hvorki ... né

Neither ... nor (Hvorki ... Né)

Level 4

Ég drekk hvorki kaffi né te. (I drink neither coffee nor tea.) Put hvorki before the first choice and né before the second.

How It Works

Where hvorki goes. hvorki stands where ekki would stand, right after the finite verb. né goes right before the second choice.

  • Ég drekk hvorki kaffi né te. (I drink neither coffee nor tea.)
  • Hún talar hvorki dönsku né sænsku. (She speaks neither Danish nor Swedish.)
  • Ég hef hvorki tíma né peninga fyrir það. (I have neither the time nor the money for that.)

Two subjects. hvorki ... né can also join two subjects at the start of a sentence: Hvorki hann né hún vissi það. (Neither he nor she knew it.) With two singular subjects, the verb is usually singular.

The same case on both sides. Both choices take the case the verb or preposition needs:

  • Ég sá hvorki Jón né Önnu. (I saw neither Jón nor Anna.) Both are accusative after sjá.
  • Hún treystir hvorki honum né henni. (She trusts neither him nor her.) Both are dative after treysta.

A fixed phrase. Ég skil hvorki upp né niður í þessu. means I can't make head or tail of this.

Related ways to say no. For not ... either, use ekki heldur (see líka and heldur). For neither of the two, use hvorugur.

Examples (6)

  1. Ég drekk hvorki kaffi né te.

    I drink neither coffee nor tea.

    Word by Word: I drink neither coffee nor tea.

  2. Hvorki hann né hún vissi það.

    Neither he nor she knew it.

    Word by Word: Neither he nor she knew it.

    With two singular subjects, the verb vissi is singular.

  3. Hún talar hvorki dönsku né sænsku.

    She speaks neither Danish nor Swedish.

    Word by Word: She speaks neither Danish nor Swedish.

  4. Ég hef hvorki tíma né peninga fyrir það.

    I have neither the time nor the money for that.

    Word by Word: I have neither time nor money for it.

  5. Við sáum hvorki hvali né lunda í ferðinni.

    We saw neither whales nor puffins on the trip.

    Word by Word: We saw neither whales nor puffins in the trip.

  6. Ég skil hvorki upp né niður í þessu.

    I can't make head or tail of this.

    Word by Word: I understand neither up nor down in this.

Common Mistakes

  • Adding ekki as well.

    Ég drekk ekki hvorki kaffi né te.
    Ég drekk hvorki kaffi né te.

    hvorki is already negative and takes the place of ekki. With both words, the sentence has one negative too many.

  • Using eða for the second part.

    Hún talar hvorki dönsku eða sænsku.
    Hún talar hvorki dönsku né sænsku.

    hvorki goes with né. eða belongs with annaðhvort: annaðhvort dönsku eða sænsku (either Danish or Swedish).

How It Connects

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

hvorki ... néLevel 4Neither ... nor (Hvorki ... Né)

Learn This First

hvorki ... né builds on enginn and eða.

Words in This Pattern

hvorkiné