How is your progress in learning Russian language? Have you learned about personal pronouns, demonstrative pronouns, and reflective pronouns?  If you already have, now let’s continue to learn about negative pronouns. As we know, the negative pronouns are used to describe the non-existence of the animate and inanimate objects. There are some negative pronouns in Russian language:

1. Никто – Nobody, not anyone
2. Ничто – Nothing, not anything
3. Никакой – Not any
4. Ничей – Nobody’s, not anyone’s
5. Некого – Nobody to
6. Нечего -Nothing to

The Formula of Negative Pronouns

The formula to use negative pronouns for each case, gender, and number:

Никто and Ничто

[table]

[tr][th]Russian Case[/th] [th]Никто[/th] [th]Ничто[/th][/tr]

[tr][td]Nominative[/td] [td]Никто[/td] [td]Ничто[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Genitive[/td] [td]Никого[/td] [td]Ничего[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Dative[/td] [td]Никому[/td] [td]Ничему[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Accusative[/td] [td]Никого[/td] [td]Ничего[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Instrumental[/td] [td]Никем[/td] [td]Ничем[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Prepositional[/td] [td]Ни о ком[/td] [td]Ни о чём[/td][/tr]

[/table]

When Никто and Ничто are used in the sentence, you should add a negative particle Не (not). Maybe in English, it looks weird in one sentence has several words that negated. But in Russian language, that is the structure.

Никакой

[table]

[tr][th]Russian Case[/th] [th]Masculine[/th] [th]Feminine[/th] [th]Neutral[/th] [th]Plural[/th][/tr]

[tr][td]Nominative[/td][td]Никакой[/td] [td]Никакая[/td] [td]Никакое[/td] [td]Никакие[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Genitive[/td] [td]Никакого[/td] [td]Никакой[/td] [td]Никакого[/td] [td]Никаких[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Dative[/td] [td]Никакому[/td] [td]Никакой[/td] [td]Никакому[/td] [td]Никаким[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Accusative(Inanimate/Animate)[/td] [td]Никакой/Никакого[/td] [td]Никакую/Никакой[/td] [td]Никакое/Никакого[/td] [td]Никакие/Никаких[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Instrumental[/td] [td]Никаким[/td] [td]Никакой[/td] [td]Никаким[/td] [td]Никакими[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Prepositional[/td] [td]Ни о каком[/td] [td]Ни о какой[/td] [td]Ни о каком[/td] [td]Ни о каких[/td][/tr]

[/table]

Sometimes a Russian negative sentence doesn’t have verbs. For example:

Он не специалист (Ya ne spetsialist) / Он никакой не специалист (Ya nikakoy ne spetsialist)

He is not an expert / He is not any kind of expert.

Ничей

[table]

[tr][th]Russian Case[/th] [th]Masculine[/th] [th]Feminine[/th] [th]Neutral[/th] [th]Plural[/th][/tr]

[tr][td]Nominative[/td][td]Ничей[/td] [td]Ничья[/td] [td]Ничьё[/td] [td]Ничьи[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Genitive[/td] [td]Ничьего[/td] [td]Ничьей[/td] [td]Ничьего[/td] [td]Ничьих[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Dative[/td] [td]Ничьему[/td] [td]Ничьей[/td] [td]Ничьему[/td] [td]Ничьим[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Accusative(Inanimate/Animate)[/td] [td]Ничей/Ничьего[/td] [td]Ничью/Ничьей[/td] [td]Ничьё/Ничьего[/td] [td]Ничьи/Ничьих[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Instrumental[/td] [td]Ничьим[/td] [td]Ничьей[/td] [td]Ничьим[/td] [td]Ничьими[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Prepositional[/td] [td]Ни о чьём[/td] [td]Ни о чьей[/td] [td]Ни о чьём[/td] [td]Ни о чьих[/td][/tr]

[/table]

Same as Никто and Ничто, you should add a negative particle Не (not) in the negative sentence.

Некого and Нечего

[table]

[tr][th]Russian Case[/th] [th]Некого[/th] [th]Нечего[/th][/tr]

[tr][td]Nominative[/td] [td]-[/td] [td]-[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Genitive[/td] [td]Некого [/td] [td]Нечего[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Dative[/td] [td]Некому[/td] [td]Нечему[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Accusative[/td] [td]Некого[/td] [td]Нечего[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Instrumental[/td] [td]Некем[/td] [td]Нечем[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]Prepositional[/td] [td]Не о ком[/td] [td]Не о чем[/td][/tr]

[/table]

Некого and Нечего are always followed by the infinitive.

For example: Нечего есть (Nechego yest’) – Nothing to eat

The Examples of Negative Pronoun

• Анна никому никогда не говорила.
  (Anna nikomu nikogda nye govorila)
  Anna never told anyone.
• Ничто не может быть чудесней.
  (Nichto ne mozhet byt’ chudesney)
  Nothing can be more wonderful.
• Никакой я сыра не ел
  (Nikakoy ya syra ne yel)
  I did not eat any cheese.
• Не презирай совета ничьего.
  (Ne preziray soveta nich’yego)
  Don’t despise anyone’s advice.
• Мне некого пригласить на день рождения.
  (Mne nekogo priglasit’ na den’ rozhdeniya)
  I have nobody to invite to my birthday.
• Нечего делать дома.
  (Nechego delat’ doma)
  There is nothing to do at home.

Those are some examples of negative pronouns. Now, it’s your turn to make negative pronouns sentences. To enrich your vocabularies, you can visit Basic Russian Words for Beginners and to make you speak with a good grammar, you can start learning some Russian cases.