How to Say "Nothing" in Bengali

কিছু না

kichu na/kit͡ʃʰu‿na/

The Bengali phrase for "nothing" is কিছু না (kichu na).

কিছু না is used to express the absence of any thing. It serves as the negation of the word কিছু, which means "something".

Meaning: not any thing (pron)

What does it mean word for word?

The phrase is composed of কিছু (kichu), meaning "something" and না (na), meaning "not".

To add emphasis to the concept of nothing, you can insert the emphatic particle ই (i) into the word কিছু to form কিছুই না.

kichu na (/kitʃʰu‿na/)

In Bengali culture, when someone asks কি হয়েছে? ('What happened?'), responding with কিছু না often serves as a social cue that the speaker is not ready to discuss their feelings.
The word না (na) used for negation is a direct descendant of the Sanskrit word 'na', which is one of the oldest recorded negation forms in Indo-European languages.
Bengali uses the same word কিছু to express 'something', 'anything' and 'a little', depending on whether the sentence is positive or negative.

আমি শুধু খবরের কাগজ বিক্রি করি, আর কিছু না।
I just sell newspapers, nothing else.
This sentence shows how to use কিছু না to mean "nothing else" in the context of an occupation.
Tatoeba #11533986 by robingaspi, translation #2373961 by CK
টম ব্যস্ত থাকতে পছন্দ করে আর কিছু না করে চুপচাপ বসে থাকতে একদম পছন্দ করে না।
Tom likes to be busy and hates sitting around doing nothing.
This sentence demonstrates the use of কিছু না to describe the act of doing nothing.
Tatoeba #5623227 by tanay, translation #3243628 by patgfisher

Rahul and Moumita are talking about their plans for the day.

মৌমিতা Moumita

তুমি আজ কী করবে, রাহুল?
Tumi aaj ki korbe, Rahul?
What will you do today, Rahul?
রাহুল Rahul

আমি বিশেষ কিছু না করব।
Ami bishesh kichu na korbo.
I will do nothing special.
মৌমিতা Moumita

তুমি কি বাইরে যাবে?
Tumi ki baire jabe?
Will you go outside?
রাহুল Rahul

না, আমি কিছু না করছি।
Na, ami kichu na korchi.
No, I am doing nothing.

Sources

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