Proverb: Ni pet ni šest | Croatian Grammar

This tiny four-word idiom looks like arithmetic and means the opposite of counting: it describes someone acting decisively, without weighing options. It is a perfect B2 specimen because it shows the correlative ni…ni negation in its purest form, freezes two bare cardinal numbers inside a fixed expression, and works as a verbless adverbial phrase glued onto a main clause. Understanding why it means "without hesitation" — when literally it says "neither five nor six" — opens a window onto how Croatian idiom compresses a whole story into a fossilised phrase.

The proverb

Ni pet ni šest.

Neither five nor six. (Without hesitation; without further ado; he just went ahead and did it.)

Word by word

Word	Meaning	Note
ni	neither / nor / not even	negative correlative particle; the first of a pair
pet	five	cardinal numeral; here frozen, not literally "5"
ni	nor	the second ni of the ni…ni pair
šest	six	cardinal numeral; frozen alongside pet

The literal order is exactly "neither five nor six." The phrase is elliptical: the verb and everything else are left out, and the listener supplies the rest from context. The picture behind it is of someone who does not stop to deliberate — not "five," not "six," no counting, no umming and ahhing — they simply act. In use it almost always sits next to a verb of decisive action: ni pet ni šest, pa… ("without further ado, he just…").

What it means and when to say it

The idiom means acting at once, without hesitation, deliberation, or fuss. Someone who reacts ni pet ni šest doesn't argue, doesn't calculate, doesn't dither — they go straight to action, often boldly or impulsively. It is colloquial and lively (informal), at home in storytelling and everyday speech. The closest English equivalents are "without further ado," "without batting an eye," "he didn't think twice," and the narrative "so, quick as a flash, he just…"

Use it when retelling how someone made a snap decision or reacted instantly.

Kad je čuo da je dijete u opasnosti, ni pet ni šest, skočio je u vodu.

When he heard the child was in danger, without a second thought, he jumped into the water.

Ponudili su joj posao u Berlinu i ona ni pet ni šest — spakirala se i otišla.

They offered her a job in Berlin and she, without hesitation, packed up and left.

Šef je počeo vikati, a on ni pet ni šest dao otkaz na licu mjesta.

The boss started yelling, and he, without batting an eye, quit on the spot.

Grammar focus 1: the correlative ni…ni

The backbone of the idiom is the correlative negation ni…ni ("neither…nor"), which pairs two negated elements. ni is the negative counterpart of the additive i ("and / also"): where i pet i šest would mean "both five and six," ni pet ni šest means "neither five nor six." Each ni negates the item right after it, and the two together exclude both options.

A crucial Croatian habit hides here: when ni…ni links items around a finite verb in a full sentence, the verb also takes its own negation — Croatian uses double (concord) negation. So a full sentence reads Ne znam ni pet ni šest ("I don't know either five or six"), with both ne on the verb and ni…ni on the nouns. In the bare idiom there is no verb, so only the ni…ni pair survives.

Nije rekao ni da ni ne.

He said neither yes nor no. (ni…ni negates both, and nije negates the verb — double negation)

Nemam ni novca ni vremena.

I have neither money nor time. (nemam carries verbal negation; ni…ni pairs the two nouns)

💡

Croatian uses concord (double) negation: a finite verb with ni…ni stays negated too — Nemam ni novca ni vremena, not "imam ni…". Each ni negates the word after it. See double negation and the affirmation and negation particles.

Grammar focus 2: cardinal numerals frozen in an idiom

pet ("five") and šest ("six") are ordinary cardinal numerals, but here they are frozen — they carry no numeric meaning at all. The idiom exploits the fact that these are two consecutive small numbers to evoke the act of counting/hesitating; the specific values are arbitrary, much as English "at sixes and sevens" or "nineteen to the dozen" use numbers non-literally. You cannot swap in other numbers (ni četiri ni pet is not the idiom) — the form is fixed.

It helps to know the everyday behaviour these numerals would normally show. From five upward, a Croatian cardinal triggers the genitive plural of the counted noun: pet kuna ("five kunas"), šest godina ("six years"). Numerals 5+ are also largely indeclinable in modern usage. None of that applies inside the idiom, where pet and šest stand bare — but recognising that they are real numerals is what makes the frozen idiom legible.

Čekam te već pet sati.

I've been waiting for you for five hours now. (pet + genitive plural sati)

Imam pet braće i šest sestara.

I have five brothers and six sisters. (5+ → genitive plural braće, sestara)

💡

From five upward, a cardinal numeral governs the genitive plural of the counted noun and is itself essentially indeclinable: pet godina, šest ljudi. Inside the frozen idiom ni pet ni šest, though, the numbers are non-literal and uninflected. The numbers in use page covers numeral government.

Grammar focus 3: the elliptical adverbial phrase

Grammatically, ni pet ni šest is an adverbial phrase of manner that has lost its verb through ellipsis. It does not form a clause on its own; it attaches to a main clause and modifies the action like an adverb meaning "unhesitatingly." In writing it is usually set off by commas or a dash, signalling that it stands apart from the syntax of the sentence it decorates: …i ona ni pet ni šest — spakirala se.

This is a recognised pattern in Croatian narrative style: a compact, verbless interjection that compresses the manner of an action and propels the story forward. Because it is verbless, it carries no tense, person, or number of its own — it borrows all of that from the clause it modifies, which is why the same frozen phrase works whether the subject is "he," "she," or "they."

Ona ga je pogledala i, ni pet ni šest, pristala.

She looked at him and, without further ado, agreed. (the phrase modifies pristala like an adverb)

Djeca su, ni pet ni šest, počela trčati prema moru.

The children, without hesitation, started running toward the sea. (verbless phrase set off by commas)

💡

Treat ni pet ni šest as a frozen adverb of manner ("unhesitatingly"), not a clause. It has no verb of its own, takes no tense, and is set off by commas or a dash beside the main clause. It belongs to the wider family of fixed expressions on the proverbs and sayings page.

How this differs from English

Three contrasts matter. First, the numbers are non-literal, and English never reaches for "five" and "six" to mean "without delay" — it uses "ado," "second thought," or "blinking." A learner must store the whole phrase as one unit, not translate word by word. Second, double negation: when the idiom is expanded into a full clause, Croatian keeps the verb negated alongside ni…ni (ne…ni…ni), whereas English strips negation down to a single "neither/nor." Third, verblessness: English usually rebuilds the idea as a clause ("she didn't think twice"), but Croatian leaves the phrase verbless and lets it lean on the surrounding sentence.

Common Mistakes

❌ I pet i šest, skočio je u vodu.

Wrong correlative — i…i means 'both…and', the opposite force; the idiom is the negative ni…ni.

✅ Ni pet ni šest, skočio je u vodu.

Without a second thought, he jumped into the water.

❌ Ni četiri ni pet, pristala je.

Wrong numbers — the idiom is frozen as pet and šest; you can't substitute other numerals.

✅ Ni pet ni šest, pristala je.

Without hesitation, she agreed.

❌ Imam ni novca ni vremena.

Missing verbal negation — with ni…ni the verb must also be negated: nemam, not imam.

✅ Nemam ni novca ni vremena.

I have neither money nor time.

❌ Ni pet, ni šest je skočio u vodu.

Mispunctuated and misread as a clause — the phrase is a verbless adverbial set off as a unit, not a subject with its own verb; comma after pet wrongly splits the pair.