ці не

Suggestions and Suspicion with Ці Не

Level 6Sounds Like cí ne

Ці не makes a gentle suggestion or voices a suspicion: Ці не пайсці нам дадому? (Shouldn't we go home?)

How It Works

Ці не is question ці followed by не. The не softens the question and shows which answer the speaker expects: yes.

Suggestions. With the dative and an infinitive, it offers an idea politely: Ці не пайсці нам дадому? (Shouldn't we go home?)

Suspicion. Put the suspected person or thing right after ці не: Ці не ён гэта зрабіў? (Wasn't it he who did it?)

Polite requests. With a verb, often with бы, it softens a request: Ці не маглі б вы мне дапамагчы? (Could you perhaps help me?) Ці не знойдзецца ў цябе асадкі? (Would you happen to have a pen?)

Inside a sentence. After verbs like думаць or баяцца, ці не means whether perhaps: Я пачаў думаць, ці не заблукалі мы. (I began to wonder whether we had got lost.) Compare the neutral indirect question with ці.

Russian puts не at the start and ли after the next word, as in Не пойти ли нам домой? Belarusian has no particle лі: it keeps ці and не together at the start, ці не.

Examples (5)

  1. Ці не пайсці нам дадому?

    Shouldn't we go home?

    Word by Word: Whether not to-go to-us home?

  2. Ці не ён гэта зрабіў?

    Wasn't it he who did it?

    Word by Word: Whether not he this did?

  3. Ці не маглі б вы мне дапамагчы?

    Could you perhaps help me?

    Word by Word: Whether not could would you me to-help?

  4. Ці не знойдзецца ў цябе асадкі?

    Would you happen to have a pen?

    Word by Word: Whether not will-be-found at you of-pen?

  5. Я пачаў думаць, ці не заблукалі мы.

    I began to wonder whether we had got lost.

    Word by Word: I began to-think, whether not got-lost we.

Common Mistakes

  • Copying the Russian не … ли pattern.

    Не пайсці лі нам дадому?
    Ці не пайсці нам дадому?

    Standard Belarusian has no question particle лі. It uses ці and puts it at the start together with не.

  • Using the nominative instead of the dative with the infinitive.

    Ці не пайсці мы дадому?
    Ці не пайсці нам дадому?

    In a suggestion with an infinitive, the person who would act is in the dative: нам, вам, табе.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

ці неLevel 6Suggestions and Suspicion with Ці Не

Learn This First

Suggestions with ці не need ці and хіба.

Words in This Pattern

ціне