نہیں

Negating a Statement

Level 1

Add نہیں to say that a description, location or action is not true. Keep the rest of the agreement that the sentence needs.

How It Works

Compare یہ چابی نئی ہے and یہ چابی نئی نہیں ہے. The negative word denies the description; نئی still agrees with feminine چابی.

A place works the same way: ہم گھر میں نہیں ہیں. The phrase گھر میں stays together, followed by نہیں ہیں.

For an action, ندا چائے نہیں پیتی means that Nida does not drink tea. In this common negative habitual pattern, the present auxiliary can be omitted. That does not mean all Urdu verb endings disappear in negative statements.

A negative command has its own pattern with مت, such as مت جائیے. Use this entry for denying statements rather than treating نہیں as the answer to every kind of English not.

Examples (4)

  1. یہ چابی نئی نہیں ہے۔

    This key is not new.

    نہیں negates the description while نئی stays feminine.

  2. ہم گھر میں نہیں ہیں۔

    We are not at home.

    ہم still takes ہیں.

  3. میں ناراض نہیں ہوں۔

    I am not upset.

    میں still takes ہوں.

  4. ندا چائے نہیں پیتی۔

    Nida does not drink tea.

    This negative habitual statement omits the present auxiliary.

How It Connects

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

نہیںLevel 1Negating a Statement

Learn This First

Build a positive copular statement before inserting sentence negation.

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Patterns that build on this one.

And 6 more in the full list.

Words in This Pattern

نہیں