nėra + genitive
Absence with Nėra
Čia yra kavinė. There is a café here. Čia nėra kavinės. There is no café here. When something is missing, it goes in the genitive.
How It Works
Yes and no. In these affirmative examples with yra, the noun is nominative. With nėra, it moves to the genitive:
- Čia yra kavinė. → Čia nėra kavinės. There is no café here.
- Namie yra brolis. → Namie nėra brolio. My brother is not at home.
- Čia yra bankas. → Čia nėra banko. There is no bank here.
People who are away. The person who is absent is in the genitive too: Tomo nėra namie (Tomas is not at home), Mamos dar nėra (Mom is not here yet). Pronouns take their genitive forms: manęs, tavęs, jo, jos. So a quick answer is Jo nėra (He is not here). See pronoun case forms.
Past and future. Nebuvo (was not) and nebus (will not be) work the same way: Vakar manęs nebuvo darbe (I was not at work yesterday), Rytoj mamos nebus namie (Mom will not be home tomorrow).
Common genitive endings. -as → -o (Tomas → Tomo), -a → -os (kava → kavos), -ė → -ės (kavinė → kavinės), first-declension -is → -io (brolis → brolio).
When there is no genitive. Nėra can also be the plain negative of yra before a description: Jonas nėra mokytojas (Jonas is not a teacher). Nothing is missing here, so the nouns stay in the basic form. See negative forms of būti.
The bigger rule. Negation also normally changes an accusative object to the genitive: Neturiu laiko (I have no time). See the genitive after negation.
Examples (6)
- Čia nėra kavinės.
There is no café here.
Word by Word: Here there-is-not of-café.
Kavinė becomes kavinės.
- Tomo nėra namie.
Tomas is not at home.
Word by Word: Of-Tomas there-is-not at-home.
The absent person is in the genitive: Tomo.
- Šaldytuve nėra pieno.
There is no milk in the fridge.
Word by Word: In-fridge there-is-not of-milk.
Pienas becomes pieno.
- Gatvėje nėra žmonių.
There is nobody in the street.
Word by Word: In-street there-is-not of-people.
A plural noun takes the genitive plural: žmonių.
- Vakar manęs nebuvo darbe.
I wasn’t at work yesterday.
Word by Word: Yesterday of-me was-not at-work.
The past nebuvo also takes the genitive: manęs.
- Rytoj mamos nebus namie.
Mom won’t be home tomorrow.
Word by Word: Tomorrow of-mom will-not-be at-home.
The future nebus works the same way.
Common Mistakes
Keeping the missing thing in the basic form after nėra.
Čia nėra kavinė.Čia nėra kavinės.When nėra says that something is not there, that thing goes in the genitive.
Using the genitive when nėra only means “is not”.
Jonas nėra mokytojo.Jonas nėra mokytojas.Here nėra describes Jonas; nobody is missing. A description after nėra stays in the basic form.
How It Connects
Learn This First
Existential negation changes the absent noun to the genitive.
Related Patterns
Learn Next
Patterns that build on this one.
Words in This Pattern
Practice nėra + genitive in Bubblegum
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