ei ... eikä

Neither ... nor

Level 3

Use ei ... eikä to connect two negative things. Both the initial negative verb and the -kä clitic must conjugate to match their subjects (enkä, etkä, eikä, etc.). A comma separates full clauses without a shared subject or other shared sentence part; no comma is needed between coordinated phrases.

How It Works

The pattern ei ... eikä is the standard way to express 'neither... nor' in Finnish. It is a fusion of the negative verb and the clitic -kä.

1. Conjugation is Mandatory
Because the negative verb is the host, the conjunction must conjugate to match the subject it refers to. If the subjects of the two parts are different, both the initial negative verb and the -kä form must agree with their respective subjects:

  • 1st sg: enkä (and I don't)
  • 2nd sg: etkä (and you don't)
  • 3rd sg: eikä (and he/she/it doesn't)
  • 1st pl: emmekä (and we don't)
  • 2nd pl: ettekä (and you all don't)
  • 3rd pl: eivätkä (and they don't)

Remember that the following main verb uses the appropriate negative construction: the connegative in the present, or a past participle in the imperfect (e.g., Minä en syö enkä juo, NOT enkä juon).

2. Negating Subjects
To say 'Neither X nor Y did Z', the negative verb must precede the first subject as well (e.g., Ei Matti eikä Pekka sanonut niin - Neither Matti nor Pekka said so). Omitting the first 'ei' is a common prescriptive error; the first 'ei' is required for the 'neither... nor' meaning.

3. 'And Not' / 'Not X But Y'
The word eikä is frequently used to connect an affirmative clause to a negative noun or phrase, meaning 'and not' or 'not [this], but [that]'. For example: Tämä on vaatimus eikä toive. (This is a requirement and not a wish.)

4. Negative Imperatives
Negative imperative verbs also fuse with the -kä clitic. For example, äläkä (and don't, singular) and älkääkä (and don't, plural) are used to connect negative commands (e.g., Älä huuda äläkä itke - Don't shout and don't cry). Third-person singular and plural forms (e.g., älköönkä, älköötkä) also exist, though they are mostly reserved for formal or written language.

5. Sentence Structure and Punctuation
When negating two items, the negative verb precedes the main verb in the connegative form, and eikä introduces the second item.

Punctuation depends on the structure:

  • No comma is used when connecting two words or phrases within the same clause, or when connecting two clauses that share the same subject. Furthermore, if two independent clauses have different subjects but share a common sentence part (like an adverbial), the comma is omitted (e.g., Tänään minä en syö etkä sinä juo).
  • A comma is used before eikä when it connects two independent clauses with different subjects that do not share any common parts (e.g., Minä en syö, etkä sinä juo).

6. Emphasis with -kaan/-kään
In 'neither... nor' constructions, Finns frequently attach the clitic -kaan/-kään to the second item for emphasis (e.g., Ei Matti eikä Pekkakaan - Neither Matti nor even Pekka).

7. Colloquial Exclamation
In spoken Finnish, Eikä! is frequently used as a standalone exclamation meaning 'No way!' or 'You're kidding!'.

A Firm Refusal
In conversation, a person-inflected response such as Enkä! or Enkä tule! means 'I will not!' and can sound defiant. It is not the neutral answer En to a question. The person ending still identifies who refuses.

Examples (4)

  1. En syö lihaa enkä kalaa.

    I eat neither meat nor fish.

    Word by Word: Not I eat meat-partitive and-not-I fish-partitive.

    Here, 'enkä' matches the first person 'en'. Both objects are in the partitive because of the negation.

  2. Hän ei soittanut eikä vastannut viestiin.

    He didn't call nor did he answer the message.

    Word by Word: He not called and-not answered message-to.

    This connects two negative actions. 'Eikä' is used because the subject is 'hän' (3rd person).

  3. Lapset eivät halunneet nukkua eivätkä syödä.

    The children wanted neither to sleep nor to eat.

    Word by Word: Children not-they wanted sleep and-not-they eat.

    The conjunction 'eivätkä' matches the 3rd person plural subject 'lapset'.

  4. Sinä et ole täällä etkä kotona.

    You are not here nor at home.

    Word by Word: You not are here and-not-you at-home.

    Uses 'etkä' to match the 2nd person singular 'sinä'.

Common Mistakes

  • Using 'eikä' as an invariant word for all persons.

    En puhu saksaa eikä ranskaa.
    En puhu saksaa enkä ranskaa.

    The conjunction must conjugate to match the subject. Since the subject is 'minä' (I), you must use 'enkä'.

  • Using 'ja ei' instead of the fused '-kä' form.

    Different MeaningHän ei syö ja hän ei juo.
    Hän ei syö eikä juo.

    Eikä is the neutral written choice in this coordination. Separate ja ... ei clauses occur, especially with deliberate emphasis; the example is a style contrast rather than universally ungrammatical Finnish.

  • Adding 'ja' before 'eikä'.

    En syö lihaa ja enkä kalaa.
    En syö lihaa enkä kalaa.

    The '-kä' ending already means 'and'. Adding 'ja' is redundant and grammatically incorrect.

How It Connects

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ei ... eikäLevel 3Neither ... nor

Learn This First

To use 'ei ... eikä' (neither ... nor), you must first understand how the Finnish negative verb conjugates for different persons (en, et, ei, etc.). Additionally, the 'kä' suffix in 'eikä' is related to the negative clitic '-kaan/-kään', which adds the meaning of 'also not' or 'neither'.

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Words in This Pattern

eikäei