ne
/ne/
In Old English, the word for "not" is ne.
ne is a particle used to express negation or to deny that something is true, functioning similarly to the Modern English word "not".
How does it change in a sentence?
The word ne is a preverbal particle. This means it must be placed immediately before the verb that it is negating.
How do you pronounce it?
/ne/
What mistakes should you avoid?
Do not place ne after the verb as you might do in Modern English. It must always precede the verb.
Did you know?
- The Old English word ne is an unexpected descendant of a word meaning 'corpse'.
- To make a negation even stronger, Old English speakers often used ne and nā together, creating a double negative that increased the emphasis rather than cancelling it out.
- The word ne belongs to a class of Proto-Indo-European particles that have survived for thousands of years in various Germanic branches.
Examples in context
- Iċ ne eom God.I'm not God.This sentence shows how to negate the verb "eom".Tatoeba #13902078 by rul, translation #13049023 by rul
- Ge eall ne eten?Are you all not eating?This sentence shows how to use ne in a question regarding the verb "eten".Tatoeba #12255800 by JameezTranslates, translation #12254595 by CK
- Tom ne biþ Trump.Tom is not Trump.This sentence shows how to negate the verb "biþ".Tatoeba #8609202 by shekitten, translation #8607789 by shekitten
- Ic wāt nāhtI know nothing.
- Nǣfre ic nā wihte dydeI never did anything.
- 20 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Osric and Eadgyth are discussing their dinner.
- OsricHwilċne fisc ne ete þū?Which fish do you not eat?
- EadgythIċ ne ete þone lȳtlan fisc.I do not eat the little fish.
- OsricNis hit gōd?Is it not good?
- EadgythHit nis gōd on mīnum mūðe.It is not good in my mouth.
Sources
- Pronunciation: Wiktionary entry ne, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries ne, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
