Negation With ne

Level 1

Ne goes right before the verb. Imam, hoću and jesam have special negative forms.

How It Works

Negation in Bosnian is simple. Put ne before the verb and leave the verb as it is.

  • Znam. becomes Ne znam.
  • Radim danas. becomes Ne radim danas.
  • Razumijem. becomes Ne razumijem.

Three common verbs write the negative as one word.

PositiveNegative
imam, imaš, imanemam, nemaš, nema
hoću, hoćeš, hoćeneću, nećeš, neće
sam, si, jenisam, nisi, nije

After nemam the thing you do not have usually goes into the genitive: Nemam vremena. A later entry explains it.

In a sentence with another negative word, such as nikad or ništa, the verb still gets ne.

Examples (5)

  1. Ne znam.

    I do not know.

    Ne stands in front of znam.

  2. Ne radim danas.

    I am not working today.

    Ne goes before radim, not at the end.

  3. Nisam umoran.

    I am not tired.

    Nisam is sam with ne.

  4. Nemam vremena.

    I have no time.

    Nemam is imam with ne, and vremena is genitive.

  5. Neću kafu, hvala.

    I do not want coffee, thanks.

    Neću is hoću with ne.

Common Mistakes

  • Putting ne after the verb, as English puts not.

    Znam ne.
    Ne znam.

    Ne always goes before the verb.

  • Writing the negative of imati as two words in neutral speech.

    Ne imam vremena.
    Nemam vremena.

    In standard Bosnian the negative of imam is written as one word, nemam. Ne imam is heard only to stress a contrast.

How It Connects

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

Negation With neLevel 1

Learn This First

Negating a verb needs a verb.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

nematiimatihtjetibitine