ни … ни
ni ... ni — neither … nor
Register: neutral
What it really means
Ни … ни coordinates two or more negated alternatives and normally appears with a separate negator: «не знаю ни адреса, ни телефона». By itself ни is not ordinary sentence negation; the pattern can also intensify a negative statement, as in «ни разу». Case and agreement follow the governing verb or noun.
Examples in natural speech
У меня нет ни времени, ни сил.
I have neither time nor energy.
Он не купил ни хлеба, ни молока.
He bought neither bread nor milk.
Ни дождь, ни ветер нас не остановили.
Neither rain nor wind stopped us.
Я ни разу там не был.
I have never been there even once.
Не звони ни сегодня, ни завтра.
Do not call either today or tomorrow.
Common mistakes
Do not use ни alone as the main negator: «ни знаю» is wrong for “I don’t know”; say «не знаю». Do not omit the first ни in a paired construction, and remember that governed case remains required after each conjunction.
Memory tip
Не supplies the negative frame; ни repeats the excluded choices inside it.
Frequently asked questions
Why is «ни» used with «не»?
Не negates the clause, while each ни adds an item to the scope of that negation: «не видел ни его, ни сестру».
Can ни … ни contain more than two items?
Yes: «ни утром, ни днём, ни вечером» coordinates any number of parallel items.
What does «ни разу» mean?
It means “not even once” and normally needs a negative verb, for example «не опоздал ни разу».
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