nieko nematyti

Impersonal Seeing and Hearing

Level 6

Nieko nematyti. means Nothing can be seen. It does not need a nominative person doing the seeing.

How It Works

Impersonal viewpoint. Iš čia matyti kalnus describes visibility from here. It is different from Aš matau kalnus, where a person explicitly sees them.

Observer. A dative can name whose view or hearing is involved: Man nieko nematyti. The infinitive does not change for that person.

Negation. Girdėti muziką becomes Muzikos negirdėti. For nothing, use nieko with the negative predicate, not a positive one. These infinitives have other uses after verbs, but this entry covers their impersonal predicate use.

Examples (4)

  1. Nieko nematyti.

    Nothing can be seen.

  2. Iš čia matyti kalnus.

    The mountains can be seen from here.

  3. Girdėti muziką.

    Music can be heard.

  4. Man nieko negirdėti.

    I cannot hear anything.

Common Mistakes

  • Keeping an accusative object under ordinary negation.

    Muziką negirdėti.
    Muzikos negirdėti.

    In the intended music cannot be heard sentence, negation requires genitive muzikos.

How It Connects

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

nieko nematytiLevel 6Impersonal Seeing and Hearing

Learn This First

An infinitive can express impersonal visibility or audibility, with genitive objects under negation.

Words in This Pattern

niekas