Object Case in Negative Clauses

Level 6

Some negative transitive clauses use genitive where the corresponding affirmative clause has an accusative object. Accusative remains common and correct in negative clauses.

How It Works

This use is traditionally called the Slavic genitive. It occurs with a negative predicate and is especially familiar in certain expressions and more literary wording. The verb still has a direct-object relationship.

An ordinary negative sentence can keep accusative: Nisam pročitala knjigu. Do not rewrite this automatically with knjige. The naturalness of the genitive depends on the noun, predicate and register.

Separate this pattern from a genitive required by the verb itself, as with sjetiti se, and from a partitive genitive meaning an unspecified quantity. Those uses have their own licensing conditions and can occur without negation.

Examples (3)

  1. Ne osjećam straha pred nastup.

    I feel no fear before the performance.

  2. Nisam pročitala tu knjigu.

    I have not read that book.

  3. Ne nalazim opravdanja za takav postupak.

    I find no justification for such conduct.

How It Connects

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

Object Case in Negative ClausesLevel 6

Learn This First

Genitive objects under negation require case and negation to be interpreted together without a universal replacement rule.