nie

See also: Appendix:Variations of "nie"

Aba

Noun

nie

1. water

References

• D. T. Tryon, Towards a Classification of Solomon Islands Languages

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch niet, nie, from Middle Dutch niwet, niet, from Old Dutch *niowiht, niewiht.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ni/ (generally)
• IPA^(key): /‿i/ (commonly after a verb that ends in a consonant)

• Audio:

  (file)

Adverb

nie

1. not

   Hy kan nie Afrikaans praat nie.

   He can't speak Afrikaans.

Usage notes

• This word has to be repeated at the end of a sentence, unless it is already the last word according to its natural position. (See the Wikipedia article about double negatives in Germanic languages.) Double negation is optional when the last word is another negator, such as nooit (“never”).

Related terms

• niemand
• niks

Alemannic German

Etymology

From Middle High German nio, from Old High German nio.

Pronunciation

• (Zürich) IPA^(key): /niə/

Adverb

nie

1. never

Dutch

Etymology 1

From niet, with dialectal end-t deletion and shortening of the ie-vowel.

Alternative forms

• (standard) niet
• (dialectal) ni

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nɪ/

Adverb

nie

1. (dialectal) Alternative form of niet

Usage notes

• While the spelling nie and the invariable use of the corresponding pronunciation are dialectal, the standard word niet is not rarely given the same pronunciation, particularly in fast speech.

Etymology 2

From Middle Dutch nie, from Old Dutch nie, from Proto-Germanic *ne *aiwaz. Cognate to German nie.

Equivalent to n- (“n-”) ‎ ie (“ever”) (from Middle Dutch ie, from Old Dutch io).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ni/

Adverb

nie

1. (obsolete) never

   Synonyms: nooit, nimmer, nooit ofte nimmer

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ni/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

nie

1. inflection of nier:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

German

Etymology

From Middle High German nio, from Old High German nio.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /niː/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iː

Adverb

nie

1. never, never at all (referring to an indefinite period of time)

   Das ist nie passiert! ― That has never happened!

   Wir werden die Wahrheit wohl nie erfahren. ― We'll probably never know the truth.

2. never, not once (referring to a defined period of time; see usage notes below)

   Synonyms: nicht, gar nicht, überhaupt nicht

   Er hat sich in zwei Wochen nie die Haare gewaschen.

   He never washed his hair for two weeks.

Usage notes

• (not once): In English it is quite common to use the word “never” referring to a defined period of time: “I was waiting all night, but he never called.” German generally prefers, and often requires, to use nicht (“not”) in such contexts, possibly emphasized by another adverb such as gar or überhaupt: Ich habe den ganzen Abend gewartet, aber er hat (gar) nicht angerufen. Using nie is only possible if such a period of time is (unusually) long, as in the example sentence above.

Synonyms

• (never at all): niemals, nimmer (archaic)

Derived terms

• nie und nimmer

See also

probability	100 %	90 %	50 %	10 %	0 %
Adverb	immer	meistens	manchmal	selten	nie

German correlatives

German correlatives *

	Interrogative	Relative	Proximal	Distal	Similar	Different	Total	Negative	Indefinite	Indifferent
Personal	wer	wer derjenige der	dieser	jener	derselbe ebender ebenjener	sonst wer sonst einer sonst jemand (ein) anderer	jeder alle	niemand keiner	einer jemand irgendeiner irgendjemand mancher	wer auch immer
Impersonal	was	was das	dieses	jenes	dasselbe ebendas ebenjenes	sonst was (ein) anderes	jedes	keins	irgendetwas irgendwas manches	was auch immer
Optional	welch					sonst welch	alle	keins weder noch	irgendeins	welcher auch immer
Modal	wie		so		gleich gleichwie genauso	sonst wie anderswie andersrum	egal wie	keineswegs	irgendwie	wie auch immer
Categorical	was für		solch derlei		ebenso ebensolch solcherlei	anders	allerlei	keinerlei	mancherlei	was für einer auch immer
Temporal	wann		jetzt	dann	ebendann gleichzeitig	sonst wann wann anders	immer	nie niemals	irgendwann	wann auch immer
Spatial	wo		da hier	da dort	ebenda gleichenorts	sonst wo woanders andernorts	überall allerorts allerorten	nirgendwo nirgends nirgend	irgendwo mancherorts	wo auch immer
Origin	woher		hierher	dorther weither	ebendaher	sonst woher	überallher	nirgendwoher nirgendsher nirgendher	irgendwoher	woher auch immer
Goal	wohin		hierhin	dorthin fernhin	ebendahin	sonst wohin	überallhin	nirgendwohin nirgendshin nirgendhin	irgendwohin	wohin auch immer
Countable	wie viele		so viele wenige	so viele viele	genauso viele ebenso viele	-	alle	keine	irgendwelche einige	wie viele auch immer
Uncountable	wie viel		so viel wenig	so viel viel	genauso viel ebenso viel		alles	nichts kein	etwas	wie viel auch immer
Reason	warum weshalb weswegen wieso		darum deshalb deswegen derentwegen		ebendarum ebendeshalb ebendeswegen gleichfalls	andernfalls ansonsten	(wegen allem)	grundlos umsonst	irgendwie (aus irgendeinem Grund)	warum auch immer

Further reading

• “nie” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “nie” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “nie” in Duden online

Anagrams

• ein

Hunsrik

Etymology

From Middle High German nio, from Old High German nio.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /niː/

Adverb

nie

1. never

   Ich hon das nie gesihn.

   I've never seen that.

   Du sollst das nie mache.

   You should never do that.

Further reading

• Online Hunsrik Dictionary

Ingrian

Etymology

From nittoa (“to fasten”) ‎ -e. Akin to Finnish nide.

Pronunciation

• (Ala-Laukaa) IPA^(key): /ˈnie/, [ˈnie̞]
• (Soikkola) IPA^(key): /ˈnie/, [ˈnie̞]
• Rhymes: -ie
• Hyphenation: ni‧e

Noun

nie

1. binding of a scythe

Declension

Declension of nie (type 6/lähe, t- gradation, gemination)
	singular	plural
nominative	nie	nitteet
genitive	nitteen	nittein
partitive	niettä	nitteitä
illative	nitteesse	nitteisse
inessive	nittees	nitteis
elative	nitteest	nitteist
allative	nitteelle	nitteille
adessive	nitteel	nitteil
ablative	nitteelt	nitteilt
translative	nitteeks	nitteiks
essive	nitteennä, nitteen	nitteinnä, nittein
exessive1)	nitteent	nitteint
1) obsolete *) the accusative corresponds with either the genitive (sg) or nominative (pl) **) the comitative is formed by adding the suffix -ka? or -kä? to the genitive.

References

• Ruben E. Nirvi (1971) Inkeroismurteiden Sanakirja, Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura, page 340

Iu Mien

Etymology

From Chinese 泥 (MC nej).

Noun

nie 

1. soil, dirt

Japanese

Romanization

nie

1. Rōmaji transcription of にえ

Mandarin

Romanization

nie

1. Nonstandard spelling of niē.
2. Nonstandard spelling of nié.
3. Nonstandard spelling of niě.
4. Nonstandard spelling of niè.

Usage notes

• Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.

Masurian

Etymology

Inherited from Old Polish nie.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɲɛ/
• Rhymes: -ɛ
• Syllabification: nie

Particle

nie

1. negation particle; no, not

Further reading

• Zofia Stamirowska (1987-2024) “nie”, in Anna Basara, editor, Słownik gwar Ostródzkiego, Warmii i Mazur, volume 4, Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich Wydawnictwo Polskiej Akademii Nauk, →ISBN, pages 295-298

Northern Sami

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• (Kautokeino) IPA^(key): /ˈnie̯/

Adverb

nie

1. that, so (to that degree)
2. like that, in the same way

Further reading

• Koponen, Eino, Ruppel, Klaas, Aapala, Kirsti, editors (2002–2008), Álgu database: Etymological database of the Saami languages‎^[1], Helsinki: Research Institute for the Languages of Finland

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From ni (“nine”).

Noun

nie f (definite singular nia, uncountable)

1. a niner

   Synonym: niar

References

• “nie” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Anagrams

• Ine, ein, -ine, nei

Old Polish

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *ne. First attested in the 14th century.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (10^th–15^th CE) /ɲɛ(ː)/
• IPA^(key): (15^th CE) /ɲɛ/, /ɲe/

Particle

nie

1. negation particle; not, not

Verb

nie impf

1. there is no

Descendants

• Masurian: nie
• Polish: nie
• Silesian: niy, ńy (Steuers Silesian alphabet); nie

References

• B. Sieradzka-Baziur, Ewa Deptuchowa, Joanna Duska, Mariusz Frodyma, Beata Hejmo, Dorota Janeczko, Katarzyna Jasińska, Krystyna Kajtoch, Joanna Kozioł, Marian Kucała, Dorota Mika, Gabriela Niemiec, Urszula Poprawska, Elżbieta Supranowicz, Ludwika Szelachowska-Winiarzowa, Zofia Wanicowa, Piotr Szpor, Bartłomiej Borek, editors (2011–2015), “nie”, in Słownik pojęciowy języka staropolskiego [Conceptual Dictionary of Old Polish] (in Polish), Kraków: IJP PAN, →ISBN

Plautdietsch

Etymology

From Middle Low German nîe, nü̂we, from Old Saxon niuwi. Related to West Frisian nij, Dutch nieuw, German neu, English new, Swedish ny.

Adjective

nie

1. new

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɲɛ/
• (Middle Polish) IPA^(key): /ˈɲɛ/, /ˈɲe/

• Audio 1:

  (file)

• Audio 2:

  (file)

• Audio 3:

  (file)

• Audio 4:

  (file)

• Audio 5:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛ
• Syllabification: nie

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old Polish nie. Doublet of a-.

Particle

nie

1. negation particle; no, not

   Antonym: tak

Verb

nie impf (defective)

1. (Middle Polish) there is no

Related terms

• nie-

 

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronoun

nie

1. accusative singular of ono
2. accusative plural of one

Usage notes

Used only with prepositions. See Appendix:Polish pronouns.

Trivia

According to Słownik frekwencyjny polszczyzny współczesnej (1990), nie is one of the most used words in Polish, appearing 395 times in scientific texts, 446 times in news, 1225 times in essays, 2061 times in fiction, and 3714 times in plays, each out of a corpus of 100,000 words, totaling 8341 times, making it the 5th most common word in a corpus of 500,000 words.

Further reading

• nie in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• nie in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• Maria Renata Mayenowa, Stanisław Rospond, Witold Taszycki, Stefan Hrabec, Władysław Kuraszkiewicz (2010-2023) “nie”, in Słownik Polszczyzny XVI Wieku [A Dictionary of 16th Century Polish]
• Maria Renata Mayenowa, Stanisław Rospond, Witold Taszycki, Stefan Hrabec, Władysław Kuraszkiewicz (2010-2023) “nie”, in Słownik Polszczyzny XVI Wieku [A Dictionary of 16th Century Polish]
• “NIE”, in Elektroniczny Słownik Języka Polskiego XVII i XVIII Wieku [Electronic Dictionary of the Polish Language of the XVII and XVIII Century], 15.02.2015
• Samuel Bogumił Linde (1807–1814) “nie”, in Słownik języka polskiego
• Aleksander Zdanowicz (1861) “nie”, in Słownik języka polskiego, Wilno 1861
• J. Karłowicz, A. Kryński, W. Niedźwiedzki, editors (1904), “nie”, in Słownik języka polskiego (in Polish), volume 3, Warsaw, page 252

Sardinian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnie/

Noun

nie m (plural nies)

1. (Logudorese) Alternative form of nibe (“snow”)

Serbo-Croatian

Verb

nie

1. Obsolete spelling of nije.

Silesian

Etymology

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɲɛ/
• Rhymes: -ɛ
• Syllabification: nie

Particle

nie

1. Alternative form of niy

Pronoun

nie

1. accusative singular of ôno
2. accusative plural of ône

Usage notes

Used only with prepositions.

Further reading

• nie in silling.org