лать (I have nothing to do)
• Forgetting agreement on никако́й and ниче́й. They agree with their noun like adjectives.
  Э́то никако́й кни́га (wrong) → Э́то никака́я не кни́га (correct — feminine agreement)

Summary

• Negative pronouns are ни- plus a question word: никто́, ничто́ (ничего́), никако́й, ниче́й, ниско́лько.
• Double negative: the verb must still take не: Никто́ не зна́ет.
• They decline like their question words; никако́й and ниче́й also agree with their noun.
• Preposition splitting: the preposition goes between ни and the pronoun: ни у кого́, ни с кем, ни о чём.
• Negative objects often go in the genitive: У меня́ ничего́ нет.
• Keep ничего́ (nothing) apart from stressed не́чего (nothing to do, + infinitive, no second не).
• See also the interrogative & relative pronouns they are built from and the indefinite pronouns.